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.