Last Week for this Course (EDLD 5388)

For the first three weeks of this course, I had to select a group to work with.  The group had to take survey relating to our campus, then we discussed results from the survey.  I picked two teachers, a counselor, and a diagnostician to work with me.  The hardest part was getting together to work on the weekly assignments.  We had to correspond mainly through email.  It is hard to rely on others, but overall the experience was eye opening.  It is amazing how different staff members evaluate the same group of students and the same school.

EDLD 5388- Schools as Learning Communities

I'm in my 2nd week of this class.  It is quite interesting to discover what learning communities are which includes being part of a team (not just being in a group).  Being part of team is sharing a goal, having accountability, coaches and leaders, cohesion, high level of commitment, and more conflict (more invested) (taken directly from video 2 in week 2). 

I have discovered that I am not part of a team at my school (anyways).  Change needs to be made, but it is hard just for one to two people to make that change. 

EDLD 5397 Supervision Internship

I'm finishing the 3rd week of this class.  I haven't posted weekly due to the fact that many of the assignments have to do with reflection.  I was looking forward to this class because I was under the impression that it would reflect on where I have been so far on this adminstrative preparation journey; however, I feel that I reflect on my reflections.  It is somewhat aggravating.  One of my assignments is to post my action research plan.  I have previously did that in another class. But to fulfill the requirements, I will do it again.  One positive about this class is that I'm spending 4 to 5 hours on the weekly assignments rather than 10 to 15 hours.

ACTION  RESEARCH PLAN Wonderings: How can my campus become a better, working community within the school and what benefits would result?  Is there a correlation between being involved in PLCs (Professional Learning Committees) and feeling a sense of belongingness? Goal:  Examine the purpose of PLCs (Professional Learning Committees) and whether teachers will become more connected once involved in such committees. Action Steps(s): Person(s) Responsible: Timeline: Start/End Needed Resources Evaluation Compile a list of committees and participants in my campus’ PLCs. myself, Secretary – Mrs. Ornelas, Principal – Mr. Guillen March 11, 2011- March 31, 2011 list of committees and list of participants Is each list current and up-to-date? If committee members change, how will that affect my research? Select a group of teachers that are not involved in PLCs. myself, Site Supervisor- Mr. Johnston a selected group of teachers that overall represent the campus March 11, 2011- March 31, 2011 the willingness of teachers  to participate This sample will give me other viewpoints besides those that are directly involved in campus decision making.  Will those not involved in PLCs still have a sense of community? Reflect in my blog weekly. myself March 11, 2011- December 15, 2011 time set aside (weekly), computer Will my reflections help me better comprehend the purpose(s) for this action research? Prepare interview and survey questions. myself, Site Supervisor- Mrs. Johnston March 31, 2011- April 5, 2011 time, questions, survey monkey Will the questions give me a better understanding of how PLCs benefit my campus? Will the questions enhance my action research? Teacher interviews and surveys. myself and selected teachers (participants and non-PLC participants- to compare data) April 5, 2011- May 15, 2011 time, interview questions and survey Will the teachers allow me to ask questions without reacting defensively? Observe committees and fill out my own questionnaire. myself and each member of each committee March 21, 2011- December 15, 2012 time, observation, and observation questionnaire Will the teachers allow me to observe them? Will the observations be a true picture of how the meetings are usually conducted? Compile teacher data and my observations. myself, Site Supervisor-Mrs. Johnston December 15, 2012- December 20, 2012 time, systematic way of compiling data Will the data help me get a sense of how the teachers feel? Do they feel more connected to the campus and campus’ vision? Create report. myself, Site Supervisor-Mrs. Johnston December 15, 2012- December 20, 2012 PowerPoint By analyzing the data, will I have a better understanding of PLCs? Is there a correlation between being part of a PLC and feeling a sense of belonging? Share findings. myself, Principal- Mr. Guillen campus staff January 1, 2012- January 15, 2012 conference or meeting time, blank copies of questions, survey, observations, and PowerPoint Will my findings help others to decide whether or not to join PLCs in order to feel part of the campus community? Identify wonderings and explore new action research topics. myself, Site Supervisor-Mrs. Johnston March 11, 2011-January 20, 2012 reflect on wonderings (blog) Will my blog reflections reveal new findings? Format based on Tool 7.1 from Examining What We Do to Improve Our Schools (Harris, Edmonson, and Combs, 2010)

Last Week of School Community Relations Class

I have enjoyed this class.  It is kind of ironic that I just became the PI (parent involvement) representative at my school this year.  The information from this course has came in handy.  Now I know why we do the things we do as a Title I campus. 

4th Week of EDLD 5326 Class

This week focused on advocacy for all students, parental involvement among diverse groups, site-based decision making committees, and overcoming barriers (roles and responsibilities of stakeholders).

The dots are starting to connect.  The information in this class is helping me understand why we do some of things we do at school.

3rd Week of School Community Relations Class

This class is already half over; I took a midterm exam.  The assignment this week was to establish a project timeline.  The timeline answered the questions: what is realistic timeline for your project?  What are the required tasks?  Who will make sure the timeline is followed and that the tasks are complete? (the questions are taken directly from the assignment sheet).  In addition to establishing a timeline, I also established an evaluation process which answered the question, how will you know that the partnership has met those goals?  (the question was taken directly from the assignment sheet).

2nd Week of EDLD 5326 School Community Relations

This week's assignments were to gather data and come up with an initial partnership proposal in order to design or improve community partnerships.

It is apparent after reading several articles and watching this week's videos that partnerships with parents and other members of the community are important factors in students' success at school.

“Evidence shows a strong connection between parent and family involvement in schools and children’s academic achievement, attendance, attitude, and continued education” (Henderson & Berla, 1994; Hickman, 1996).

Reference:

Comuntizis-Page, G. (1996), Critical issue: Creating the school climate and structures to support parent and family involvement.  Appalachia Educational Laboratory/North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. Washington, DC: Learning Points Associates.  Retrieved January 22, 2009, from http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issue/envrnment/famncomm/pa300.htm .

First Week for School Community Relations Class

This class addresses how schools can and do influence their supporting community.  Community is defined as parents, and other family members, businesses, agencies, and organizations.  This week's assignment was to analyze two of my school's involvement programs (one geared toward parent involvement and the other geared toward community involvement).  A SWOT analysis was conducted for both programs.  SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

Last Week for the EDLD 5345 Class

I have a better understanding of the SBEC Competencies and the supporting standards because of this class.  I enjoyed this Human Resource Management course.  I liked learning about human resource management, campus vision, culture, values, ethics, laws, professional learning, staff evaluations, organizational leadership, decision-making and problem solving, budgeting, resource allocation, and financial management. 

4th Week- Human Resource Management

This week's assignment only had four parts:  human resource organization leadership reflection, article critique, summary of interview with Debra Cannon, and teacher evaluations.

The most interesting part of the assignment were the six steps for teacher evaluations:

1.) Begin the evaluation process early in the school year.

     

2.) Utilize classroom walk-throughs often enough to ensure validity to what you see in

      the designated observation and evaluation visit. 

    

3.) If there are any problem areas, schedule a conference with the teacher to discuss the

     issues and put a synopsis of the conference in writing.

    

4.) Ask the teacher what he/she needs in terms of support in order to meet performance

     expectations.

  

5.) If problems continue, establish a reasonable timeline for the teacher to demonstrate

     improvement and conduct a follow-up evaluation.

     

6.) Complete a third and final evaluation visit prior to making a contract status

      recommendation to the superintendent.

     

I like using guidelines (or steps) to accomplish tasks.  I'm definitely not looking forward to step 6 (as an administrator). 

Week 3- Human Resource Management

The assignments included technology integration, six points of the Cultural Proficiency Continuum, Cultural Proficiency Receptivity Scale, Professional Development Rubric, article critique, HR interviews for professional development and appraisal, merit pay article reflection, and a leaders wear many hats activity.

My favorite activity was 'leaders wear many hats'.  The 'hats' or roles include being a counselor, facilitator, advisor, supervisor, consultant, presenter, mentor, and coach.  I feel that I already assume all of these rolls at one time or another as a teacher.  I can just imagine the responsibilities of being an administrator and the roles that I will undertake in the future.  I'm looking forward to it.

2nd Week of Human Resource Management

There were many parts to the assignment, nine parts to be exact.  The activities included reviewing the Texas Code of Ethics, Code of Ethics Mind Walk (typical school day and how the codes were broken by staff members), reviewing school district policies and procedures, personal interviews (questions to ask and avoid when interviewing teachers), explaining teacher contracts, activities for teacher recruitment and retention, article critique for two articles, and discovering my school's mentor program.  Although, it this assignment was lengthy, I discovered important information and look forward to applying what I have learned when I become a principal.

1st Week of Human Resources Management

I was able to analyze the competencies and supporting standards in a deeper way (by critiquing an article).  Although a little challenging, that was my favorite part of the assignment.  I also liked the Managing Conflicts and Building Consensus section of Video 3 (Communication and Collaboration).  The professor stated that conflicts are constant, you will never have a conflict free campus, and most choices involve the 3 F's of action (fight, flight, or fix). 

This class is interesting and I look forward to learning more.

Leadership of Accountability- End of Final Week

I have truly enjoyed this class.  It has opened my eyes to many aspects of a successful campus.  A campus should be putting the educational needs of students in front of their own wants and desires, clear and open communication, trust, collaboration, accountability, data analysis are all important components of continuous improvement (for the campus as a whole, the students, and individual teachers).

Action Planning and Professional Growth

During the 4th week of my Leadership for Accoutnability class, the assignments included creating a campus action plan and completing an agenda for one professional development day.  Both assignments gave me perspective on what will be expected of me as a principal. 

The campus action plan required a S.M.A.R.T. goal and S.M.A.R.T. objective, identifying the target group(s), three activities/strategies, person(s) responsible, timeline, resources needed, estimated cost, and formative evaluations.

The professional development agenda required an action goal and objective, topic, subtopic, grade level, faciliator(s), location, start and stop times, 9 strategies/activities and within them the purpose, description, steps, and estimated time was explained.

I like that these assignments are broken down into parts.  I will use this as a guideline to set up staff development trainings when I become a principal.  This week's assignments focused on my campus needs and I found it to be very relevant to the future goals of my campus.

3rd Week for the Leadership for Accountability Class

Data, data, data...  this week's readings and assignments discussed the importance of data and how to work with it. 

It was mentioned in one of the readings (I have noticed this about my campus as well)- that schools are data-rich but do not utilze the data to its fullest potential.  A couple of reasons for this is because there is too much data to work with (it is hard to know what needs to be analyzed) and campuses do not know what to do with it (no follow through).

This week's assignment was to make a S.M.A.R.T. goal and an objective for one of my campus' weaknesses.  S.M.A.R.T. stands for S.- Specific, M.- Measurable, A.- Achieveable, R.- Realistic/Results- oriented/Research-based, and T.- Time-bound.  I like that the S.M.A.R.T. approach is a step by step guidelilne to make goals and objectives. 

Last week's assignment was a little overwhelming, but this week it was nice to use a guideline.  It is easier to work with data with a step by step approach.

Mining for Data

This is the 2nd week into the Leadership for Accountability class.  The assignment had many parts which all had to do with milling through data.  The AEIS (Academic Excellence Indicator System) and AYP (Annual Yearly Progress) reports were the two main sources of the data.  So much information is in both reports.  Although the assignments (filling out many charts) was difficult at times, I have an appreciation for what my principal has to look through each year.  I also have a foundation on how to work through the data to help me stir the direction of my campus once I become a principal.

EDLD 5333- Leadership for Accountability

This is the first week for the Leadership for Accountability class.  The assignment included writing a personal vision for leadership in one sentence.  It sounds easy but it was quite difficult.  I want to accomplish many goals as a leader.  I even want to accomplish goals while working towards becoming a leader (now) but to express my "picture for the future" in one sentence was challenging.  I know my statement will evolve over time but I think this is a good start.

My personal vision of leadership is to serve others by putting their needs before my own, to be a person of true integrity, and to do what I ask others to do.

The Completion of My Third Class- EDLD 5344 (Business Law)

Wow, this class was jammed-packed with valid information in regards to school law.  I like that the last assignment had to do with reflection.  It is important to look back on the information presented in this course and reflect upon what was learned and how I plan to apply it in my administrative career. 

The hardest part of this class was the assigned readings.  Some of the readings were hard to stay interested in like the ones having to do with percentages and statistics. 

Overall, I enjoyed this class.  I am surprised that this information isn't taught in bachelor level courses.

EDLD 5344- School Law 4th Week

Wow, there are so many laws, court cases, and expectations pertaining to providing a FAPE (free, appropriate public education).  I appreciate the fact that I'm learning so much school law but it is also scary that this wasn't taught in my bachelor level classes.  I'm glad I'm learning it now instead of later.  This class has been challenging especially while reading about the court cases.  There is not a clear, cut and dry way to handle each situation; there seems to be a lot of gray area.

3rd Week into the EDLD 5344 Class

I know I over-analyze everything but taking the mid-term for the EDLD 5344 class (Business Law) proved that.  I'm thorough in my notes and still wondered if my answers were the correctly ones.  I wonder if over-analyzing is a good thing or a waste of time?  Do I put more pressure on myself by over-analyzing or is being thorough a good thing?

IEP Development -2nd Week Assignment for School Law

This assignment required me to dig deeper into IDEA and into the process of planning an IEP.  I have a better appreciation for the diagnostician at my school.  She mentioned that her number one job requirement is to stay current on Special Education laws.  Just reading the laws for this assignment is a little overwhelming.  I couldn't imagine being responsible in making sure all the teachers in the building and parents of special education students are current on the laws.   

EDLD 5344- School Law

I'm taking my 3rd master's class (in Administration).  There are many things to learn.  I have heard of Section 504 and IDEA (now IDEIA), but didn't know that there have been ammendments to them. And  this is my 6th year to teach.  Where is the lack of communication coming from?  If I'm required to follow the laws (IEPs are a legal document), shouldn't it be a requirement to let teachers know when something has changed?  I'm feeling a little frustrated at this point.

One Change to Plan/Insights about EDLD 5301 Course

Change to Action Research Plan- I met with my site supervisor and one change to my plan has occurred.  I replaced the second box in the action plan with a more relevant step.  We discussed the fact that it would be very difficult to contact former teachers, but I still needed a sample to compare my other data to.  I'm no longer planning to contact former teachers, but instead will contact teachers that are not involved in PLCs. 

Select a group of teachers that are not involved in PLCs.

myself, Site Supervisor- Mr. Johnston a selected group of teachers that overall represent the campus

March 11, 2011- March 31, 2011

the willingness of teachers  to participate

This sample will give me other viewpoints besides those that are directly involved in campus decision making.  Will those not involved in PLCs still have a sense of community?

Insights- This intense course explains how to do action research (steps and templates), who to involve (staff members, student, etc.), what to focus on (based on the researcher’s passion and wonderings), where to conduct research (campus), when to ask questions (timeline), and why to pursue this type of research (fixing issues to better the future of the campus).  This course was not at all what I expected from a research class.  I truly enjoyed learning how to focus on issues that affect me and my campus.  This type of research is much more personal and relevant to my teaching and administrative careers.

Action Research Plan Not Reposted Yet

As part of the 4th Week Assignments, I was asked to repost the agreed upon action research plan.  However, since it is Spring Break and all network systems were down (email, Skyward, and Blackboard) for maintance purposes, I wasn't able to talk to my site supervisor.  My site supervisor and I will look over the plan again soon. 

Action Research Plan

ACTION  RESEARCH PLAN Wonderings: How can my campus become a better, working community within the school and what benefits would result?  Is there a correlation between being involved in PLCs (Professional Learning Committees) and feeling a sense of belongingness? Goal:  Examine the purpose of PLCs (Professional Learning Committees) and whether teachers will become more connected once involved in such committees. Action Steps(s): Person(s) Responsible: Timeline: Start/End Needed Resources Evaluation Compile a list of committees and participants in my campus’ PLCs. myself, Secretary – Mrs. Ornelas, Principal – Mr. Guillen March 11, 2011- March 31, 2011 list of committees and list of participants Is each list current and up-to-date? If committee members change, how will that affect my research? Ask for a list of teachers that have left the campus for other careers. myself, Principal- Mr. Guillen a few chosen teachers from the list March 11, 2011- March 31, 2011 permission from principal to contact former teachers, participation from chosen teachers By obtaining this information, will a connection be made between being involved and staying in the teaching field or leaving due to not being involved in any PLCs? Reflect in my blog weekly. myself March 11, 2011- December 15, 2011 time set aside (weekly), computer Will my reflections help me better comprehend the purpose(s) for this action research? Prepare interview and survey questions. myself, Site Supervisor- Mrs. Johnston March 31, 2011- April 5, 2011 time, questions, survey monkey Will the questions give me a better understanding of how PLCs benefit my campus? Will the questions enhance my action research? Teacher interviews and surveys. myself, and selected teachers (participants and non-PLC participants- to compare data) April 5, 2011- May 15, 2011 time, interview questions and survey Will the teachers allow me to ask questions without reacting defensively? Observe committees and fill out my own questionnaire. myself, and each member of each committee March 21, 2011- December 15, 2012 time, observation, and observation questionnaire Will the teachers allow me to observe them? Will the observations be a true picture of how the meetings go? Compile teacher data and my observations. myself, Site Supervisor-Mrs. Johnston December 15, 2012- December 20, 2012 time, systematic way of compiling data Will the data help me get a sense of how the teachers feel? Do they feel more connected to the campus and campus’ vision? Create report. myself, Site Supervisor-Mrs. Johnston December 15, 2012- December 20, 2012 PowerPoint By analyzing the data, will I have a better understanding of PLCs? Is there a correlation between being part of a PLC and feeling a sense of belonging? Share findings. myself, Principal- Mr. Guillen campus staff January 1, 2012- January 15, 2012 conference or meeting time, blank copies of questions, survey, observations, and PowerPoint Will my findings help others to decide whether or not to join PLCs in order to feel part of the campus community? Identify wonderings and explore new action research topics. myself, Site Supervisor-Mrs. Johnston March 11, 2011-January 20, 2012 reflect on wonderings (blog) Will my blog reflections reveal new findings? Format based on Tool 7.1 from Examining What We Do to Improve Our Schools (Harris, Edmonson, and Combs, 2010)