Internship+5388+-+Week+1

__**PART 1.1: WEB CONFERENCE**__ In week one Dr. Abernathy answered questions in reference to the internship as she will do every week this week forth during the duration of this course. In today's web conference she stated that we can date back our activity logs to when we began the program. She also stated that we should cover all eight standards and as many of the thirty-three activities as possible. I find that dating back is difficult, but with the help of having our Lamar Courseware in order, this makes the process a bit easier. I would like to add that I find that others and sometimes I get frustrated with the toggling of the web conference's features. I think that Dr. Abernathy should create a Q&A document for the internship so that she would not have to repeat her answers to the same question over and over again.

**__PART 1.2: BEGIN COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION__**
 * __ PART 1.3: EDLD 5306 - CONCEPTS OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY __**

With this course I envisioned myself acquiring more knowledge in technology advancements, and how they may be implemented within my classroom and on campus. The course assisted me in learning basic technology material that is implemented in schools such as, Tech TEKS, STaR Chart, and The Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology which in all are not thoroughly explained in schools but are required by employees. This course covered ISTE Standards I, II, V, VI, VII, and VIII. While doing so, the course embedded material such as wikis, blogging, knowing the difference between digital immigrants and digital natives, cyber- bullying, and cyber ethics. The course went beyond what I envisioned by providing me with material that is relevant in school, guiding me to a better understanding of what is asked of us teachers from the technology stand point. With the course material acquired I am now able to confidently take part in technology applications that will benefit the campus, students within the classroom, and especially me.

The school district requires teachers to complete the STaR Chart for envisions, budgeting, and a gauge of how well the district’s schools are implementing technology. Knowing what the STaR Chart is data collecting allows me to have a better understanding of what I as a teacher need to have as a target goal. With the Texas Long-Range Plan I can now better plan for what Texas is wanting of public education. My Wikispace ( http://mrsangelagarza.wikispaces.com/ ) allows me to continue to implement my understandings and visions through the online learning community created. With one person having a better understanding of technology applications implemented on campus an online learning community can go far as long as information is explained clearly, a time limit is given, and most of all feedback is allowed. With the future completion of my masters, I am confident in being a better open-minded, valuable, online learning community facilitator.

I do not feel that any outcomes were not achieved. I do feel that one may be difficult to maintain such as the online learning community. It is difficult to have teachers read and edit information online while many are not even on top of completing basic requirements of the school in a timely manner. With an online learning community, a timeline ( http://mrsangelagarza.wikispaces.com/Online+Wiki+Timeline ) is irrelevant if members do not log in, and an individual does not want to be the annoying employee constantly asking of others to participate in online activity. Others may feel their idea does not meet the standards of others and will avoid participation ( http://mrsangelagarza.wikispaces.com/Online+Wiki+Agenda ). There are many reasons for this outcome to have its weaknesses and it is up me to figure a way to engage my co-workers in online learning community participation. If there was any prevention it would narrow down to my co-workers avoiding participation.

All the assignments were clearly explained and gave step by step instructions not allowing for mistakes. With the rubrics and clear instruction, the assignments were reasonably easy as far as getting to the sources needed for completion. For the most part, the assignments were what assisted me in learning the course material over the lectures and readings. I believe this is because of the basic research done showing that hands-on, doing it yourself or engagement is what allows individuals to learn. Nothing prevented or discouraged me in the completion of my assignments due to me wanting to earn a master’s degree, to become more knowledgeable and better myself for my students, co-workers, and campus. The assignments brought me steps closer to understanding the school districts and state mandated assessments, requirements, and surveys. I have saved the assignments for future reference when in need of brief summaries and websites.

This course has taught me much about the basic areas of technology that every teacher should know. Now that I have completed this course I feel confident in completing and analyzing STaR Chart surveys and data results. I now know why it is imperative for the district to require surveys. I also know who I may contact on the school campus for additional questions. I feel more aware of the strands of Technology Application TEKS now knowing what needs to be assessed and learned by the students. The Texas Long-Range Plan gives me a much better understanding of what each part of a student’s education plays. With all of this, I now feel confident in leading or facilitating my online learning community with my co-workers, and am elated to begin the technology process for my tenth grade geometry team. This course elicited my want to help students and co-workers reach each other through a common communication that allows both adults and youngsters to learn and implement.

__Readings __ : I choose to write of quotes from the article, "//E-Communication//," by journalist Gwen Solomon (2004). She writes of various forms of communication that are currently used in our modern day society. She begins to speak of power point presentations when she states, "Some speakers start with a controversial idea or by assuring the audience that their lives will improve if they listen. Others begin with an anecdote that leads right into a point they want to make. Whatever you do, grab the audience's attention quickly. Then make sure that every word you say and the power of you message keeps their attention." (p. 50). I am a recent college graduate so power point presentations are fresh in my memory. While in college, professors and students would give presentations with much animation, complete sentences, and far too much information for one slide. The room was filled with students who became immediately bored. The quote above brought to my attention the Promethean Boards that my school currently uses. Some may know these boards as Smart Boards. These boards make flipcharts which are basically the same as power point but with a lot more technological advances that allow the students to interact with what is being presented. Solomon stated that some presenters captivate their audience at the beginning and then they must maintain their attention. Using Promethean Boards allows us to first captivate the students with how the material being covered is relevant to them and then having the students use the board to actively engage them in the new learning objective with games, multiple choice questions, Jeopardy, and much more. The board is such a great use of technology if implemented to its fullest capability otherwise it is just another board as a dry erase board or chalk board.

In Document Management Tools: Quick Tips for Saving Time, Space, and Patience by Scott McLeod, he states, "Sometimes what I want to capture onto my hard drive isn't text. I use screen-capture software to grab graphics, tables, and diagrams off my computer screen (McLeod 2007)." I found this quote interesting because I felt it related to me well. It was interesting for me to find that I did not know this existed. I feel slightly embarrassed and out dated once I read the article. When I find a site I like I either email the link to myself or put it under my online favorites. With now knowing this information I can now apply free bookmarking and screen-capturing on my home laptop to better equip myself for my students. The more one reads, the more discoveries found.

From Richardson, W. (2007). Online-powered school libraries. //District Administrator//, //43//(1), 62. "Taking blogging one step further, libraries are connecting to teen readers by creating pages on social networking sites such as MySpace.com. An example is the Stoneham, Mass., public library site which comes complete with hip hop music, notices on recently arrived CDs, and links to teen authors who have their won MySpace sites." I find this amazingly great. This is a perfect way to reach out to the students. It is so difficult to accept the new technologies when schools have to restrict the usage of a lot of the new technology used by students. For example, my school prohibits the use of IPods, but there are such great ways that the IPods can be implemented in the classroom. It is difficult when we are unable to embrace some of the technologies due to legality and other reasons. If more public libraries could follow the footsteps of Stoneham, maybe more students can be reached in lower income areas. It seems crucial to try and reach out to the students so that we can reach their learning needs. We are meeting or not meeting Texas standards in schools when we need to figure a way to go above standards without having to water down a course. There has to be a way to reach the students where they will want to learn. I feel that what the library in Stoneham is doing is a step and that's exactly what we need are steps because there is not one right answer and never has there been.

In Teaching Online Safety, Adelman, H. (2204) states, "The Internet has its own rules of etiquette, or network etiquette ("netiquette"). Basically, students learned not to use all capital letters unless shouting in their online communications." I found that this quote caught my attention the most. Online and in text messaging, many tend to put all the letters capitalized and include tons of exclamation marks. This is bothersome to me. Not to a point where it upsets me. I just do not understand how everything is so important to have to capitalize all the letters and add exclamation marks as though it is the most important or funniest thing happening. Maybe someone can give me some insight.

Author Betsy Price (2005) states, "As technologies continue to advance and provide enhanced resources for learning and research, critical questions arise: Will these technologies be available to all schools? Will they enable schools to close or at least narrow the digital divide?" This is a topic that is continuously discussed. Technologies continue to advance as our students continue to speak the language, while school districts must fund the new advancements. The high school I am currently working for is still placing promethean boards in core course teacher's rooms. While technology continues to advance, when will the boards be outdated? Many students are already bored with the boards because teachers use them as white boards rather than using them for student engagement by creating activities with the promethean board's tools and online resources.

McLeod, S. (2007). Document management tools: Quick tips for saving time, space, and patience. //Technology & Learning//, //28//(2), 36.

Adelman, H. (2004). Teaching online safety. //Voices From the Middle//, //11//(3), 17-22.

Price, B. (2005). Who’s in control of the technology-integrated school? //Principal Leadership//, //6//(1), 51-56.

**__PART 1.4: EDLD 5333 - LEADERSHIP FOR ACCOUNTABILITY__**

I would like to first state that this was my most difficult course out of them all. This course embedded ISTE Standards I, IV, V, VI, and VII. In this course, I had to create an action plan, develop an agenda for a staff development, and a timeline for follow-up. I was required to meet with administrators and other school employees in order to complete the assignments for this course. Considering that I am doing Educational Technology Leadership, I did not find this course to be as relevant at the beginning. As the course concluded I found myself questioning myself as to whether I would like to consider an administrative position.

After interviewing two employees of Dobie High School, Mr. Steve Jamail and Mr. Michael Van Essen, I have gathered the following information. Dobie High School’s Site Based Decision Making Committee is composed of a total number of seventeen members. The committee is made up of a secretary, special education representative, counselor, athletics representative, three principals, student council president and vice president, community members, and a member from each educational department. The SBDM Committee holds a meeting approximately every five weeks and is members for a two year term. After the two year term the department chair appoints a new member to represent that sector. When the committee meets, a formal agenda is used along with Robert’s Rules. The agenda outlines the areas of needed discussion such as budget, dress code, staff development, traffic, and teacher concerns. The committee is looked at as a, “advisory committee” according to the school principal Mr. Steve Jamail. He explained that the committee advises him of any concerns each department might have. The member will take what was discussed at the meeting to the department, discuss it with them, and then report the information back to the SBDM committee. In order to make any decisions, a topic is brought to the table or recommended. Then following Robert’s Rules, a member makes a motion. After the motion voting begins. Two-thirds of the members must be present in order for the vote to be affective according to Robert’s Rules. Mr. Jamail continued to express how many members join the committee with either a negative or positive attitude. In order to avoid conflict Mr. Jamail begins all meetings with a brief discussion of how the committee is there to work in a direction of positive school improvement. If conflict or disagreement were to arise, Mr. Jamail stated that he tries to give a proactive approach to the situation and remind the SBDM members that they are all there for a purpose, solution, and not negativity. Based on my interviews, I found that most of the SBDM committee members were appointed rather than allowing anyone to join. From my understanding, Mr. Van Essen stated that topics such as student dress code were discussed which I find surprising. Some of the new school dress code policies will be different next year, and it was actually the students who proposed the change and gave reasons why. I found it interesting that the students had such an impact on my school’s SBDM members. I found it as a positive that the members hold a position for two years. This is a great way to bring in a variety of people not allowing members to continuously give the same insight and expect a solution. It seems to give the SBDM committee a relevant change for the better of school improvement.

My campus action plan consisted of three main activities for the improvement of mathematics TAKS test scoring. I began the process with a unique staff development not yet held in Texas. After the staff development, implementation of an online learning community took place. Along with the online learning community, as the third part of the process, a data team was formed to maintain the stability of the online learning community. All of the activities were part of my action plan for campus improvement. Through this course I have gained much knowledge of what happens behind the scenes of the school’s running. Considering I am Mastering in Educational Technology Leadership, I did not know much about the administration side. I fin the campus improvement plan is continuous and in a slight way rigorous. It is something new that the school is implementing for change or school improvement. I find it interesting how all intertwines. For example, the SBDM committee determines whether there will be approval of the staff development wanted. The budget is also discussed in the committee leaving the insight of the committee to be quite relevant to any change or action need be taken for campus improvement. Considering that all went well, and scores improved leading us closer to Exemplary status under the Academic Excellence Indicator System, the next step must be taken. According to Reeves (2007), //How do you Sustain Excellence//, he states, “Sustained excellence is possible even in the face of profound demographic challenges.” For my school, this statement is in hand with what is happening. There are more minorities on campus than there ever was while maintaining a gradual increase. Demographics are changing which means we must continue to work hard. Our objective was to improve the scores of the mathematics African American students. With the increasing amount of students it is crucial to maintain a good action plan for campus improvement. Some steps that I found interesting for continuation of the current action plan in place I found in the article written by McTighe, J., //Making the most of Professional Learning Communities// (2008). In this article, McTighe (2008) gives ideas such as shadowing a student for a day, survey graduates, questioning strategies, finding if students understand the goals and priorities of their lessons, reversing the normal sequence, and grading and reporting inquiry. I believe these are all great ideas that can build on the teacher’s online learning community. These are all great steps to get more feedback from the student on top of the interim assessments of data already collected. In order to make this work, writer Reeves (2007-2008), //Making Strategic Planning Work//, gives the examples of making sure that monitoring, evaluating, and expectations are meeting rank of the twenty dimension scale. We do not have to implement the scale as Reeves is suggesting, but I do find it important to monitor, evaluate, and make sure expectations are being met. This is where the data team will continue its meetings, and d it interesting how department discussions. Overall, continuing with the current action plan in play will involve the online learning community and data teams’ collaboration with student involvement. I believe this will be a good change for school improvement with the allowance of student opinion input.  __Readings __ <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">:

My school has a laid back environment. It is very positive that I know of. I know that the school's principal and administration is well liked. He gives us a vision of what we are aiming for and then allows us to reach it using our best qualities. He continuously gives us positive feedback and reminders.

For the NCLB I decided to go with author Jennings number two which states, “Schools are spending more time on reading and math, sometimes at the expense of subjects not tested,” and number seven which states, “Schools are paying much more attention to achievement gaps and the learning needs of particular groups of students” (2006). I agree with number two. My school takes a few students out of their elective courses to work on a weak testing area. I personally feel that it’s good but at the same time the student needs a break and sometimes that elective is their break. If you test the student to death they then begin to feel hopeless. Number seven also occurs at my school. We had a subgroup that fell below. So this year we worked really hard with those students. The good news is that those students did better this year but another subgroup now fell below. Next year we will have double to work to make sure neither subgroup falls below.

Parents know that their son or daughter has to pass TAKS in order to graduate. I’m not too sure that the parents know or understand NCLB. I think parents just know that schools are to provide the best education possible and suffice their child’s needs. They often use the word sue if they feel something is not being fulfilled for their child’s learning capabilities. AYP is often spoken of for my school district. Since I teach mathematics it’s mentioned very often. We had one school who did not meet AYP which led many teachers to be fired and the students’ curriculum was completely TAKS based. The school became acceptable the following year. Because of that school other schools in our district are closely watched. From the presentation Teacher Quality & Title 1 Paraprofessional Qualifications, as a principal I would make sure to hire only highly qualified teachers. Meaning they must be certified or posses a probationary certificate. They must also be able to communicate well.

My school currently sends mail outs to give information on No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Along with mailing out information we also have open house. At open house the parents go to a general orientation before meeting all teachers. Handouts are given during that parent meeting. The high school I work at also has a PTA that is very active in the community. We have a local news paper that works hand in hand with our community. It gives news to the community about practically anything and everything happening at our local schools. We also have a computer program that allows parent connection to the school. This is where parents can connect with the school on what is currently happening and get their child's current grades. Lastly, we have a phone system that sends calls out automatically giving quick and necessary information.

As far as SSI, our school has many programs within to try to reach the students whose TAKS scores are low or they are at-risk. We have pull out programs that allow students to leave an elective course to do online tutorials for the given weak TAKS score. If they are at-risk, we have many mentoring programs with student-teacher. We have other intervention programs such as homeroom teachers speaking to all students during homeroom requiring the teacher to input information in the computer about the student's progress and other necessary need to know facts they may help the student. My school also offers a program that allows students to gain two classes in one. This is for students who at risk of dropping out. The school allows them credit recovery.

My school is also data-driven as someone mentioned above. I teach mathematics so my department is especially data-driven. We work together as a group to get the overall goal but we work more in our core area. As mentioned I teach math so we spend time after school and during our lunches disaggregating data. This allows us to know what is needed for our student in each subgroup. The hardest part is working with one subgroup while trying not to loose the other.

The "Team Dialogue Guide: Moving From Data to Classroom Instructional Improvement" I consider to be a simple means of organizing the data. It takes three data sources and briefly allows you to give your overall observation, strengths and areas needing growth. I personally do not like the Overall Conclusions From More Than One Data Source. There is not an overall observation area. It just asks for strengths, uncertainties/questions, and area needing growth. As a principal I would introduce this to teachers as a tool use at a small group meeting, possibly by grade level testing. That way all the information pertains to most of the students of that grade level subject. The "Reflection Guide" I would definitely implement. I believe this is a great source for teachers to read and understand. This could be used as a sort of outline for the head of a meeting. The head of the department could collaborate with teachers to make sure that all these areas are being covered as the administrator is there for further guidance. Reminding teachers of key areas of teaching is sometimes helpful.

As far as a professional learning community I am currently in an online learning community. It is a great way for us to communicate and stay on a timeline/deadline. I am actually the leader of the group due to a previous course I have taken for this Master's Program. We work on ways to engage the students using technology. We give ourselves an overall goal with a timeline in which we expect to accomplish certain objectives. As far as leadership, the most difficult part is guiding the members into giving input of ideas for technology implementation. Overall, I think that Professional Learning Communities are a great way to communicate what is happening and what can be done for improvement.

Teachers at my school are told to engage the students in the lesson being taught. I find that the role of learning communities as a professional development tool helps them to learn as they are engaging themselves into the activity. The engagement in my scenario is the knowledge to action. Teachers can combine their knowledge and as a learning community can work together using formative assessments and discussions of how to improve student performance. As far as my campus action plan that I creating, I am making use of a technology based TLC. This is where the learning community is held online through free online resources. From staff development to guided online learning communities the teachers will discuss and implement ways of resulting in improvement of student performances through the student's formative assessments given.

At my school it seems that "stuckness" is not quite a problem. There is the case in which we sometimes seem to not have major improvement. We often seem to be just making it. If we were stuck, I think that some slight changes made or revisions to the action plan would be necessary. There are many articles that discuss how you may maintain improvement. According to Reeves (2007-2008) article, //Making Strategic Planning Work//, the school should monitor, evaluate, and check expectations. The school needs change, and according to McTighe's 2008 article dealing with PLCs, he gives ideas such as student involvement for improvement. I personally use a PLC for technology implementation. Some of the members have left my school which means I need more recruitment, but I believe this year I will not only discuss technology in the PLC but I will also discuss ways of student involvement. McTighe (2008) suggest the following: Shadow a student for a day, questioning strategies, survey graduates, making sure students understand the goals and priorities of lessons, reversing the student's normal sequence, and grading and reporting inquiry. As far as consensus building, from my SBDM interviews, I found that my high school does not have problems reaching a consensus. We have a great principal with a relaxed environment. He stated that if there is not a consensus, a discussion would raise allowing statements and opinions to be made.

**__PART 1-5: STANDARD I: TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS AND CONCEPTS__**

<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">During my overall experience with my degree program and those I work with, I have covered many performance indicators relevant to Standard I. In order for me to create staff developments and complete course assignments, it’s imperative for me to accomplish performance indicators of Standard I. To start, TL-1 requires for me to have an advance understanding. I personally feel that I do have an advance understanding of technology used in the 21st century within and outside of school walls. I will list a few activities that I have done in relation to each indicator applicable.

TL-1.A.1 – I have disaggregated various data such as student’s scores, school performance, staff needs. Using this information I have been able to create and implement technology to enhance each performance. For example, I was able to create a Q&A folder for teachers in need of technology help. I also performed an in depth TAKS disaggregation that allowed for each student to receive help specific to their weakness with the use of technology tools.

TL-I.A.2 – At my school we have created days in which teachers can go during their off periods and after school to enhance their technology use within the classroom. I have recently created a few staff developments on using Activotes, Schoology, and electronic gaming.

TL-1.B.1 – We have continued to prepare staff developments at three levels, beginners, intermediate, and advance for the use of our Promethean Boards. The three levels of courses are continuously offered allowing teachers to continue their growth.

From these few activity examples and others that I have done, I find that technology is an ongoing process that is unending and sometimes tiresome when others are unwilling to attempt new resources. Stepping into this degree plan I have learned of various resources that I have never used before. I have also learned a few tricks in using Office 2007. Now that I have experienced new technologies available I find myself always looking for more. My classroom this year has increased in student performance due to the use of a variety of methods. I had eighteen out of ninety students pass the Exit Level Mathematics TAKS test. I honestly and truly believe this is because I was able to disaggregate the data and incorporate technology to best fit their needs. All of my students are considered “At Risk” students.

Knowing how to use DVD players on the Promethean Board, USB ports, toggling windows, using simple cut and paste type operations, e-mail, blogs, wikis, LAN/WAN are all basic concepts that should be know by all teachers. I have not come across a teacher who does not know how to use the basic components of technology provided, but now that I am typing this I am sure there is a teacher in my school who could use some help. I might do a technology 101 course at the start of the year for those teachers. Overall, I usually do not have questions in these areas, but if I do I can go to our school’s technology liaison or technology representative.

**__PART 1-6: STANDARD II: PLANNING AND DESIGNING LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS AND EXPERIENCES__** <span style="background-color: #ffff00; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">I have covered many performance indicators relevant to Standard II. I personally feel that Standard II is where my heart lies. I spend much of my time disaggregating information so that I make sure that I plan well. There is no sense in me trying to create a learning environment that is completely irrelevant to both students and teachers. I have done various activities that can correlate with Standard II. A few of the activities I have done is created mini staff developments that allow me to implement what I have done in the classroom with the teachers. For example, I have used Activotes showing teachers how to incorporate clickers in their instruction using various resources such as electronic games, online resources, and flipcharts. This provides a learning environment of engagement for both the students and the teachers. I have also created a staff development that incorporated a staff development that I actually created from a course and research-based article. The article was based on a school from New Jersey that created mini assessments of increasingly difficult questions. This was quite difficult to create and implement. The most difficult part of this development was acquiring questions of increasingly difficult questions and ways of asking.

From these activities I have gained the knowledge of patience. Using technology in a learning environment can sometimes be frustrating. I am a floater so sometimes my resources (computer, Promethean Board, projector, keyboard, etc.) do not always work. When this happens I of course try to assess the situation so that I may find a solution, but if a solution is not found I call our campus technician. When I am in need of assistance for learning environment experiences I often contact my site-mentor. She has many ideas from her meetings and networking that are usually helpful and most of all insightful. She has made me use programs that I never even knew my school paid for and were licensed to.

I will tell you that issues that do puzzle me are in relation to why are teachers so closed-minded when they expect their students to be open-minded. I should probably provide an online questionnaire for teachers about technology use in the classroom, and then a few weeks later provide another online survey that asks questions in reference to what they’d like their students to learn. I would somehow correlate the two showing the teachers that what they expect of the students is also expected of them.