Week 5 Reflection

When I first heard the title ‘Instructional Leadership’, I thought this class would be quite different that what it actually turned out to be. I believed that it would be more curriculum based and not technology related. I believed that this class would prepare me for learning, evaluating, and training others on instructional strategies. As an administrator, one must be highly aware of the needs of the campus. An administrator must recognize and address the needs of the campus. This includes using the strengths of the campus to address those needs successfully while trying to improve the weaknesses. As an administrator, he/she must consider what is needed, the weaknesses of the campus and the overall strengths in planning staff development to meet those needs, address the weaknesses and improve on the strengths. I feel that this course did not meet my overall expectation or vision. While I find technology extremely important to the success of a campus, I felt that this course did not address the needs of campuses – finding practical ways and strategies to incorporate technology in the classroom. In my opinion, this course dealt mostly with recognizing the importance of technology in schools, a fact that we all don’t disagree with. Now the question becomes, how do we use technology?

As to my outcomes that I envisioned, I believe the course covered quiet comprehensively the importance of technology on a school campus and the need for it to be incorporated into the classroom. I believe that this course somewhat touched on how as an administrator to address those needs, but what lacked was the practical application. I believe that this course lacked the exposure or experience with possible instructional strategies and applications for technology. I did find it somewhat helpful to research the district and campus goals along with the Campus Improvement Plan in relation to technology. I would have liked to then taken that information and used it in a more practicable way. The question I would like to have addressed is what strategies and techniques can be used to meet those needs goals.

As stated before, one outcome I did not achieve was exploring a more applicable approach to technology in the schools and classrooms. I would have like to focus more on methods and techniques for implementing technology and improving instructional strategies in the classroom and addressing such things as dealing with teachers with little technological experience and skills. I would have liked to explore deeper into various content areas and addressing the needs to those areas. Each area is unique and different in terms of what they need to be successful, strategies, and methods. I would have like to at least touched on different areas, assessing those needs and then developing strategies to help them within their content area. This includes using technology and ways each content area can use technology to cover TEKS and meet the needs of the students.

I was successful in carrying out the course assignments. I am capable to reading directions, following the assignment rubric and incorporating the necessary information for a particular assignment. In that way I was successful. The question then becomes did I find the information I acquired helpful and relevant to my course of study and did I find it useful to me for future reference. While some information gained such as district and campus goals and examining the Campus Improvement Plan was helpful and will find useful, much of the information I presented in the course assignments were not helpful. While I find it important to reflect as I move through a processes or class, I felt that this class used a substantial amount of reflection, but not much ‘meat’ to reflect upon. I would have liked to done a bit more practical assignments then reflect on that and its usefulness in future settings. What discouraged me was that I felt that this class was a bit more research based rather than concrete application.
Another aspect in connection to this course that discouraged me was the discussion board process. While I do recognize and appreciate the importance of the discussion board, I felt the process was tedious and non-helpful. I did really see a practical meaning to posting separate for each quote. I also had difficulty responding to others on the board for each of their quotes. I recognize that not all people work the same as me and I found myself getting that requirement done that the last minute. While I had my quotes posted by day 2, others did follow the same path therefore I found myself at the mercy of others to complete an assignment.

The skills analysis and surveys did not really help me much. I realized that I had a fairly good grasp of my technological skills. I really did not learn much about myself. The other aspects of the surveys dealt with campus and district aspects that I had no knowledge on and therefore was unable to accurately and intelligently answer. I felt that this class did not successfully cover the positive and negative aspects of technology, at least none that I was not already aware of – lack of skills of some, protection and security issues, and budget. One area that I did become more aware of was the connection between state goals and the goals of the district and ultimately the campus. While I was mindful of the connection between the three entities, I did not quite grasp the ‘trickle down effect’ it has on each layer.

One value of blogs in terms of education is the opportunity to share with students and colleagues in a more worldwide arena. I think this would be useful to connect students and teachers from other areas to discuss and experiment with instructional strategies. This was my first opportunity to use a blog – while I did find it interesting and one some level helpful, I did realize that it can’t be helpful if people are unaware of its existence. That may be one area to address; how do we use this tool efficiently and effectively in the classroom? I do recognize its usefulness and value in terms of sharing viewpoints and suggestions. This can be particularly helpful with schools with limited resources and materials.

In terms of using the blogs with students, access to inappropriate materials and pictures is always a concern. It is troublesome to find a way to access the usefulness while still adhering to the security aspects of the schools and districts. It will be a struggle to strike the balance between the two. The legitimacy of the information may also prove difficult. If using the information on the blog for research purposes, you are relying on the truthfulness of the information. If the information is not particularly honest, this can cause problems. It will be important to explore the rights and duties of the schools and district when using blogs in the classrooms. As I stated in a previous assignment, security, privacy, and ethics should be incorporated into the technology curriculum as well as in staff development for teachers.

This may prove to be useful as well. Like the discussion board, blogging can serve as a good venue for sharing ideas and collaborating with other colleges within the district or beyond. Blogging can also be used in the classroom a means for evaluation and assessment. I would think blogging would be useful when sharing ideas and communicating with parents. While we must always be mindful of the privacy aspect of students, it would be a great tool to share with parents such things as homework issues, ideas that worked at home with specific skills or help ideas and information regarding a course. Since files can be uploaded to a blog, teachers can upload course requirements, syllabuses, and general information regarding a particular class. In terms of student needs and benefits, blogging can provide an additional opportunity for students to practice communication modes and writing skills.

Action Plan - Week 4

The superintendent is the head of the district and therefore accountable for the decisions and actions of the district. Our superintendent believes that technology integration by both teachers and students is critical for success of the students. This is evident in his decisions and goals in the area of technology. He supports technology learning opportunities for both teachers and students.

There are several associate superintendents for various areas such as facilities and planning, human resources and business services that serve under the district superintendent. Technology and school services is one of these areas with an associate superintendent who helps implement the goals of the district superintendent. Also included in this area are curriculum leaders for both elementary and secondary schools, academic coaches for various content areas such as math and science and administrators and teachers. TEKS objectives, TAKS scores, information gained from STaR chart surveys plays a key role in defining goals in the area of technology. Those in the area of curriculum and instruction work together with those in the area of technology to develop the goals of the district. District coordinators along with the curriculum leaders and academic coaches share district goals and information with the individual campuses. Those in each content area work with technology to provide valuable information and training in the area of technology and implementing it into the various content areas. Campus needs are addressed for both materials and resources as well as training. On the campus level, the principal, director of instruction as well as technology support work with teachers to ensure that materials and resources are available as well as training so that teachers are able to integrate technology in the classroom.

Principals along with the director of instruction and technology team meet to address concerns regarding technology on the campus and develop strategies to help teachers incorporate technology in the classroom. The District Action Plan addresses technology at all levels and in all content areas. The principals, academic coaches and coordinators are responsible for implementing the goals outlined by the district. The District Action Plan also incorporates technology goals for teachers to use technology in the classroom to support instruction. The district supports the use of technology by both teachers and students. The district goals are then incorporated into the Campus Improvement Plan (CIP) where technology is listed as an important strategy to support and promote student success and increase achievement.

On my campus, technology is expected to be used by all teachers. Technology is designed to support the different learning styles of students. This is vital in the area of special education, especially in my area of deaf education. Technology provides the visual representation that is needed by deaf students to understand key concepts and develop vocabulary. My campus uses such things as smart boards, COWS and software to provide the opportunity for students to become active participants in a lesson and increase understanding and achievement.
My action plan addresses technology use in a self contained special education setting – specifically in the area of deaf education and the connection to increased TAKS scores. It is my goal to develop a plan that involves incorporating technology in the classroom and providing the needed professional development to reach this goal. The goal is to use technology to provide differentiated instruction in order to improve student achievement. The Campus Improvement Plan includes those who will support the goals of the plan.
The goal of the CIP in the area of special education is to ensure the students’ competence reaches or exceeds grade-level standards in all content areas and increasing proficiency on all TAKS (Campbell CIP, 2008-2009). Special education teachers, academic achievement specialists and intervention teams along with campus administration will support the goals of the action plan. Strategies that are data driven will be evaluated and specific interventions will be set in place. The action plan will address a specific item in the Campus Improvement Plan – fill the gaps in the area of Math and Language and increasing background knowledge and vocabulary instruction. Those students who have been identified as ‘at risk’ will attend pull outs beginning in January for 12 weeks. Students will attend 1 pull out (a PE class) each week that will focus on Math and Language (Reading) designed at increasing vocabulary and background knowledge. The students who have been identified as ‘at risk’ are those students who in previous years have not passed TAKS. The goal of the pull out aligns with the goals outlined in the Campus Improvement Plan in the area of special education – to increase the percentage of special education students demonstrating proficiency on all TAKS Performance Assessments by double digits.

1. Three (3)Retired Teachers in the content areas along with interpreters will be used for the pull out beginning the 2nd week in January.

- The teachers will work with students on specific objectives using such technology support as smart boards and COWS (computers on wheels station) along with software designed to increase vocabulary in the core contents.

- Academic coaches will work with the teachers and provide training on specific TAKS strategies using differentiated instruction and incorporating technology to support instruction in the classroom for both teachers and students.

2. Teacher Training: Support the pull out with classroom strategies.

- Smart board: Activities and games will be provided to teachers in addition to training using the activities and equipment. These activities will be created by the team as well as the academic coaches in the content areas. The technology support staff on campus will provide training for teachers on the use of the equipment in the classroom.

- Video Camera: In the area of deaf education, academic helping teachers and the technology coach with the assistance of the teachers will provide study guides for content areas that emphasizes the vocabulary. These CD study guides can then be ‘checked out’ by the students to be used at home as well as teachers to use in class.

- Computer Software: TAKS tutorials and vocabulary development in content areas will provide continual practice to students in the classroom. These will support what is covered during the pull out sessions.

3. Teacher and Student Evaluation

- Retired Teachers will monitor and assess the weekly activities of the students and monitor weekly the development of vocabulary and core concepts of students. Practice test scores will be evaluated and specific objectives will be identified for future pull out sessions.

- Modifications: Based on going evaluation of students in the pull out, modifications will be made in the pull out setting. Evaluations will also guide what changes and modifications need to be made to resources used in the classroom.

Data will be collected to help identify specific objectives that need to be addressed. The Campus Improvement Plan will then use that information to implement a program to increase achievement on those objectives. Technology plays a crucial role accomplishing the goals of the district and campus. Currently on my campus, administrators are doing mega monitoring in all classrooms to assess the use of technology along with other strategies and its effectiveness in improving student achievement. Administrators can then determine which teachers are successfully implementing technology in instruction and areas in need of continual training. In the district appraisal system, technology use in the classroom is one area that is evaluated. Administrators communicate to the teachers the district goals in the area of technology and how it is evaluated and used in the classroom. Staff development is provided at both the campus and district level on the uses of technology in the classroom and its effectiveness on student achievement. Staff development is based on the goals and objectives outlined in both the District Plan and Campus Improvement Plan as well as student data.



2008-2009 Campus improvement plan for campbell middle school. (2008). Retrieved
(December 3, 2009) from http://schools.cfisd.net/campbell/index.stm

Profile: overview of cypress-fairbanks independent school district. (2009). Retrieved
(December 3, 2009) from http://www.cfisd.net/aboutour/profile01.pdf