Course Reflections

Post your course reflections to your blog site. Please respond to the following reflection questions:

· What outcomes had you envisioned for this course? Did you achieve those outcomes? Did the actual course outcomes align with those that you envisioned?
At first when I read the class syllabus and found out what we where going to be doing I felt like just dropping the class, I am not very good with computers. I had envisioned this class to be very computer based and had to do a lot of computer and software learning. The first two weeks of this class were very challenging and took up a lot of my time. But as the days went by and I started to feel more comfortable, I really got into it and I learned a lot from the readings and by doing the assignments. Before taking this class I knew nothing about blogging or podcasting. Know we are trying to hopefully implemented some of these new learning’s into our math department and classes. My self and a colleague of mine were talking about the article written by Marc Prensky titled Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, because we are really immigrants when it comes to learning how to work properly with the computers and all of the copyrights and dangers that come with the new technology. We as school leaders need to become better prepared and start pushing our school district to become more envisioned into the 21st century learners and meet the technology plan for 2020.
· To the extent that you achieved the outcomes, are they still relevant to the work that you do in your school? Why or why not?
This course has made me realize how behind and blind we are at our district when it comes to technology and all of its great capabilities. Before taking this class I taught we were doing pretty good, purchasing extendas for our classroom, obtaining smart boards for our math department, etc… But after the first couple of weeks in this class and through the readings, lectures, videos, but most importantly the discussions I soon realized that we were not where were we need to be. Most of our students have no idea what blogging or podcasting is. And I do not blame them because most of our staff does not know either. This course has opened my eyes and now I which I had known all these information sooner. I as the math department lead teacher would like to get something going with our department and hopefully extended to the whole school with the blogs. I find this to be a great communication and informative tool to use with all of our stakeholders. The STaR chart is another thing that I know understand a lot better. Before this course I knew what it was and that we needed as a whole school to take it, but did not know how important it was to our district and to our students to meet the long-range plan and Vision 2020. We as a math department have come to an agreement that we do need to take advantage of what we have and use more technology to get our students more exposed and prepared for the future.
· What outcomes did you not achieve? What prevented you from achieving them?
One thing that I felt was very important and I did not get to achieve in this class was teaching our students technology and internet ethics as well as teach them about the dangers that exist in the net. During this time of the semester we are very constrained with time and deadlines to meet, with benchmarks, grades, reports, and data desegregation that it would be very overwhelming to have gone into these with the students. But I do plan to achieve this before the school year finishes and at least they will have this information for future reference. Another thing that I would have liked to have achieved would be getting together with my math department and as a department come up with a couple of lessons designed to help teachers implement into their curriculum strategies, activities, and assessments that allows students to work with technology themselves instead of just the teacher. Again unable to do this because to the time issue but we will get to it and it will be great for our students.
· Were you successful in carrying out the course assignments? If not, what prevented or discouraged you?
When I first found out that our next class was going to be about technology I was a little hesitant about it. I am not very good with technology and while I am willing to learn new things it is hard to teach old dog new tricks. Then came the first week and I was completely overwhelmed, I honestly taught about dropping the class. I have never had to do a blog; I did not even know what a blog was. Then there were all this readings and discussions we had to do, twenty-one or so, when we were used to doing one. This course has been a great challenge and very time demanding. You just need to place your priorities in place and just do it like the Nike commercial says.
· What did you learn from this course…about yourself, your technology and leadership skills, and your attitudes?

This course has taught me a lot of new things that I had no clue as to what they were before taking this class. I have learned why it is very important for our district to complete the STaR chart and how it is linked to our long-range plan for technology and for Vision 2020. I have also learned how important it is for school leaders to be role models and advocates of technology in our campuses. We need to start changing our ways of teaching and lecturing if we want our students to be 21st century learners and contributing citizens. Another fun thing that I learned for instance was how to create a blog, now I think this is something that I will continue to use and implement into my classes and department meetings. I learned about myself that I am more computer literate then what I thought I was, but I still need to improve my skills a lot more if I want to help my students master some of these skills themselves. I have also kept a positive attitude towards changes that need to occur if we want to keep up with the demands that our society has placed on us. I will continue to be positive and hopefully lead my team and district to a better tomorrow where students have the necessary tools to be successful in their higher education and work force.

· What is the educational value of blogs and blogging to the 21st century learner?

The educational value of blogs and blogging to the 21st century learner depends how the learner uses and takes advantage of this tool. Blogging can be a great way of sharing and obtaining new information and ideas. It could also become a great way to communicate and inform people with the same interests as yours. Before this course I had no idea what a blog was, now I have my own blog and feel that it is something that I can continue to use and learn more about later. 21st century learners need to be exposed to this type of communication tools as well as other, because they will probably end up needing it in the future.

· What are the concerns of blogs and blogging in education?
Blogs and blogging just like in any other communication tool could be very dangerous when discussing something very private or sensitive subject. Blogs could be seen as something like MySpace where students would end up posting very personal information, pictures or videos that would not be appropriate for everyone to see. I know that at our school district all of these sites have been blocked and are not assessable to our students.
· How can you use blogging to communicate with school stakeholders?
Blogs could be used to communicate with all school stakeholders as an informative and communication site. Teachers can use blogs to post class syllabus, assignments, important test dates, etc… Blogs can also be use to share ideas and information with other teachers that might not teach in the same school as yours. Parents and community members could also take advantage of blogs to communicate with school officials and teachers about what is happen in the district and also get results from benchmarks scores, to student’s attendance, to athletic events and lot more. Blog and blogging if done correct and with respect to all stakeholders could be a great tool to use by all.

Part 2: Campus Professional Development Action Plan
Goal: We will implement technology in all our classrooms through the use of new communication methods and through new machinery and computers in our CATE classrooms and improve our subpopulations performance in their benchmarks by at least 15%.
Action Item
Person Responsible
Timeline
Staff needs continuing professional development on the use of technology to deliver and enrich their curriculum, integrating technology into our curriculum, instruction and assessment.
Campus Principal and SBDM Committee
August 2010
Summer Academy
Take advantage of our Fine Tuning Protocols that we have available during our Small Learning Community meetings to focus on improving integrating the use of technology to deliver instruction and implementing it into our lessons and projects.
Small Learning Community Coordinator and Assistant Principal
Through out the school year during our SLC meetings.
Improve our established curriculum, CSCOPE, by integrating technology into our lessons, activities and assessments by subject area.
Department lead teachers and the rest of the department staff
Summer 2010 and continue to work on it through our year.