Web Conference Reflection

As I was unable to attend a web conference, I watched the video recordings of two web conferences to get a feel for what the content was and what they were really like. After watching both of them, I have to say that I appreciate Dr. Abernathy taking the time to answer questions concerning all the required elements for graduation and graduation itself. So many times it is hard to get a straight or consistent answer, and she was happy to do her best in both of these instances. As for the conference itself, I do not feel that it was very interactive. Most people (myself included) do not have the technology to participate "in person," so there is a lot of typing questions and comments, but very little true interaction. Some people were responding to questions and having brief conversations, but it was difficult to keep up with the comments being typed and the comments Dr. Abernathy was making. Having everyone responding in the same format would have helped, but at this point, that does not seem likely.
I see the potential for this to be a great means of communication, but it is going to require all of us "digital immigrants" to take the leap and get the technology to make it more useful. Until then, though, it is still a good way to have immediate contact with the professor and classmates to resolve issues.

Technology Integration Action Plan

This week's assignment was to create an action plan for technology implementation and integration, a topic that is very timely and necessary with current advancements and new ones coming everyday!

Technology Integration Action Plan
I. Key Stakeholders and their roles
Technology Director
• Oversee distribution and installation of new technology
• Guide superintendents regarding technology progress and future needs
District Instructional Technology Specialists
• Train teachers and other staff members on the use and integration of new technology
• Visit campuses to observe classroom technology use, make recommendations for improvement , and use the information to plan future professional development sessions
Campus Principals
• Model and monitor use of technology on campus
• Provide opportunities for teachers to attend trainings and collaborate regarding implementation of training to maximize technology integration
Teachers and other faculty members
• Attend available trainings on current technologies
• Utilize training in the classroom and collaborate with colleagues to maximize understanding and use of technologies

The Principal’s Role:
I see the role of the principal in this action plan to be the mediator and go-between for teachers and district leaders. Through meetings with Central Office officials and technology specialists and trainings designated specifically for principals, the campus leader can gain the knowledge and understanding to lead his employees. At the campus level, he can lead professional development on these topics, model proper use and utilization, and gain insight and understanding from those in the trenches as to the benefit of the training and what else needs to be done to improve technology integration in the building as well as the district.

II. Professional Development Planning
My research regarding the use of technology in our district matched what our STaR chart data said – we are in the developing stage. Just this school year, all core teachers received SMART boards and document cameras in their rooms, buildings were wired for Wi-Fi, and teacher laptop and desktop computers were updated to support the new technology. Additionally, elementary schools were equipped with Neo IIs for every student in 2nd-5th grade. As a result, much of this year has been about installing and learning the basics of all this new technology. So the question now is, where do we go from here?

Teachers Leading Teachers
Each professional development day spent on campus will have a portion devoted to this activity.
Teachers who are doing creative and innovative things with their classroom technology will present a lesson to the staff.
Throughout the school year on district-scheduled professional development days.
After the presentation, teachers will work in small groups to adapt the idea to other content areas and topics.

District-wide Technology Training
Whereas Year 1 of SMART board training was focused on the basic skills needed to use the technology, Year 2 will focus on integrating the technology smoothly into the classroom.
• District technology coordinator, in collaboration with technology specialists will plan and conduct trainings
• Principals and teachers will be involved in training to insure understanding and expectations are similar.
District technology coordinator and specialists will plan and offer several training sessions for staff members to attend at their convenience.
Evaluation of training implementation will occur through PDAS evaluations and walkthroughs.

Legal Issues Training
A standardized online training will be required by all district employees, with principals having the option to address the issues at the campus level as well.
• District technology specialists
• Campus Principals
Initial training at beginning of school with reminder/update sessions throughout the school year
Effectiveness of training will be evaluated through classroom walkthroughs, lesson planning and implementation, and campus surveys/questionnaires.


III. Evaluation Planning
In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the technology action plan, we will analyze the following pieces of data:
• STaR chart- Once teachers have completed the survey for the current school year, we will use the data to update and adjust this action plan. Next year, after the survey has been completed again, we will look for increases across all areas regarding the use and integration of technology in the classroom.
• PDAS evaluations – Since technology use is a part of the PDAS system and the district walkthrough form, this is an obvious and easy way to track campus progress.
• Anecdotal information/informal campus surveys – While the official forms of information can tell a campus and district many things, it does not tell the entire story. Many feelings and opinions come into play when you discuss technology. Some people are afraid of change, while others feel it can’t come fast enough. Some will resist and refuse to adapt, and others will be brimming with new and exciting ways to implement the change. Formal evaluations can tell you where your weak and strong areas are, but informal evaluations can really get to the why behind it.

Texas STaR Chart Presentation

Here are my findings concerning the use of technology on my campus compared with the state as a whole.

Texas STaR chart pp

View more presentations from amandaboland

The Texas Long Range Plan for Technology

Having been out of the classroom for several years now, I have to admit that I knew very little about the technonlogy expectations for classrooms, campuses, districts, and the state as a whole before beginning this class.  Working through these assignments has truly opened my eyes to where we should be and where we actually are.  The area of Teaching and Learning has been of particular interest to me.  There are six areas of focus: Patterns of Classroom Use, Frequency/Design of Instructional Setting, Content Area Connections, TEKS Implementation, Student Mastery of TEKS, and Online Learning.  The state overall, as well as my campus specifically, is in the Developing Tech stage of this area.  While this is stage indicates that there is still a great deal of room to grow, there are still high expectations of this area.  I had the opportunity today to meet with the Career and Technology Counselor for our district.  She was making a presentation to middle and high school counselors concerning the CTE courses that would be offered next year and what some of the specific courses entailed.  During this presentation she made a comment that students had no idea how to use technology for professional purposes.  She said that while they can text, surf the internet, game, and find their way around firewalls, they cannot create simple Word or Excel documents.  Based on my study in this course, I stopped her later and asked her how that could be with the expectations of and mandates from the state.  Her response was that there is a serious disconnect between what the district officials believe is happening in k-8 classrooms and what is actually occurring.  In analyzing STaR chart data, I would take this theory a step farther and say that teachers across the state are either giving misleading information in their surveys or there is not a clear understanding of what the expectation is.  Either way, students are the ones losing out because they are not being prepared for success in high school, college, or the professional world.  We are using our technology to create a dog and pony show for our students, but we are not really teaching them anything of value regarding technology.

It has been awhile since I posted to this blog.  With the craziness of the Spring semester and then summer break, I have not had a lot of updates to post.  But we are now well into a new school year, and research and inquiry are again taking place! My assistant principal and I have begun meeting with new teachers on our campus and are sharing a variety of topics and information with them as they embark on this difficult yet rewarding career.  I will share some of these current experiences in the coming weeks, but today I want to post a draft of my dissemination paper on the topic of New Teacher Academies.  This project is in no way done, but this information will give interested parties a little insight into my thoughts and processes as I continue on this path. 

The Effect of New Teacher Academies on Teacher and Student Performance

Needs Assessment

As the campus coordinator and leader of the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports team, I spend a great deal of time analyzing discipline data.  Over time, it became apparent that the same teachers were writing the majority of the discipline referrals on our campus and that the same students were receiving discipline referrals on a regular basis.  Upon closer analysis, I discovered that our five new teachers fell at either end of the referral spectrum: three of them wrote excessive pink slips for everything from not having supplies to fighting and two of them wrote almost no pink slips for the entire year.  These discoveries led me to look more closely at the training new teachers receive and how to use this training to effect change in new teachers’ classrooms.

Objectives and Vision of the Action Research Project

After analyzing the data and observing new teachers’ classrooms, I began to ask the following questions:

• What effect do regular, weekly meetings with the new teachers on my campus have on increasing student time on-task and decreasing office referrals from these classes?  
• What effect do these meetings have on new teacher morale and retention rates?

These questions led me to discuss the extension of New Teacher Academy from a beginning-of-year event to a weekly training and discussion time.  I knew that the new teachers received many great tools, ideas, processes, and procedures in their training, but I also knew they were so overwhelmed that many of those things probably fell to the wayside very quickly.  With that in mind, my assistant principal and I wrote goals for ourselves and the new teachers with whom we wanted to effect change:

• In the 2011-12 school year, the number of discipline referrals will be reduced by 25%.
• In the 2011-12 school year, teacher time on task will be increased by 15%, as measured by administrative walk-throughs and evaluations.
• In the 2011-12 school year, student time on task will be increased by 25%, as measured by teacher observation and evaluation and administrative evaluation.

We then began writing lessons and activities geared toward the areas of concern we identified as we conducted informal walk-throughs of these classrooms.

Review of the Literature and Action Research Strategy

Articulation of the Vision

In the spring of 2011, after identifying the struggles our new teachers were facing, we determined that New Teacher Academy must begin immediately.  The main group to whom we needed to communicate our vision were the new teachers.  Because we were so far into the school year, this was not an easy subject to address without making the new teachers feel that we did not feel they could do their jobs adequately and alienating them.  In articulating our reason for creating the New Teacher Academy and our vision for the group, we stressed that we knew they were working hard and doing their best to meet the needs of their students.  We also acknowledged that we had not given them adequate support throughout the first half of the school year to increase their successes and reduces their struggles.  We then shared our goals for the second semester and how we intended to use New Teacher Academy to attain those goals.  By the end, the new teachers felt supported, appreciated, and ready to work together to improve the coming semester. 

Management of the Organization

This project has been organized and managed primarily by my assistant principal and me.  She was already meeting with the new teachers sporadically to discuss certain topics as she saw a need arise.  After analyzing the discipline data, I proposed a more consistent and structured meeting and topics to aid new teachers in developing their skills and proficiency as teachers.  She and I then worked together to observe the classrooms of our new teachers and develop a list of topics to cover each week in New Teacher Academy.  Because both of our schedules were already so busy, we divided the topics on the list between us based on our individual strengths and areas of interest and alternated the topics each week so that each of us was responsible for planning every two weeks.  We also looked to teacher leaders on our campus to lead some of the meetings to ease our load, but more importantly, to begin developing those leadership skills and promote peer teaching and learning.

Management of the Operations

Because the majority of the planning and work required for this project rested with the assistant principal and me, there were very few issues regarding consensus, communication, and conflict.  We get along very well, and I look to her constantly for advice and guidance in instructional matters, so this was a great opportunity for me to continue to learn a great deal from her.  The biggest conflict we faced throughout the project was the negative attitudes of a couple of the new teachers with whom we were working.  Even though we were very careful in our presentation of weekly New Teacher Academy meetings, there were still those that felt we considered them bad teachers that needed remediation in order to do their jobs appropriately and brought that attitude with them to our meetings.  The assistant principal led the first two meetings in order to model for me how to deal with the negativity appropriately and did a wonderful job of involving those people in the discussion and helping them to see on their own that they were good teachers but had areas that needed attention in order to make their classes run more smoothly.

Response to Community Interest and Needs

Because our campus has a much higher percentage of Special Education students than others in our district, this is always an area of concern and discussion when we implement new projects, strategies, and programs.  In this case, we looked at the discipline data for Special Education students in our new teachers’ classes.  Because these numbers were higher than we felt they probably should be, this became a primary focus of our classroom observations.  Our observations led us to determine that new teachers probably did not receive adequate training in working with Special Education students or how to properly read the paperwork related to these students in order to properly serve them.  This also led us to develop topics related to differentiating instruction and working with a variety of students and instructional levels within a single class.  We involved our diagnostician and Special Education teachers in part of the planning and discussion for these topics in order to maintain continuity and consistency throughout the building regarding how these elements have been previously implemented. 

Using the CARE Model to Address Campus Concerns

This week we studied strategies to sustain current improvements on our campuses and to identify future areas of study.  Based on my completion of the CARE model below, I feel that my topic (New Teacher Academy) is a valid topic of study for my campus and one that will help to address some current concerns.

Examining What We Do to Improve Our Schools Sandra Harris, Stacey Edmonson, Julie Combs

Tool 8.1 CARE Model: Planning Tool

Identify Concerns that must change

1. Student discipline referrals must be decreased.  Too much instructional time is lost currently due to discipline.

2. Teacher efficiency and management of classroom duties and procedures must be improved.  Currently there is a great deal of down time between activities and assignments, which wastes instructional time and increases the chance for discipline issues to arise.

3. Various disciplinary consequences (ISS, lunch detention, after school detention) need to be modified to increase effectiveness.  At this time, none of these options effectively decrease inappropriate behaviors.

Identify Affirmations that must be sustained

1. Grade-level teaming within the school day needs to be sustained.  This is a time for teachers to meet and discuss both positive and negative aspects of student performance in order to increase student achievement. 

2. Professional Learning Communities within the school day need to be sustained.  This is a time for each content area to collaborate and discuss effective instructional practices in order to increase student time on-task, and in turn, learning and achievement. 

3. Progressive Discipline Sheets on students who are sent to the office need to be sustained.  This is an excellent way to easily keep track of the number of times and consequences for each trip to the office, as well as an excellent tool to use with parents of students who consistently come to the office.

SMART Recommendations that must be implemented:

1. In the 2011-12 school year, the number of discipline referrals will be reduced by 25%.

2. In the 2011-12 school year, teacher time on task will be increased by 15%, as measured by administrative walk-throughs and evaluations.

3. In the 2011-12 school year, student time on task will be increased by 25%, as measured by teacher observation and evaluation and administrative evaluation.

EVALUATE – Specifically and Often

1.  Regular monitoring of the discipline log.

2.  Regular walk throughs by the administrative team to evaluate time on task for both students and teachers.

3.  Regular evaluations by teachers of themselves and each other to evaluate student time on task.

My Action Research Plan

Based on my decision to implement a New Teacher Academy on my campus to improve classroom management and decrease discipline referrals from new teachers' classes, I have created the following Action Research Plan.

GOAL:  To examine the effect of regular weekly meetings with teachers new to the campus on discipline referrals from these classes.

Action Step(s)	Person(s) Responsible	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
1. Research articles and other sources for information related to new teacher performance.	Myself and other campus administrators	March-May	Professional journals and databases, Internet seach engines and other resources	Does the research support a need for regular meetings with new teachers?
2. Analyze previous year’s discipline data to determine number of referrals from new teachers.  Compare with TAKS and other testing data to establish level of student performance.	Myself, site supervisor, and data clerk	May-June	Discipline referral data, TAKS data, other testing information from Eduphoria	What percentage of discipline referrals come from new teachers?  Will regular meetings decrease this number and increase student time on-task to improve TAKS scores?
3. Survey new teachers concerning perceived areas of strength and weakness and areas that they would like more information and guidance to improve their performance.	Myself and site supervisor	May and August	Surveys for teachers to complete	In what areas do new teachers feel they need support and guidance?  Does the data support these perceptions?  Will NTA help to improve these areas?
4. Plan and implement lessons for New Teacher Academy based on results of surveys and information gathered from research on this topic.	Myself and various administrators and teacher leaders throughout the school year	Weekly throughout school year	PBS and CHAMPS information and activities, various classroom management and discipline management resources	Are teachers implementing PBS and CHAMPS strategies introduced and discussed in NTA?  Are these strategies improving classroom performance and decreasing discipline referrals?
5. Analyze discipline referral data for new teachers throughout the year.  Compare with TAKS and other testing data to determine the effect of NTA on student behavior.	Myself, site supervisor, and discipline office secretary	Once every six weeks throughout school year	Discipline referral data, TAKS data, other testing information from Eduphoria	Have discipline referral numbers improved from the previous year?  Have TAKS scores and classroom performance improved in new teachers’ classrooms?  Is this program effective, and should it be continued for future new teachers?