UMS Action Plan 2010

Goal: Parent and community collaboration that will result in student achievement.


Action Step
1. Collection of sign-in sheets of parent participation in school functions for two previous years.

Persons Responsible
S.Thompson and C. Briones, UMS Counselors

Timeline: Start/End
Sept. 2010 – October 2010

Needed Resources
2008-2009 and 2009-2010 parent sign-in sheets binders

Evaluation
Chart/ Graph findings

Action Step
2. Survey sent to parents regarding school/home communication (includes, teacher conferences, newsletters, flyers, e-mails, or post mail).

Persons Responsible
C. Romanelli, UISD/UMS Technology Coordinator
UMS CTE department

Timeline: Start/End
August 2010 – September 2010
and April 2010 - May 2010

Needed Resources
Computer survey creation software

Evaluation
Analysis of surveys returned

Action Step
3. Meet with different school departments and/or teams to figure out what types of activities would or could require parent involvement.

Persons Responsibility
UMS CTE department,
M. Villarreal, R. Rodriguez, Ma.A.Guerra, B.Crockett
and A. Garcia, Academic Coordinator

Timeline: Start/End
August 2010 – November 2010

Needed Resources
Planning Time, and
Substitute Teacher

Evaluation
List of ideas with materials and resources needed


Examining What We Do to Improve Our Schools Sandra Harris, Stacey Edmonson, Julie Combs
© Eye On Education

Research Wonderings and Questions

Chapter 2 of Nancy Fitchman Dana's Leading with Passion and Knowledge covers 9 areas of wonder. Although all are linked, they each work independently to problem solve a school concern. These nine passions are as follows: staff development, curriculum development, individual teacher(s), individual student(s), school culture/community, leadership, management, school performance, and social justice. Researching one of these will lead to finding a solution for 2 or 3 more.

On my campus school culture/community is the passion that is in the works. With this, my campus plans to incorporate parent activities that will increase parent collaboration and student performance. As suggested by Dr. Johnny Briseno, Principal of Rancho Isabella Elementary in Angleton, Texas, frequent research will help teachers understand and find a solution to a problem that someone else already dealt with. We can all learn from eachothers mistakes and successes.

We have a lot to assimilate and we will be able to satisfy our wondering. Asking ourselves the correct questions that serve our students, staff, and community will lead us to find the answers that will increase student achievement.

BLOGS - Educational Leaders and Communication

Parent collaboration has been a topic of interest at most campuses. How do we get parent involvement in our schools? This new generation is called a digital era because of the constant need for technology. In creating blog sites, groups formed within the school can share their ideas and findings on any given subject. The blog creation will be open for all stakeholders to read. Having the ideas floating in cyberspace will allow a flow of comments and concerns that may arise to be taken into consideration.

What is ACTION RESEARCH?

Action Research allows specific issues to be addressed. This research is related to a specific district, school, or classroom. Teachers are motivated to perform their investigation and document their findings. This act enables educators to achieve a sense of belonging and empowers them to study thier own work. Collaboration takes place amongst teachers and administrators. This collaboration turns into a widespread professionalism that nourishes and aides in problem solving.

Ferrance also goes on to believe that Action Research is not a library project. It is not the idea of learning more about a topic of interest. This type of research does not limit oneself to problem solve but rather it helps in the realization on how to improve. It is not a race to finding all available information in search of the right answers. It is not to learn from ourselves how things are done but rather to learn how situations can be improved.

You can never say that a research was useless. Any information gathered by any school related party will have contributed great knowledge to the cause. The school's mission encompasses everything that the school wants to accomplish in that year. With the use of action research, a school's mission will be fulfilled. With the help of leaders within the staff, different leadership committees can best work within its group while providing great insight and problem solving to student-teacher-school-administration-school concerns.

Ferrance, E. (2000). Action research. Providene, RI: Northeast and Islands Regional Laboratory at Brown University. Retrieved April 3, 2007 from http://www. alliance.brown, edu/pubs/themes_ed/act_research.pdf

Instructional Leadership - Week 5

New Point of View in Instructional Technology

Instructional Leadership EDLD 5352 course has taken me into a world I knew existed but thought I was far from reaching. Little did I know that this course would focus so strongly on technology applications. I had envisioned a course where I would research on leadership skill and classroom instruction. As the course began I found myself in familiar territory but not very brave. As I read, I gathered more information that got my brain working 24/7. Reading other teachers experiences with technology encouraged me to want more for myself and my students. Eric Jones explains, in Strategies to put Instruction Ahead of Technology, how to get started on teachers first by providing for them useful training on technology based lessons. Jo Williamson and Traci Redish back up Jones' research in facilitating the necessary training for teachers who in turn will model and guide students through a diverse 21st century instruction. I understand my goals and vision related to technology but have the tools and training to plan and execute.
Students like to see information in short bursts and in and engaging fashion. On line programs such as Brain Pop and Helpprogram for Math are engaging and relevant to our students learning. It delivers instruction in short animations with lots of music and sounds. It gives real world examples for each area of learning. Webquests allow our students to "explore" a topic on their own with little preplanning by the teacher. It gives the feeling of ownership of their own learning back to the students.
The integration of technology professional development is never at an end. This is an ongoing process. We need to adapt to the new and change the old. Just as students are already skillful in the use of many technological devices/applications, we too, as educators need to be ready to guide them to better use them. Our administrators are our leaders, and with this in mind, they are our role models. The sue of technology such as power point presentation, e-chalk, blogs, movie makers, face book, webcams, math helpers, you tube, and wikis are the applications of today but are we ready for what is already here tomorrow? All involved in education should be trained and be able to model effectively the use of technology in order to guide and improve our student's performance.
There are many useful technology applications out there. In this course I learned about many that administrators and teachers may use. I wanted to use them all before I forgot how to incorporate them to my lessons. It wasn't possible. There is not enough time in a day to allow the browsing and handling of new websites. I was ecstatic about the blog creation and the slideshare. I have used this information as part of my instruction in my class. My students were eager to learn and were thrilled about the assignment. I didn't, however, have the opportunity to examine twitter or wiki. I believe these would be a great asset to both me and my students.
As any new beginning, I had trouble with the blog set up and the slide share. The directions on how to achieve this were helpful but they did leave out a few items that would have saved a lot of time. However, I learned through my mistakes and with the help of a very close friend I was able to problem solve. Time is an enemy of work. I have the will to pursue and research but work related and home responsibilities lessen the opportunity of exploring.
I know now that I have the capability to lead others in uncharted waters. I see administrators in a whole new, brighter light. I don't have a campus under my wing but I have my team and my students. The research and training acquired during this course has enabled me to reach out in cyber space and use what is available to me. FREE is a lovely word especially when it is useful to teacher's instruction and 100% learner based. I used a free site to implement my 7th grade mid-term for both Technology Education and Career Investigation courses.
The assignment for the mid-term was to follow the directions that guide in the creation of a blog. The second part to the assignment was to reflect on the work and projects done in class in the last 6 weeks. The third part of the assignment was to give their personal opinion about their experience in their learning. I was pleasantly surprised to read many students' responses. Many students went over and beyond and started getting creative with their blog's presentation and comments. They took upon themselves to get their peer's URL to check on eachothers work. They felt empowered in their learning. They weren't the quiet bored students filling out a standardized test or assignment that many a time is seen in classrooms, they had motivation and hunger to create the best blog.
My deepest concern is that my student's safety from cyber predators and cyber porn is vulnerable. Linda C. Joseph explains it best in her Keeping Safe in Cyberspace article when she expresses the importance of technology use communication. It is our duty and our student's parent's responsibility to train our children to be aware of the dangers in cyberspace and to take advantage of the many amenities that our Internet offers.
Opening the line of communication via Internet broadens the feedback needed to improve our mission and goals. It is through a Blog communication that the phrase "two heads are better than one" leads the way to a better academic tomorrow.

Technology Interaction - Week 5

Presentation Week 4

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Presentation Week 4

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