Course Embedded Reflections

Course Embedded Reflections

Description of Activity	Reflection (150 words or less describing what you learned from this activity) (Required)
Students will complete all parts of each Technology/Leadership self-assessments and thoroughly document the results as required. Students will thoroughly summarize key ideas of each section of their State’s Technology Plan and describe their State Technology Curriculum Standards.	This course gave me a greater understanding of the long range plan for technology integration into the classroom. I knew we pushed technology, but I did not know that my District and the State of Texas had a formal plan for technology integration. This course showed me that my district has built an impressive technology infrastructure to support the current and future needs of the schools, teachers, and students. This activity also highlighted that one of the greatest needs is in the area of Teacher Preparation. The State and Districts can invest millions into hardware and software, but if teachers don’t know how to use and integrate technology, it will all be for naught. In reviewing the campus STaR charts and this class’ Technology/Leadership self-assessments, I learned that I am on the advanced end of technology integration and that I have the potential to be a leader in helping others improve their skills.
Students engage in identifying an action research topic(s) or research question(s) and designing a draft action plan completing a recommended template or format of a blueprint of the action research plan.	In the previous course, I discovered a personal talent and a school need that matched up. It made perfect sense to combine the two into an action research project. I decided to work with other teachers to improve their integration of technology into the classroom. This course helped me understand the concept of action research, or “research while doing.” I had always assumed research was done primarily in the university setting and was intrigued that research was done on much smaller scales, in a less formal manner. This class gave me the resources and guidance to complete my own action research project.
Students review comments from colleagues and site supervisors and engage in revising their draft action research plan. By the end of Week 5, students should confer with their site supervisor(s) and agree on an action research topic and plan.	The biggest thing that I came away from my supervisor was that my research project was initially too broad and involved and I needed to narrow the project down and figure out the best way to come up with and judge the results of the action research project.
Students create a personal vision of leadership.	This course required much personal reflection. I had to formalize what my key values and beliefs are. I had to analyze the leaders I have worked with and determine which aspects I valued in them. I also came to the realization that to be a successful leader, your leadership style should align with your personality. I am an easy going, nurturing person and it would not be beneficial for me to take a “hard-nose” stance as a leader. I am also personally interested in technology and realized this is the area I will be most successful.
Students attend a Site-Based Decision-Making (SBDM) meeting, record reflections, and interview the principal and one other staff member regarding collaboration, consensus building strategies, ethical relationships, typical agenda items, etc.	I discovered that our SBDM team consisted of the team leaders, administrators, etc. They meet weekly to discuss the events and issues coming up in the school. This is an open forum meeting with an agenda set by the Principal with input from the participants. I volunteer for some other organizations and I noticed many similarities and differences. The meetings are very respectful and attempt to build consensus on the campus. It was interesting that the committee can get sidetracked easily and it would be beneficial to implement some formal guidelines to the proceedings (similar to Robert’s Rules of Order). The committee is also very helpful in sharing information and decisions with the rest of the campus. The committee is very democratic in nature and acts similar to our voting system. The teachers give input to the Team Leaders, who share it at the SBDM meeting. Decisions are made and information is then passed back down the line.
Students demonstrate leadership for accountability by researching best practices, including specific professional development to address a target area and list the strategies and rationale for using each strategy.	By studying the AEIS report for my school, I noticed that our Math scores, especially for our Special Education and African American students lagged drastically behind the rest of the student population. My campus has implemented several strategies to meet these needs and these two subgroups are making incremental progress.
Students conduct a data-based needs assessment. Based on the areas of need identified, students create a campus action plan to address the needs identified including professional development plans, allocation of resources to support the plan, and any tools needed for school improvement efforts	This activity showed me that my campus is already trying to do as much as possible to improve the test scores of our lowest performing students. This makes perfect sense and I’m not going to reinvent the wheel. I did notice that we needed to do better, as teachers, at disaggregating our data. It is also beneficial to work as a team to come up with solutions to problems that are persistent. By having our math teachers work collaboratively, they are able to come up with solutions that will work for their unique set of circumstances and students. I also suggested that a Math Coordinator be hired to assist teachers with design lessons plans that meet the needs of all the students. However, I learned that this is an expensive suggestion and a Principal has to weigh the cost versus benefit of such a hire. Would that money be better used in hiring another math teacher to reduce class sizes? What would the likely outcome be? How would a math coordinator directly impact the success of the students?
Students conduct a data-driven, comprehensive needs assessment using the latest AYP and AEIS data, a multi-year history of this data, and a comparable improvement report.	My campus regularly goes through disaggregated data, but they rarely explain the process. The Principal just presents the information in a faculty meeting, and then explains what areas we need to focus on. This activity showed me how to go through the reports and read them correctly. I was able to see the progression or regression of scores over several years. I wish I could see the interventions that had been implemented and correlate the data with them to evaluate their successfulness. As a Principal, this data and the interventions would be of the utmost importance in deciding the future plans of the school.
Application of learning by designing a remediation to a situation you would like to improve in your school. In your School-Based Analysis, you familiarized yourself with special education policies in your state and school district. For your Application, you will use this knowledge as you follow a fictional student, Julia, who has just enrolled at your school. You will develop an Individualized Education Program for “Joseph,” monitor how her program is implemented in the classroom, and use your knowledge of student rights and school management to make sound decisions when she engages in behavior that calls for disciplinary action. This assignment will require you to use knowledge gained from your lectures and readings, and from communication with leaders at your school, including your principal, special education coordinator, and classroom teachers. Your final step will be to make suggestions about how management policies and procedures for special education students at your school can be improved. In all instances, you are expected to cite relevant law and/or policy that you used to formulate your answers.	The School Law course was one of my favorite courses and contained the most information directly applicable to my current position as a teacher. This specific activity was also very valuable in illustrating the complexities and depth of Special Education law. I have recently been attending many more ARD meetings and I now understand more of the proceedings. I have also learned that some of the decision I would have made, would not have been legal. For example, we had a special education student that was in a fight. I would have immediately sent him to the Alternative Education Center, but I now know that we are required to have a Manifestation ARD and that there is a specific due process to be followed, if we are to stay within the law.
Students review Chapter 247 of the Texas Administrative Code, "Educators' Code of Ethics," conduct observations and/or interviews in your school, and use the results of those observations interviews to complete the "Code of Ethics Mind walk."	There are three main areas of Chapter 247. The biggest area of concern that I saw was in the third section, Ethical Conduct Toward Students. Standard 3.1. The educator shall not reveal confidential information concerning students unless disclosure serves lawful professional purposes or is required by law. Educators tend to overlook this standard.  We are privy to some very sensitive information regarding our students and we often leave this information just lying around.  Other students should not be able to see Special Ed information, TAKS/STAAR scores, ESL status, or even grades of another student.  A big infraction that happens most years is when TAKS/STAAR scores are released.  The information comes in one big packet and often this packet is directly copied and passed out.  Educators should not see this information about students they do not teach.
Students conduct an interview with an administrator at their school regarding strategies for recruiting and retaining high-quality teachers and administrators.	I have previously worked in HR and am familiar with the laws regarding hiring and firing. I found it interesting to learn that my campus has difficulty finding qualified personnel. My administrator expressed concern over the quality of applicants, especially for mid-year hires. She explained that there is typically a bad reason a person does not have a teaching job at the beginning of the year and that she has to be extra cautious when interview candidates for open positions. She eventually find a qualified person, but she explained that she has to interview twice as many people to find one good fit.
Students access the policies and procedures in place in their district related to teacher mentoring programs by accessing the district's webpage or contacting district Human Resources Office and reflect on the policies in place for mentoring induction.	I learned that the mentoring program is continually growing and changing to meet the needs of the district and school. The mentoring program is design to support new teachers and new-to-the-district teachers. When I transferred to this district, I was assigned a mentor, but my transition was smooth and I did not meet with the mentor much. My VP suggested that my experience was common. She said that experienced teachers need a little help to learn the new systems and software, but they are usually ok. Most of the mentoring happens with the brand new teachers. My VP said that they are careful who they pair up for mentoring, because it can have a big impact on the new teacher’s success.
Students complete the Cultural Proficiency Receptivity Scale, use the Cultural Proficiency Professional Development Rubric to assess the level of professional development at their campus or workplace, and identify and describe where and how their campus has responded to each of the elements of Cultural Proficiency	Through this activity, I learned that my district places huge importance on learning about cultural diversity. There are over 60 different nationalities in my district and we are constantly learning new ways to interact and integrate all aspects of the cultures of our students. It allows us to better understand our students, and it allows the students to better understand each other. This is also a topic that we can continue to learn and grow in.
Students develop a plan for a family-school-community partnership(s) to increase student achievement	This was a fun project to plan and I was able to address a need that I see every day in my class. I planned a community-wide school supplies donation drive. Many of students do not come to class with even the simplest of supplies like pencil and paper. This project should directly impact student achievement because it allows the students to start the year right with all the needed supplies to be successful in class.
Students develop a presentation to be given to key stakeholders in their school that emphasizes the importance of parental-community involvement to student achievement.	This activity was difficult and enlightening. As a teacher, I often complain about the lack of support from parents and community. Through this activity, I learned that the community is there to support us if they know where to help. It was difficult to identify specific community stakeholders. It is also very difficult to come up with a great presentation on this topic. It is easy to list off the things that are missing or wrong with schools. It is much more difficult to present a solution that is feasible to accomplish.
Create a public service announcement for parents and community partners. Capture and integrate sound, video, and digital images; create RSS feeds; and publish the final product on the web. Use short teacher and student interviews to focus on 21st century technology for engagement and achievement.	This was a great project. I learned how to effectively collaborate with group members that were hundreds of miles apart. I also learned that these technologies appear to be difficult at first, but with just a little bit of research and experimentation, they can be fun to use. Our group chose to do a PSA on the dangers of texting. We decided to go with an over-the-top version to keep it interesting. I discovered one of my students was double-jointed and I used his thumbs to represent someone that had texted too much and broken their thumbs. The concepts and use of technology I  learned from this project  have been directly used in my classroom. For example, I recently had my students working in groups on a project. The groups were comprised of students from different class periods. So the kids had to learn to use the available technology (Google Docs for our purpose) to collaborate and create project. It was a great example of 21st Century Skills in action.
Analyze district technology after completing interviews with at least two school administrators who are involved with the planning and budgeting of technology.	My district spends a large amount of money on technology. I did not realize how much software and hardware costs, especially on the scale the district is responsible for purchasing. It is nice the government subsidizes some of the costs through e-rate, but the district is still responsible for much of the bill. I would like to see how the district analyzes the effectiveness and usefulness of the equipment and software it purchases. The list I was given had many pieces of software that I have never heard of. It would be beneficial if the District asked to teachers to annually rate the programs they use. This would allow the district to compile data and make accurate decision about where to budget their resources.
Students will evaluate and analyze a school district’s Student Information System, including the evaluation of total cost of ownership, feature set, ease of use, customer support, and training.	I learned that the district utilizes several different systems, but is in the process of consolidating to one system. I also learned that there is a plethora of data that is collected on every student and that this data is used to analyze the effectiveness of many programs. As a teacher, I do not have access to all of this information currently, but it was suggested that when we go to one system, every teacher will have full details on their students. This may be information overload, but it could also be useful in determining interventions to help struggling students.
As campus professional development activity, create a wiki-based study group with 3-5 teachers leading and support teachers who analyze data related to student learning , create a lesson using Universal Design for Learning at the CAST Lesson Building at http://lessonbuilder.cast.org/, create a sample electronic book to share with your learning team members. Lastly, add a team reflection to your Google site about the process of creating an electronic book.	UDL is a great concept and was useful in creating new lessons. I have not  had much experience with vision-, hearing-, or mobility-impaired students. It was eye opening to go through this activity and learn that the way I teach would not be useful to many children with disabilities. The concept of UDL allows me to set my goals and allow the students to find their own path to be successful. I have mostly implemented this philosophy in my classroom. I now let the students use whatever resources they want to help them achieve the goals in my class. I still give them some guidance and share with them the resources I would use, but I also leave it open for the students to determine the best manner of completing a task. I still struggle with the UDL concept when it comes to teaching specific tasks, like using a calculator or teaching spreadsheet software. I will continue to work on finding resources that could help all students, regardless of ability.
Students will collaborate to create a  website that addresses digital ethics, design principles, diverse learners, and  communication with peers, parents, and the larger community in order to nurture student learning.	This course and activity has been very useful in my teaching career. I built my Google site in this class and I use it every day as my classroom website. I post all of my lectures, pdf’s, ppt’s and assignments on the site. I also learned how to create appealing graphics and to focus on the design, and look, of a page to make sure it conveys the message I want. My students still struggle with this concept, but I use what I learned in this class to teach them how to structure their products to look better. I also learned to solicit feedback from peers and to accept their suggestions as actual help instead of just negative feedback. I need to incorporate a space on my website for parent/community input. I should also look into ways of automatically translating my website for my non-English speaking parents.