Research Course (EDLD 5301) Reflection

This class has had a major impact on the way I view administration and has also given me insight in how decisions are made and supported.  Both texts proved to be very beneficial as they gave great examples of each topic they covered.  These texts will be a great resource to refer to as I grow in my technology leadership career.  In reference to action research, another good definition that stuck with me comes from the Data (2009) text:

Historically, principals have not had access to tools that can help them untangle the complexity of their work as administrators and bring the focus of their work back to their leadership in teaching and learning.  Rather, principals often find themselves focusing on the routine management jobs that must get done, and to survive, responding haphazardly and unsystematically to the constant demand after demand for their time and attention.  Administrative inquiry is one tool that can be used by principals to untangle the intricate web of demands in which they become entangled each day, take charge of their own professional development, and become the “head learner” of their school. (p.2)

One of the required activities was to have discussions with my site supervisor which allowed me to modify my plan according to goals our school has set in place.  She has been more than helpful in assisting me with the process on how I will gather my data.  I have found that administrators are constantly growing through professional development much like teachers and are constantly learning and trying new things.  Never at one time do they know everything but continually growing, which is reassuring to me.  Through her advice, I will be working with several teachers throughout the upcoming school year constantly learning and readjusting my plan as necessary.

I really enjoyed posting ideas and plans in the Discussion Board.  This has allowed me to take other people’s comments, advice, and opinions to formulate the best decision possible.  I also feel this is important since we don’t actually physically sit in a classroom, we don’t have the chance to interact with each other.  Having the Discussion Board allows us to do just that.  I teach at a 1:1 school and within our Learning Management System is a Discussion Forum where teachers will post topics and students have to respond to them.  They also serve as a place for students to bounce ideas off of each just like we do in our course.

I feel having us create and maintain a blog was my overall favorite thing in this course.  I enjoyed others reading my blog and commenting because sometimes my thoughts were not complete or connected and my colleagues helped me in completing and connecting them.  I also think we inspire each other because many times I had teachers comment that they also would like to have a similar action plan or that they cannot wait to see my results of my plan.  I felt the same about their action research plans, as well.  The experience I gathered from listening to different opinions will be beneficial when it comes to disseminating information and communicating with teachers and administrators. 

References:

Harris, S., Edmonson, S., and Combs, J. (2010). Examining what we do to improve our schools: 8 steps to improve our schools. Eye on Education Press.

Dana Fichman, Nancy (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

My Action Research Plan

Cynthia Butler’s Action Research Plan
Goal: Teachers utilizing eInstruction for informal assessments with descriptive feedback.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Based on walk-through observations from administrators ELA/Science teachers are not utilizing eInstruction for informal assessments in their classrooms.	Administrators and Cynthia Butler	December 2012	Eduphoria data	Interventions needed to raise eInstruction usage for ELA/Science classrooms.
Inform 9th and 10th grade ELA and Science teachers about my Action Research Plan and request them to share their lesson plans with me in Eduphoria.	Cynthia Butler and ELA/Science Teachers	December 2012 - January 2013	Eduphoria	Will log into Eduphoria and see a list of ELA and Science teachers that have shared their lesson plans with me.
Beginning of the week I will check ELA and Science teachers’ lesson plans and record how many teachers have planned to use eInstruction in the same week.	Cynthia Butler	January 2013 – December 2013	Eduphoria and Excel	Will note the number of teachers who indicated they will use eInstruction that week in an Excel workbook.
Will visit those teachers’ classrooms who indicated they would utilize eInstruction that week.	Cynthia Butler	January 2013 – December 2013	Excel	Record those teachers who actually used eInstruction that week in an Excel workbook and analyze the data.
While visiting those classrooms I will note how they utilized eInstruction – did they use it for an informal assessment with descriptive feedback?	Cynthia Butler	January 2013 – December 2013	Excel	Are they actually using eInstruction as informal assessments with descriptive feedback?
Meet with those teachers who did not use eInstruction in their lessons that week who indicated they were in their lesson plans.	Cynthia Butler and ELA/Science Teachers	January 2013 – December 2013	Excel	Discover why they did not use eInstruction that week and record findings.

Passion #1 - Staff Development

This section of Leading with Passion and Knowledge really caught my attention because my main role as the Campus Instructional Technology Specialist is to effectively train our teachers to utilize the technology in their classrooms.  I am responsible for ensuring our teachers know all the programs/applications they are expected to utilize on a daily basis with their students.  If a teacher is not knowledgeable about any aspect of technology, it is my responsibility to get them up to speed.  If a teacher is not utilizing the technology, then I have to brainstorm ways to get that teacher to use the technology provided.  I was happy to find in the reading that having an ongoing, school-based staff development program in which that program can flourish is one of the best indicators of instructional leadership (Dana, 2009).  As one of the CITS on campus, we are there all day every day for our teachers so if and when they need us, we are there within a matter of minutes.  Also, our trainings are specifically geared towards programs/applications used in a 1:1 setting where our district education technology teachers are not.  My personal feeling is that if teachers don’t feel they have the required support on their campus, they most likely will not feel compelled to utilize the technology available to them.  This section made me reflect on what we are actually doing in our staff developments.  Are we making it meaningful to teachers where they understand the purpose of using that particular piece of technology and understand that students will reap the benefits from doing so?  Can they use this program in the time allotted to them, which is 45 minutes per class period?  It also forced me to look at the ISTE’s standards once again to ensure we are aligned with them.  Personally, this was a really good reflective piece for me.

References:

Dana Fichman, Nancy (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.