EDLD 5397 Web Conference Week 5

There really wasn’t anything in this web conference that was new information for me.  I completed most of week 5 during week 4 because I had a lot of staff development scheduled in week 5.  So I’d already worked through all the kinks mentioned in TK-20, confirmed my PISE and Educator Dispositions Submissions, etc. I'd also already worked through the professional development plan based on the examples posted in the resource section of the google site. 

Web Conference Reflection

It was really nice to get a refresher on the remaining courses in the program, and to see all of the start and end dates for the rest of the classes in the program all on one document.

I also appreciate the update on PISE/Disposition email from TK20.  The walk through on the APA manual was also pretty helpful.  There are some design elements with the assignment templates that make double spacing and properly executing APA style unnecessarily complex.  It would be easier to complete with empty space instead of text boxes. 

Action Research Plan

Action Planning Template
Goal: Determine what the most economically and instructionally feasible model for double blocking our secondary students in English in order to improve reading and writing across the district/
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Collect enrollment numbers, and ELA Staffing numbers for 6-12th at each campus across the district.	Erica Ysbrand (HS ELA Curriculum Director) Shirley Wright (MS ELA Curriculum Director), Louis Harvill	December/January 2012	Enrollment numbers	Enrollment Spreadsheet Staffing Spreadsheet
Interview department heads and curriculum directors to gauge support for Double Blocking	Louis Harvill	January 2013	Surveymonkey	Survey Data
Review Literature, develop several logistically sound models	Louis Harvill	February 2013	University Research Databases, Excel, manipulatives	Spreadsheets
Present Models for feedback from Curriculum Directors and Department Heads	Louis Harvill	March/Apri 2013l	Livebinder, Survey Monkey	Survey results
With approval, pitch best model to district principals	Louis Harvill	June 2013	PowerPoint, Moodle	Notes, feedback, moodle
If campuses accept, assist in implementation of Double-Blocked ELA	Louis Harvill	June/July/August 2013	TEAMS, face to face	Master Schedules
Survey teachers. Administrators, department heads on pilot campuses	Louis Harvill	December/January 2013	Survey Monkey, face to face	Survey results, notes from face to face
Analyze STAAR Data for evidence of improvement	Louis Harvill	May 2014	District Data database	Spreadsheets

Research: Questions, Reflection, and Profession

This week gave us the opportunity to see a lot of examples of action research topics, and spend a lot of time reflecting on what we want to do for our own research.  

This set of assignments came at a very appropriate time for me.  I spent Wednesday through Friday at a conference hosted by the Texas Association for Gifted and Talented (TAGT) in downtown Dallas. 

There were a wide range of excellent presenters, giving presentations on everything from Curriculum and Instruction to Program Design and Implementation, to the Social and Emotional needs of learners. 

The sessions I sat in on gave me a lot of great tools to take back to teachers, but also presented a lot of research that had been done by educators to determine best practices for gifted students.  They also reminded me some of the reasons I got into education, and I had an opportunity to speak with a lot of administrators about their experience in their education careers.

Through the course of the reading, and the course of the conference, I found some goals and some areas of interest for myself.  I know that one thing I want to continue to work on is helping my district improve cooperation between the Social Studies and ELA departments in order to increase student performance.  

I also spent a lot of time thinking about how data was presented and how research was done, and whether or not those processes had produced valid, applicable, verifiable, repeatable data.  All of those are important factors to consider about the research design for my Action Research Project.

Overall it was a really good week for me professionally, and in addition to the readings I had a lot of great experiences.  

P.S. If anyone’s looking for some great resources for using technology in instruction, I highly recommend http://www.brianhousand.com

How Educational Leaders Can Use Blogs

Educational leaders can use blogs in a variety of ways.  They could create a blog for parents to communicate information about upcoming school events.  They could create a blog to share the books they are currently reading, either to share educational philosophy with teachers and parents, or to share literature with students.  They could create an internal blog for teachers in order to raise questions or reflect on recent changes in practices.