EDLD 5363 Week 5 Reflections

My Group consisted of Ing Mu, Julie Barber, Vicky Satterwhite and Ranada Smith. During a web conference, Julie Barber and I were working together and Ing Mu, Vicky Satterwhite and Ranada Smith were working together. Since the first group needed additional members, the second group joined with the first. Communication was mostly through emails and wikis. The group brainstormed the topic of a PSA. I suggested possibly women's safety issues. Ing suggested cyberbullying. Discussions were held about the merits of both, and all agreed that cyberbulling would be a useful issue to address that could be used in the classroom as well. It was decided that Julie and I would videotape since we both were located on school campuses and had access to video cameras. Ing suggested that she would be the editor since her strength was in putting things together. Ranada and Vicky were willing to do whatever they could. Ranada and Vicky both have voices that record well, so the group decided to use both of them for audio. In addition, Ranada worked on the rough draft of the script and Julie worked on the script outline once that was completed. Vicky suggested a revision to the script but the group incorporated that suggestion into the various shots. Julie and Ing became directors since Ing has in-depth technology knowledge and Julie's strength is pointing people toward tasks. Ing created a wiki for the team to use for our documents. She copied documents for weeks 3-5 on the wiki and created pages for images, videos, audios, music and script. During week five, Julie and I videotaped scenes that were emailed to Ing. Ranada recorded the script and Vicky recorded as well. Ing mixed the two audios. As video and audio were recorded, emails went back and forth to decide the best format for recording and uploading audio and video. I tried to upload the video I took to our wiki, but the embedded page would not then download. We ended up using google docs to share footage. This has been a very useful class in every aspect.

EDLD 5363 Week 4 Post

This week has been very, very busy. My intellect has been stretched farther than I thought possible. I have teamed up with four other very talented women, Ing Mu, Julie Barber, Victoria Satterwhite, and Ranada Smith. We have all had our share in the learning curve. Ing resides in California, so none of this collaboration would have taken place, probably as early as 5 years ago. Ing and I have shot some video for our Public Service Announcement regarding cyberbullying. Julie has done an incredible amount of behind the scenes research. Ranada has created the audio. Victoria has created the dialogue. Together, we are accomplishing amazing things.

EDLD 5363 Week 1 Reflection

This week's assignment was amazing. I was forced to take the time, gather information from my youth forward, and meaningfully organize it into a 3 minute or less summary of my hobby. My hobby is singing, and there are several momentous events that I was able to share in my video. This assignment was one of those "oh, I'll get to it later when I have time." Reality is, there is no LATER in life, and this week, I created a digital memory book. I plan on sharing it with those who have helped and guided me along my singing path. I was surprised at the ease at which this project came together. I collaborated with Julie, another cohort in group 12, and she shared her information with me as well. I truly hope if you view my video, you will enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed reminiscing while putting the project together.

EDLD5301 Week 5 Reflection

When I initially realized that the research class was next on my list to complete, I was a bit apprehensive because I assumed the class would be a typical research class, based on my limited definition of the word research. To my surprise, the “research” was more hands on, go figure out what needs to be addressed in your school district. The four lecturese from week 2 were very informative. Johnny Briseno is employed in Angleton ISD, which is the closest school district to me other than my own. It was interesting to hear what he had to say because I am very aware of the diverse group of students he works with. Both the Harris and the Dana readings were very helpful. Although I have always relied on Amazon.com to ship to me promptly my orders, as of the date of the class, I still had not received my Dana text. I knew I was going to be in Dallas for a seminar, so I went so far as to contact Southern Methodist University in my quest for this book. SMU informed me that the book was a “print on demand” book, and apparently, the demand was not high enough, so Amazon was not able to fulfill my order request. I received the Lamar email regarding the book two weeks after I had submitted my request to Amazon. Amazon has never failed me, so I waited. Long story short, I defaulted to the Lamar method of purchasing the Dana book. If I had received this information prior to the week before the start of class, this would have saved me a great deal of anxiety.
Reading postings on the Discussion Board has been very interesting. I have learned that most of my cohorts are in various stages of learning regarding technology. Regardless, we have all benefitted from the research class because the class has required that we focus on an action research topic and fine tune the topic until we reach a viable query. Tammy Foreman’s energy and enthusiasm in her posts is contagious. She always seems to be the first to jump in with her discussion thread. The web conferences have been a great deal of help. Steve Jenkins had prompt answers to all of our questions. I realized that many of my cohorts had the same question, and a very short answer from the professor was all that was needed to jump start me back into completing the weekly assignments.
My goal is to use the blog I created in a previous class, and added to in this class, to increase communication with other educators. As Dana stated, “… blogging can be a wonderful way to share your research with colleagues that are 1,000 miles or more from your school.” (Dana 2009) There are no students in my cohort within a 100 mile radius, so blogging has been an excellent method of keeping up and learning from their research.
The Internet has been a wealth of information as I try to zero in on my action research topic. Much has been written about my topic, but I realize that the actual results will be unique to my campus because all school districts have a different student body makeup. Through the Internet, I have been made aware of additional statistics that might affect the outcome of my action research, and have added them to my plan.
Dana, Nancy Fichtman (2009). Leading with Passion and Knowledge the Principal as Action Researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Week 3 Blog EDLD5301Research ET8021

Background information I would share about my action research topic is that during my teaching career, I have noticed that those students who are actively engaged in extracurricular activities tend to be more actively engaged in the classroom. I thought this might be simply a coincidence one year, but I noticed the same trend year after year. That observation led me to question if indeed there was a direct positive correlation between student achievement in the classroom and student involvement in extracurricular activities, and if there is a positive correlation, then why isn’t more funding channeled their way? Regarding the Design of the Inquiry, my first step will be to meet with the PEIMS clerk in order to get a list of 10-12 grade enrolled students. I will then filter this information to identify those students involved in extracurricular activities. I need to stop at this point and find a ratio between students involved and students not involved in extracurricular activities. I will need to meet with the PEIMS clerk a second time to generate a confidential list of student grade point averages. This information will not be shared outside of this action research, but is crucial information for my action research. I will then compare the gpa’s of the active group to those of the uninvolved students to see if my action research topic is true. During this phase of my research, I will also conduct a student survey. The survey will poll all 10-12 grade students and ask if they are involved in any extracurricular activities, and if not, why not. Are there barriers in their lives such as transportation or funds that limit their activity, or do they simply choose not to participate? This survey might further divide my findings of students who choose not to participate with a subset of those who cannot participate. Once I collect all the data, I will be able to determine if my topic is accurate. In summary, I will most likely end up with three outcomes – those students who participate in extracurricular activities, those students uninterested in participating in activities, and those students who, for reasons out of their control, cannot participate. I believe the gpa’s of the actively involved student might be similar to those of the students who are unable, not unwilling, to participate.

Melba Gilbert Lamar EDLD 5301 Action Research Blog

This week has been phenomenal. The research course has goaded me out of my comfort zone and required that I meet a challenge face to face. I need to ask questions regarding my campus, and not accept status quo. There are several ideas I have regarding my action research. I simply need to pin one down and act on it. Twenty years in industry has made me question why the education profession does not have to, on a continual basis, question and alter their lessons based on new information, demographics, test scores, etc. The minute an educator stalls, they become stagnant. I loved what Dr. Timothy Chargois used as an example. If you are green, you are growing. If you are brown? You are dead. My goal, as a technology teacher, and limited only by the school district's budget, is to teach my students the most current technology that my lab can accomodate. I want to prepare those who are not college bound with skills they can use immediately upon graduation. Hopefully, I will choose an action research topic that will help me as I endeavor to meet the needs of my students.

MelbaHavardGilbert LamarU EDLD5301 Action Research Blog

Action research is a vital tool that allows teachers to evaluate their teaching performance, identify problem areas, formulate an inquiry regarding this problem area, research the inquiry, either online or through other educational journals, and put into action a plan that will lead to the solution to their problem area. Action research is not admission of poor teacher performance. Instead, it is a tool that allows teachers to pause and reflect, in the midst of a seemingly endless array of distractions, on their performance and the need for continual "tweaking" of their teaching style, lesson plans, content and delivery of content in an attempt to engage the student and thus create a healthy and interesting learning environment.

Currently, my campus utilizes Professional Learning Communities as a way for teachers to meet on a regularly scheduled basis and discuss concerns such as failure rates, tardies, excessive absences and lack of motivation on the part of the students. Although our subject areas may differ (I teach a technology elective, and those teachers in my PLC, although not directly teaching my same course, struggle with some of the same student / learning issues), the teachers in my PLC all have the same goal: to raise the success rate of our students, be it in the classroom, or in their lives in general. Through my campus PLC, I have learned that raising questions, seeking solutions, and sharing ideas with colleagues, in other words, Action Research, is a useful tool.

Melba Gilbert How Educators can use blogs

Blogs are an exciting method of sharing information between colleagues. They are real time accumulations of thoughts and events. Blog information can be shared among many people at the same time, thus allowing instantaneous collaboration. Blogs can be used to share lesson plans, and in my case today, while attending the Texas Career Education Conference, I can share my learning experiences with those educators in my department who weren't able to attend. I don't have to take notes, then transcribe those notes, and I don't have to rely on my memory to share what I have learned when I return. I can simply sit down at the many computer stations located in the lobby of my hotel and update my blog instantaneously.