EDLD 5301 Week 3 Reflections

As I continue to work on my action research plan, I am making adjustments to narrow down and concentrate on one particular issue rather than having a broader scope to work with.  Thinking of the project as more of an intervention was helpful to initiate my brainstorming ideas.  I am anticipating that my results will show that a technology based reading fluency program will be beneficial to my Special Education students as well as possibly implementing a similar plan to the General Education population.  I have learned during this third week of my research class that an action research project is an ongoing process and can certainly lead to other substantial action research ideas.      

Action Research Plan EDLD 5301

Action Research Plan
Goal: To determine if and how technology can be used in a Special Education small group setting to increase reading fluency.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
1.Identify the 2-4 Special Education students involved in research.	Dawn Shinn Angelee Morales Merrill Redfern Special Education Team	August 2012	ARD documentation	Determine and create a group with similar classification grade level and academic need. Inform and obtain approval from parents.
2.Obtain group members reading fluency scores for baseline determination.	Dawn Shinn Special Education Team Merrill Redfern	September 2012	AIMSWEB data Excel spreadsheet for data collection.	Ensure that I have sufficient data before beginning student use of interventions.
3.Assign programs to group members and begin use of interventions.	Merrill Redfern Students	September – December 2012	The Six Minute Solution Program. Read Naturally Program.	Implement and monitor student’s use of Reading Fluency programs.
4.Literature Review	Merrill Redfern Angelee Morales Dawn Shinn	December 2012	Internet literature	Review current literature and data regarding use of a technology program in Sped in other districts

Action Research Plan
Goal: To determine if and how technology can be used in a Special Education small group setting to increase reading fluency.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
5.Obtain Reading fluency scores from mid-year assessments	Dawn Shinn Merrill Redfern Special Education Team	January 2013	AIMSWEB Excel Spreadsheet	Compare baseline scores to mid-year scores.
6.Continue with interventions alternating programs with the students.	Merrill Redfern Students	January - April 2013	The Six Minute Solution Program. Read Naturally Program.	Implement and monitor student’s use of Reading Fluency programs.
7.Obtain Reading fluency scores from end of year assessment.	Dawn Shinn Merrill Redfern Special Education Team	April – May 2013	AIMSWEB Excel Spreadsheet	Compare end of year scores to baseline and mid year scores.
8.Compile all completed data and research into an action research plan informal oral presentation.	Merrill Redfern Angelee Morales Dawn Shinn Special Education Team	May 2013	Baseline data Mid-year data End of year data Program intervention data	Using all data collected, analyze and determine if and at what rate reading fluency increased with and without a technology based program.

EDLD 5301 - Week 2 Reflection

After watching and listening to the videos of the three Texas school leaders who discussed their action research projects and how they used them, it helped me define the parts of the action research process in more detail. The examples provided by all the leaders helped me paint a picture of what action research would look like. The advice given by Dr. Kirk continues to influence my decisions as I look at my action research plan. That advice is to make sure your research project is practical and relevant to student learning. As I narrow down my project, conduct my research and collect data I will try to ensure the end result is beneficial to my resource students, my team and campus.

EDLD 5301 - How can Educational Leaders use blogs?

There are several ways in which Educational Leaders can use blogs. Superintendents can use them to share information with district principals, district teachers, parents, and the community. Principals can use blogs to share information with campus staff, such as informing about upcoming events, and campus news. Teachers can use them to stay in communication with their parents, students, and other teachers. Blogs provide a way for various groups to stay connected, share information and provide feedback.

EDLD 5301 Week 1 - Action Research

Action research is a process of self-reflective research in which educators and practitioners reflect systematically on their practice, placing forth informed action to bring about improvement to their practice. As I have read through our selections this week, I’ve specifically learned that action research is a continuing and ongoing process. Monitoring and updating the project based on the data collected is everlasting and consequently very informative. Maybe more importantly, I have learned what action research is not. Action research is not problem-solving in the sense in trying to find out what is wrong, but rather a quest of knowledge about how to improve upon personal strategies. Action research is not about accomplishing research about people or looking for the correct answers. It involves people working to improve upon their skills and strategies. Action research is not about learning why we do certain things the way we do, but rather how we can do things better. It is about how we can change our instruction to positively impact our students.

I'm looking forward to using action research as we begin to incorporate more technology into the resource classroom. We look forward in using the research and information we collect to monitor the positive and negative aspects of this change. As I have read in action research articles, time seems to be a major challenge. I do not think it will be any different at our campus as we incorporate our technology plan. I anticipate a struggle to find the time to not only learn how to use the technology, but manage to incorporate it into the lessons for our resource students. I look forward to the many benefits for our students using various types of technology. I know our students will be glad about the new technology and will embrace the change that it brings to our campus.

Week 5 Assignment, Part 2: Course Reflections

When I began my first class towards my Master’s degree, Concepts of Educational Technology, I was not quite sure what to expect and a little anxious about the unknown. I knew I wanted to pursue my Master’s degree in a concentration in which I would learn as well as enjoy. To be honest, I truly enjoy technology more than I have ever in the past. I set out to learn more knowledge about technology, technology assessments, and digital tools and how they can be utilized in the educational setting. As I placed myself in a position to pursue and learn all about technology satisfies two components of my vision: 1) learning all that I can so that I can help others and eventually feel confident in teaching the concepts to 21st Century learners, and 2) overcoming my fears and anxiety about technology which will build my confidence to teach others. I gained knowledge and thoroughly enjoyed creating and using the different tools such as wikis, blogs, animoto and wordle.

The experience that I gained through this course is relevant to my work as a Resource/Special Education Teacher’s Aid. Although I am a certified teacher I hold an Aide’s position that limits me on what I can achieve in preparation of lessons plans. However, I have already introduced my Lead Teacher to many of the concepts and tools that I learned in this course. My Lead Teacher is very interested in what I have introduced to her and has incorporated the tools into her lesson plans. I have collaborated with other teachers about our 21st Century Learners and the much needed changes to satisfy and be successful with student engagement. To experience more and learn additional information, I am looking forward to a Technology workshop regarding 21st Century Learners being held in my area this summer. Learning about our campus technology ratings and the Star chart gave me insight into technology areas that need to be addressed at our campus.

I do not think there were any specific outcomes that I did not achieve on completion of this course. I believe I have accomplished my expected outcome and goals of this course. I set out to learn more about technology and how I can implement my knowledge in the classroom. I value the information and experience I have gained from this course. I can see myself using the information in my current job position as well as sharing the information with fellow teachers and staff. Now that I have the information readily available and well organized, I can easily refer to the information as needed. I did experience some challenges initially and along the way of completing the course. Organizing my time to get assignments completed on time and setting up the new computer I purchased with the needed software were the challenges I faced. I look forward to future courses and feel confident in using the tools I learned from this first course.

I believe I was successful in carrying out the course assignments and meeting the required deadlines but it was not without challenges. I felt overwhelmed as I dug through the first week’s assignment. In my opinion, the first week was the toughest as the content was completely new to me. I was nervous, to say the least, about the time commitment and organization of the course. I was worried that I was not going to complete the assignment on time as I struggled with organizing the amount of work that was expected. I found it difficult finding that balance between my home life, full time work responsibilities and Master program requirements. I realized very quickly that to get through the first course and remaining courses that I would need to polish up on my time management skills. As the weeks passed, my anxiety diminished little by little. I was able to manage assignment deadlines and requirements with a little more ease. I was determined to be successful. I have a better understanding of how I can organize my time and schedule to complete assignments on time.

I have learned quite a bit from this course, about myself and my technology capabilities. I’ve learned I have underestimated my technology experience as well as the capability I possess in learning new technology concepts and tools. I have gained confidence in my ability to maneuver through technology programs with the tools I have learned and share what I have learned with others. My Lead Teacher has even commented on my confidence level when applying the technology tools I have learned with our students. She too, has applied some of the technology tools in her lesson planning. My attitude has changed with technology in that I am more accepting of new challenges rather than shy away from something I did not think I could do. It helped me to develop goals for myself throughout this course and built up the confidence as I crossed the finish line. I needed to strive to be an effective Technology Leader. I will continue and look forward to taking the steps, strive and grow towards becoming an effective Technology Leader.