Web Conference Reflections

In this current course, we were required to either attend or watch the recording from 3 web conferences.  I attended only 1 conference and observed the other two from the recordings.  These sessions are not beneficial at all for the students taking this class.  There appears to be no organization with an agenda or anything like that.  All it is students asking questions and in return, we do not get clear answers at all.  And on top of that, we get different answers from week to week with absolutely no consistency at all.  It is extremely frustrating as a student to endure this and these conferences are a waste of my time.  It would be really nice if these session were helpful with clearing up the many confusions that we as students have from the unclear directions that are given to us in the assignments.

Personal Digital Story Reflection

Creating my personal digital story was interesting.  With my background in mathematics, I don’t have a great deal of experiencing creating a story and making my words count.  When I first started my script, I had over 500 words and was wondering how I was going to reduce it down.  I then looked at it again and realized I was talking way too much and like the directions said I needed to let the pictures do the talking.  So I went through the script and narrowed it down quite a bit.  Then I had a fellow student read over my script and with her great experience in journalism, she was able to help me make a few other changes to really improve what I was saying.

I did use iMovie for this video and I think that software is really easy to use for the most part.  I have not created many movies with this program before but caught on quickly and was able to produce this story.  I would highly recommend iMovie for people to use.

I was fortunate that all of my pictures were personal ones and the music that I used in the background is provided with the iMovie software so there were no copyright issues to deal with.

I have made many family movies before using different software but I have never added a script to tell the story.  This was a fun experience and I understand now how this is a powerful tool that anybody can use to tell their story.

Week 4

I will be adding one item to my plan based on the feedback that I received.  I will be adding a student survey at the end of the year to see what the students thought about using the iPads in the classroom.  My meeting with my site supervisor resulted in no change.  She just offered some advice on how I might complete some of the steps involved in my plan.  Now I am ready to get it all started!

Action Research Plan

Last year was the first year that every high school student and high school teacher had an iPad to use on a daily basis in class and at home.  The proper training was not followed to adequately support the teachers in the use of the iPads in the classroom and many teachers are questioning the value of the iPad in the classroom.  Algebra I grades and state testing results in Algebra I have been low for quite some time in my district.  I want to improve the results in Algebra I and also improve the use of the iPads in the classroom.

Will the use of iPads in the classroom improve student comprehension in Algebra I classes?  Will the use of this technology increase the Algebra I state testing results?

Action Research Plan
Goal: Enhance student performance in Algebra I classes by utilizing the iPads in the classroom.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Discuss Action Research Plan with site supervisor and district math coordinator	Michael Fore	August 2013	Meeting with site supervisor and district math coordinator	Approval from site supervisor and district math coordinator
Survey Algebra I teachers (anonymously) at Summit and Legacy High Schools to determine the level of use of the iPads in the classroom last year	Michael Fore	September 2013	Teacher Survey on Google Docs	Survey results
Research use of iPads in the Algebra I classes	Michael Fore	September 2013 / December 2013	Internet, Algebra I teachers	Research notes
Train teachers on new ways and techniques of using iPads in class	Michael Fore	September 2013 / May 2014	Training location	Training evaluation forms
Analyze and interpret data of student achievement at the semester break.  Compare this data to last year’s data.	Michael Fore	January 2014	Access to data in Skyward	Graphs and/or spreadsheets displaying data
Survey the same group of teachers (anonymously) at the semester break to evaluate use of iPads in the classroom	Michael Fore	January 2014	Survey on Google Docs	Survey results
Analyze and interpret data of student achievement at the end of the year.  Compare this data to last year’s data.	Michael Fore	June 2014	Access to data in Skyward	Graphs and/or spreadsheets displaying data
Survey the same group of teachers (anonymously) at the end of the year to evaluate use of iPads in the classroom	Michael Fore	June 2014	Survey on Google Docs	Survey results
Analyze EOC date from 2013 to 2014	Michael Fore	June 2014	EOC Test results from 2013 and 2014 for Summit and Legacy	Graphs showing data collected
Share results with teachers and administrators in the district and make recommendations	Michael Fore	July 2014 /  August 2014	Results of action research plan	Final results to share

Week 2 Reflection

This week was a busy week for myself.  I was fortunate enough to go on vacation with all of my family to Costa Rica for the week.  We got back late on Friday and now I am cramming all of my work into these two days to get done on time!

I did narrow down my topic much more this week from my broad start that I had last week.  I am going to focus my action research on the use of the iPads in the Algebra I classes and determine if a greater use of the iPads during class results in better student achievement in Algebra I.

After reading the 9 areas and completing the assignment, I realized that my topic is going to meet several of these areas.

Next week is going to get much more specific with all of the details involved with our action research projects.  I am ready to start working on all the specific details and get this project rolling.

Blogging in Education

I can see many benefits of blogging in education.  It is a great way of getting ideas from other teachers. It lets you communicate with other teachers from everywhere, not just in your building.

One way that I can see it being used in my district is to read the blogs of other teachers who are using the iPads in their classrooms like we are wanting to do in our district.  That are not that many districts that have the iPads for all of their students at this point and it is hard to find people to talk to about new ideas.  With a blog, you can easily accomplish this.

I have met several people lately that have blogs about their experiences with flipping the classroom and how to utilize the iPads more effectively.  I have learned quite a bit of information from reading their blogs and learning from their experiences.

With my role in technology now in my district, I am hoping to start a blog so that others can follow what we are doing and learn from our mistakes and from our accomplishments.

What is Action Research? (week 1)

To be honest, when I first started reading the assignments for this class, the words action research was not something I was familiar with.  It sounded like a lot of work to me and didn’t sound like fun to me at all.  But after I have read through the books and realized what exactly action research is, I am not nearly as concerned about it.  I am realizing that action research is happening quite often in the school I was at and just never called it that.

Action research is basically just taking situations that are happening at your campus/district and looking into those things (research) much more.  An important part of this process is the reflection piece so that you can determine if what you are doing is actually working or not and making the proper adjustments in order to make your research the most beneficial for your campus/district.    Action research is done within your school and not from the outside looking in.  This makes it much more meaningful to all the people involved since you are not having an outsider looking at what you are doing and telling you how to fix it.

My district has really utilized this method of research this past year with us implementing the iPads in our high schools.  Every high school student now has an iPad.  At the beginning, I would say that my district did do their research but didn’t really follow the action research model to the extent it needed to in how to implement this enormous initiative.  During the year the district realized this mistake and started actively using the action research model in making better decisions about the use of the iPads.  We now follow this process in almost everything we do with the iPads moving forward now. 

Since my position in the district is now in the technology department and not in the classroom directly, I am going to be following the action research model in much of my work.  There are going to be many new projects and programs that we will be starting up this year and I am going to have to make sure to follow the action research model in order for me to be an effective leader in technology. 

I am glad I have learned what I have so far about action research.  I can see how important it is and why we need to do it constantly in our schools.  I am not as afraid of those words “action research” like I was before starting this class.