Internship/Practicum Progress

Throughout this semester, I have been able to complete quite a few of my internship projects.  I was on the interview committee to hire our new principal and that will fit in nicely into Domain II: Instructional Leadership, skill 23 personnel procedures.  Being a part of this committee helped me to understand the process that HR has to go through in order to hire and the process I will have to be a part of when I interview for principal or assistant principal positions.  In August, I led an iPad training for staff development, sent out a letter to the district GT teachers regarding start of the school procedures, attended a board meeting, and assigned the hallway bulletin boards to the staff.  The most interesting assignment to start the year was working on class lists.  We had to consider boy/girl ratio, student achievement, special populations, bilingual, behavior, and parent requests.  I have a much better appreciation for that task and the details involved.  Some of the other intern related activities include implementing the iSchoolBox app, sitting on the Site Based Decision Making Committee, Reviewing the technology plan for our principal and the district technology visioning committee, and starting an enrichment program for the third, fourth, and fifth grade classes.  My principal has encouraged me to stay involved and keep adding to my hours.

Action Research Progress

Where to start on getting things done with my Action Research Project?  This summer everything was moving along smoothly with my project.  My principal and assistant principal were signed off on it and I thought things would progress according to the prescribed timeline.  Boy was I wrong!  About a week after that class both my principal and assistant principal were transferred to other campuses.  We didn’t end up hiring a principal until the first week of August.  He has been amazingly helpful, but we all know that things don’t always go as planned.  Anyway, I am now a few months behind on my project, but feel confident that it will be complete before the due date.  I have created the initial survey and worked with the district instructional technologist to find some of the articles that will be included.  I plan on editing my timeline during the holidays.

EDLD 5363 Weeks 4 and 5 Reflection

Our group did a great job of making sure that everyone was included in the planning and creation phases of creating our video. I am very excited to get busy creating more videos for my students.  In fact, I am even more excited about my students creating their own videos.  This class has helped me become more aware of all the free video editing programs available online and the many ways they can be used in a classroom. 

EDLD 5363 Web Conference Reflection

I have attended most all of the web conferences throughout this class.  I have had mixed emotions throughout each one.  There have been many times that technical difficulties have inhibited the flow of the conference.  I feel as though Dr. Abernathy has the best intentions for each student, but there have been times when I have left the meetings frustrated and confused.  The assignments and overviews are still not the same and this continues to be a concern.  I hope the changes that are coming help with some of this confusion. 

Week 3 Reflection

It is always scary to join in a group and rely on others to work.  I was honestly not excited when I learned that the bulk of this class consisted of group work.  However, I have been pleased with my team.  I am working with Kelly Rodriguez, Jodie Allex, and Cara Carattini.  Our project will be based off a the 5th grade force and motion science TEK.  We will be explaining how the knowledge of this subject can make them a better athlete.
In order to complete this project we have been using Google Docs and Hangouts.  The face to face time has been very valuable and I am excited to continue using these apps professionally.  We are still contemplating which video editing software to use but I am voting for WeVideo.

EDLD 5363 Video Trailer

Follow this link to view our group video.
Force and Motion

EDLD 5363 Week 2 Reflection

This week was full of family and fun.  I know that sounds nice and relaxing, but I was at our family ranch without the internet!  Usually I am excited about the break from technology, but not this time while I was in the middle of a class for my Masters in Educational Technology Leadership.  The first thing we learned about this week was Audacity.  It is an audio recording program that has many features that are similar to other recording programs, but this one is free and easy. (two of my favorite things)  I quickly recognized many of the features from the program and was able to create a song with multiple family members.  We also learned about using copyrights in our work through Creative Commons.  My final project for the week was to create a tutorial for Audacity of a video editing program.  I chose to use Videoliscious.

This video program is so simple to use and create professional looking results.  My classmates helped me with my script by reminding me to add specific directions for parts that I thought were self explanatory.  I plan on using this tutorial in my classroom next week for the students to create a video about one of the science topics we have studied this semester.  With everything going on last week I am very glad to have finished these assignments and now I am ready for the group project.  

EDLD 5363 Tutorial