Ethopia Bible- Evaluation

The Ethopia Bible used the elements of C.R.A.P even before it was an acronym.  Contrast can be seen with the black and red lettering. There is also contrast from the white background to the bright colors of the pictures and borders.  The repetition is seen on most pages.  The patterns used in the border are repeated over and over, though they may vary from page to page.   There are identical columns used on some pages in the book.  Alignment is used with alignment of the column sides.  The proximity of the script and the picture which is probably depicting what the writing is about.

Web conference EDLD 5344

Web conference was short.  Assignment clarification was given and some students traded emails to share information. Dr. Abshire stated that she was available to help if anyone needed it.

EDLD 5363 Final Web Conference

In our final web conference Dr. Abnerathy went over the final items that are due. 

• You should have a final copy of your PSA plan
• Links to your eportfolio/wiki/blog
• Final Video (PSA)
• Finish discussion
• Post Group wiki in discussion board

She also wanted to be sure that everyone debriefed on their collaberation document.
Things to discuss on the debrief piece are:

• What was good?
• What could be improved?
• How would you do things differently?
• How can you use what you experienced in the future?
• Was this experience a beneficial experience?

EDLD 5363 Final Reflection

Beginning the Multimedia and Video Technology course, I was anticipating learning more about the use of Multimedia in the classroom and using video technology. Through the activities that I completed I did learn uses of multimedia and video technology and could see the practical uses of it in the classroom. As with any technology, if you do not feel comfortable using it then it is less likely that you will implement it into the classroom.


It was also a learning experience to complete the PSA with a group of students that would never meet face to face. The dynamics of the group and how each person took over a section of the assignment that would highlight their strengths was amazing. The project came together with only a few minor problems. There were some formatting problems getting video from a shared video site. Fortunately, I had resources that I could go to for help.

This experience has taught me to be resourceful. I was a little apprehensive about the project and working with people that I would not see face to face but learned that it can work. It makes me even more excited about sharing these new skills with other teachers so that they can use it in their classrooms.

EDLD 5363 PSA link

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Public Domain License.
To view our PSA click the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kP0XWplvg8

Web conference 9/17

Tonight's web conference  stated to post on your discussion board a link to what you have done with your team.  Dr. A said that on your PSA to have at least 2 narrators or you would have points deducted.  Your week 3 assignment will be graded despit  what your IA might have said.  She said that everyone was to submit a pod cast that only week 4/5 was a group project.  Your PSA was to be no longer than 60 sec if it is cut it! Project share was discussed as was the TJ20 more information is to come on those two issues.

Tutorial Podcast of Window Movie Maker

http://lhdeiss.podbean.com/

Click on link above to listen to the tutorial pod cast.

Assignment Refelection Week 2

I have never tried to use any type of movie maker, so this assignment was one that I was looking forward to completing. I use Adobe Elements for my photos so I decided to try Adobe Premiere Express. I created a photobucket which took an extremely long time to finish transaction. I then tried to down load video that I had taken earlier in the week for this project. I soon found out that the video that I down loaded could not be used. My first thought was that it was just his software, so I decided to use Windows Movie Maker that came installed on my computer.


Again I found that it would not accept my video. After googling to see what the problem might be I found out that most digital cameras do not down load videos in a format that can be used by most digital movie making software. I then looked to see if I could find a program that would convert the video to an acceptable format for the movie maker software. I was unable to find one that was free so I then went to use the links in our second assignment to find free video that I could use.

I finally found a video clip on the PBS wide angle to use for use in making a movie. Windows Movie Maker was easy to use. It was a great movie making tool for a beginner. You just had to drag and drop pictures into the story board. If you wished to get a little creative you could add and effect to the movie clip, which I did not really like. There were transition options between video clips that were needed to make the movie flow better.

I can see from this project why as Siegchrist, G stated in ABOUT.COM that it is important to find technical support. You may be able to figure things out on your own, like compatibility issues but it would easier and less frustrating to be able to call for help.

I found out quickly that if you want to use any software it would be best to become very familiar with it and what type of files it will or will not accept.  The frustration level in the classroom would be at an all time high unless you had a student or two that could help.

Web conference Aug 31

Tonights web conference was used to answer any questions anyone had. We discussed that your podcast would probably have to be added to you wiki with an embedded code.  The wiki would not support the podcast directly. So people were having trouble with the editing software finding what would download and work.  Dr. Abernathy suggested using wikipedia to find additional ones or googling to see what was out there.

Personal Digital Story Reflection

Creating the personal digital story was an interesting experience.  After completing the readings about the digital story I decided on the story I would like to share.  This gave me an opportunity to relive some of the wonderful times in my life looking for pictures to use.  I then had to scan the pictures so that I would be able to use them for my story board.  I was able to find some of the more recent pictures that I already had on a digital format.
The next step was a little more stressful.  The Photo Story 3 did not offer every good editing tools and due to the scanning not being as great as it should have been I needed to do some major editing.  I had to have a friend and partner help me edit the pictures through a program she had access to.
 Creating the script for the story was not a difficult process although trying to limit dialogue so that it did not get too lengthy for a two minute video was something that I continued to think about. Using voice over took several takes to make the dialogue smooth.  It is strange hearing your own voice recorded.
My partner Molly made several suggestions on editing pictures and leaving out a few that made the story too long.  She could see the story without the sentimental attachment . I often want to include too much. 
Finally came time to get the digital photo story online.  My first attempt was to use the google video share but it was no longer available.  I had to then had to down loade to Youtube.  The first attempt failed due to me trying to down load the wrong type of file.  Once I corrected that mistake the story uploaded correctly and is now complete.
Overall the project went well.  Technology is not always easy to use  and you have to improvise often to complete a task and have patience for our mistakes.

Web Conference 8/25/2010

Today we once again saw how Murphy can work.  The web conference went well except that we were not able to get sound to communicate.  Being a group of teachers that can overcome we did fine by typing in our communication.  The main points discussed are listed below:

• Week 1 assignment is due on Monday
• Week 1 assignment your partner can be anyone from any section
• Weeks 2-5 assignments will be due on Sunday nights
• Week 3-5 assignments will have to be completed with only those students in your section number. This is due to needing to have the same coach to grade the work.
• Many participants found partners for their assignments during the conference.

Final Blog Reflections

Action research focuses on concerns of practitioners. This should be something that the practitioner feels passionately about. Using the nine passions from Dana(2009) can help you to find a wondering that will lead to a action research project. The wonders are:


Staff Development has a great impact upon students through the personal and professional growth of their teachers. As Barth (1981) states, “Nothing within a school has more impact upon students in terms of skills development, self-confidence, or classroom behavior than the personal and professional growth of their teachers.” (pg. 145) This was reinforced in Dr. Chargois’ video that, “you never stop learning”. It is a much documented concern that continuing professional development should be utilized for the success of all.

Curriculum development as an action research focus is important because schools have a great control on the adoption of curriculum that will affect the district. Curriculum also drives the learning that takes place. If the curriculum is weak and ineffective then the achievement of the students will be as well. On the other hand if the curriculum is strong and affective then the achievement of the students will strong.

Individual teacher’s effectiveness is very important to the success of students. The curriculum is secondary if the teacher cannot affectively present the material. The morale of the teacher as well as his/her knowledge is just as important as their ability to present material in an interesting and affective way.

Individual student as an action research wondering is a little misleading. This area is not looking at a specific student as much as it is looking a particular group of students that may need extra attention to be successful in school. Today’s accountability system looks closely at all sub populations. Looking at those individuals is imperative, if the school is attempting to improve their ratings set by state standards.

School Community/Culture as an action research is important because if teachers do not look at the big picture of the education of student then they are not doing all they can do to benefit their students. Too often teacher’s focus in on the year they teach and getting a student through that year. They want to let next year’s teacher to deal with any issues in the education of the students that may need further investigation. They often do not look beyond to how I can help the students achieve the goal of high school graduation.

Leadership is important not only from a principal or even higher, superintendent point of view but on a much lower level. It is important for an administrator not only to be able to build a cohesive team but to facilitate the leadership skills of individual teachers. An administrator’s day is busy and it is not always possible for them to have personal contact with individual teachers. Teachers with strong leadership skills could be utilized to help build that cohesive team and keep it strong.

Management as an action research wondering would be to focus on the management of the school such as scheduling of teacher from team teaching to departmentalization. From the management angle it is important to be able to focus on the whole of the school and how changes will affect the culture and climate of the school. When something such as scheduling is looked at you must consider not only the teacher/student aspect but lunchroom, special pullout programs, and transitioning among other things.

School performance as an action wondering is to look at a sub population that may not be achieving well on state standardized tests. The schools performance rating is affected by that sub population’s scores. School performance is an area that is focused by the state accountability system. NCLB brings this area into focus for many schools. Though standardized tests are not looked on fondly by many it is the only way that student achievement can be judged on a large scale level.

Social justice or equity issues as an action research wondering would be to look at how socio economic status affects student achievement levels. The importance of looking at social justice has been proven over the years with research and data collection. It shows an overwhelming link between poverty and the achievement of students.

Using the eight steps from Harris (2010) setting the foundation, analyzing data, developing deeper understanding, engaging in self reflection, exploring patterns, determining direction, taking action and sustaining improvement, can better help the practitioner to study the wondering.

As stated in Dana (2009) Elliot (1988) also describes action research as a continual spiral of reflection and action. Action research is used to bring change by involving those who are affected by the concern most. By continually looking at and reevaluating the action taken and how improvement is progressing, a practitioner has a better chance of a satisfactory outcome for all involved. The Force Field Analysis theorizes that there will be driving forces for change and forces that resist change. These must be analyzed to get a better understanding on your course of action for the plan.

In Dr. Aterbury’s video he said that action research is a systematic approach to collecting data and solving problems where you go beyond what is known to answer questions that are unexplored.

There is no problem or concern that ever totally goes away. Action research is the answer to working to improve the issue. A team can continually look at the advancements, what has worked, what has not worked, how the concern has morphed. The Delphi method would be good to use during this as it helps to develop a deeper understanding of an issue. Using an expert panel to help you gather opinions and information on issues concerning the project will help you with the continual spiraling of reflection needed for the project.

There are many tools and steps to help you complete a successful action research project. Remain flexible in letting the research guide you and help you completion of your project.





Barth, R.(1981). The principal as staff developer. Journal of Education, 163 (2), 144-162.



Dana, Nancy F. (2009). Leading with Passion and Knowledge, Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin

Elliot, J. (1988). Educational research and out sider-insider relations. Qualitative Studies in Education, 1(2), 155-166

Harris, Sandra.(2010) Examining What We Do To Improve Our Schools 8 Steps From Analysis to Action, Larchmont, New York, Eye On Education

Revised Action Research Plan

Follow link to view revised action research plan.

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1vtwxtRarDhTS1-PdqV2ApyCdEgGlck9V6yc-Qml1Riw

Web Conference July 29

The web conference on July 29 was very helpful. It was good to know that other students had many of the same questions and needed the same clarifications. The assignment for week 3 was discussed. It was beneficial to have a conference with Dr. Jenkins and hear how he wanted the assignments completed.

Action Research Plan

Please follow the link to view my action reasearch plan. Comments are encouraged.

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1YFeoFPHu6mK62m_yqRJjvtSUOLUF7BPRiKja61_WZnA

Web conference

Attended web conference tonight. Learned that you can change your action research topic, you may use resources from outside of the US, and that Dr. Abernathy will be giving us a link to purchase TK20 on announcements Monday.

Week two has been an enlightening week. The readings of week two showed me how action research can be applied to many the different facets of principalship. It is important that when choosing an action research project you should find something that is important to you and your situation. It should be a topic that will improve the success of all involved.
Through the videos I learned that data is very important when studying your action research topic. Data drives many of the concerns and issues in our school system. Even though quantitative data is an important driving force, you should also look at the qualitative aspects of the school issues. Many times the quantitative data will raise a red flag but it’s the qualitative issues that greatly affect that data.
The meeting with my site mentor also showed me how as a principal you must be flexible. My mentor really wanted me to do an action research plan that would benefit our campus but, after discussing that this plan would have to carry through and be a part of my e-portfolio for my masters it was decided that it should be something dealing with technology. This project will benefit the school but in a different way than she envisioned. Her ability to see another point of view and work me shows me why she makes a good principal.

Blog Use

A blog is a tool that educators and administrators can use to get input on any issue that may need to be addressed. This can be as simple as a topic of discussion in the classroom or any thing that an administrator needs feed back on for the betterment of the campus. It is a quick easy and easy interactive tool.

Action Research Reflection

There is no problem or concern that ever totally goes away. Action research is the answer to working to improve the issue. A team can continually look at the advancements, what has worked, what has not worked, how the concern has morphed. Sometimes through study you will notice while solving issues with one concern that there is another that equally needs to be addressed or that the new concern was really the underlying reason for the first concern. Action research is an effective tool for improving teaching and learning. Educators can study their student’s learning and relate it to their own teaching so that learning is improved. Because of the continual reflection and action spiraling of this process it is an ongoing method to overcome a problem that may exist.
As an educator I would use action research because it is ongoing, makes use of those who are involved in the problem, uses current information to help problem solve, and has a semantic approach that utilizes data to better understand the issues at hand. Once a plan of action has been devised then it does not just drop the process as complete. Action research includes eight steps as Harris (2010) states; the most valuable in my opinion is step 8 “Sustaining improvement” which includes the annual diagnosis and continued attention to choices made to correct the problem. Our world as teachers involves is a dynamic field that is continually changing we must use a process to approach problems that lends itself to change and adjustment.

Web conference over internship

Dr. Abernathy opened the conference up to questions about your internship. She cautioned to try to do a few hours a month to space things out and not to wait until the end to try to get your hours in.
You need to make sure to turn in a monthly report even if it is to say that you did not complete any hours during that month.
Professional development can count as internship hours if you can match a standard and performance indicator to it.
Your internship plan can change as you need it too.Dr. Abernathy also gave us contact information so that we can email to ask questions as needed.

Web Conference May 4

The web conference today was to cover week five’s assignment. Mrs. Borel directed us to specifically look at Appendix G in our handbook. She felt it best to look at the final report due and work backwards to what we need to do. We will need to summarize all the intern hours. She also advised us to look carefully at E,F,G,H appendices.We were also reminded that our first monthly report over field base activities was due on June 1. We are to post report on our wiki and email same report to Dr. Abernathy at kayabernathy@gmail.com .

Web Conference #3

Getting on the web conference is getting much easier. Tonight we discussed in greater detail the handbook and our internship. Mrs. Borel also spoke a little more about our reflections. She helped some get on the wiki page to edit. Feed back during discussions was not as bad. The meeting ended early.

Are You a STaR?

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Texas S Ta R Chart

View more presentations from laurahdeiss.

Draft of National Educational Technology Plan

The National Educational Technology Plan has recommended goals in five essential areas of learning hoping to raise the proportion of college graduates from 39% to 60% and close achievement gaps so that all students regardless of race, income, or neighborhood graduate from high school ready for success in college by 2020. These five areas should be powered by technology using individualized, personalized, and differential instruction that goes beyond the 3 R’s to include critical thinking, complex problem solving, collaboration, and multimedia communication that is woven into all content areas.
The five areas are:
· Learning that will match what and how we teach to meet the needs of what students need to know and how they learn with technology.
· Assessment that is new and better in its measure of what matters, diagnosing strengths, and weaknesses to improve student performances.
· Teaching will provide use of technology to help the educators’ abilities in teaching by enabling a shift to model connected teaching.
· Infrastructure that provides every student, educator, and level of our education system with resources they need when and where they are needed.
· Productivity to redesign our education system by applying technology to implement
The Federal Government recognizes that the primary responsibility for education remains in the hands of the state and local government and views its role as a leader who provides a clearinghouse that matches experts’ advice and services with those who need it.
In breaking down the five areas there were many good examples and explanations on how to improve in the areas. I found the assessment area to be the most fascinating. The move for online assessment with problem solving and not just multiple choice would be a great way to assess true learning.

Report on Long-Range Plan for Technology 2006-2020

The Texas Long Range Plan for Technology report is a wealth of information, starting with a breakdown of how grade levels use technology. There is a detailed report on the Technology Immersion Pilot (TIP) program. The report shares information on the schools that participated and links to articles about some schools’ programs. This report shares the successes for improvement and gives recommendations for other schools wanting to follow a similar example for their schools.
A report on the Texas Virtual School Network system gives examples of online learning courses. It also provides information about the Central Operations region, professional development for TXVSN, a funding report and funding recommendations, and a timeline of accomplishments.
The important information is analysis of the Star chart. The Teaching and Learning strand showed a 1% decrease in the number of schools developing technology and a 4% decrease in the developing technology classification. There was an increase of 5% in advanced technology while the target technology classification stayed the same
The Educator Preparation and Development strand showed a 3% decrease in early technology, and a 3% increase in the advance technology classification. The developing technology classification and target remained the same. There is data to support that Texas schools are moving in the right direction toward the target technology goal.
The Leadership, Administration, and Instructional Support strand showed a 1% decrease in early technology and a 6% decrease in developing technology. There was a large increase of 6% in advanced technology and a small 1% increase in target technology.
The Infrastructure for technology showed a 1% decrease in early technology and a 4% decrease in developing technology. Encouraging is the 4% increase of advanced technology and a 2% increase in the target technology.
Though it would be best to see greater gains, it is heartening to see improvements toward the target technology classification goal for all districts.
The Texas Long Range Plan for Technology Report ends with information from many of the Regional Service Centers.

April 22, Web conference

The 1:00 conference had quite a few technical difficulties. We were able to communicate through the Chat Pod but that was about it. It was nice to see some faces of classmates and we were about to talk with microphones to each other. One classmate was in the classroom with her class. The kids expressions at seeing us on the computer wa priceless, it made you realize how great technology is. It would be even more awesome to witness students on a web conference where they could communicate with other students from other schools. A new time was set for early conferences.The 8:00 conference went much better though some individuals had trouble with their systems. Technology is just wonderful when it works. After a while of trouble shooting we were given more information on the internship and instructions to read the handbook carefully. Mrs. Borel then tried to help those of us that could not edit the wiki pages to ienter email and blog addresses. Overall it was an enjoyable experience.

Texas Long Range Plan for Technology 2006-2020

Educator Preparation and Development is the weak area of our school. The target goal in this area is for teachers to be able to participate in, or mentor others in, the use of technology. They should be able to promote learning through a variety of delivery systems, create new interactive, collaborative, and customized learning environments and online content and have taught content units or courses on line. Our key classification is on the high side of developing technology but we are far from the target tech classification and have made little to no progress in this area the past 3 years. Despite the fact that we rank in the top 74.2 percentile of schools in this classification, it is an area of concern.
Our campus has made and continues to make great strides in developing our infrastructure to provide an avenue that will allow teachers to reach the target classification in our weakest area. Although our infrastructure classification is still below the target area I feel we have enough in place that we should be able to provide more professional development and make more progress than what we have in the past 3 years.
In order to reach the target classification our professional development will have to increase. Teachers must be provided the opportunity to learn not only how to use this technology but also how to implement it in the classroom. I would stress the implementation of technology even more than the learning of it. Students can provide many learning experiences to each other and the teacher while the teacher acts as a facilitator.

Web Conference Experience

I have experienced my first 2 web conferences this past week. The first after a few trial and errors went very well. The second was a good example of how things can go wrong with technology. Despite the advances that have been made it was a good reminder of the fact that technology is not perfect. The more we come to reli on technology the more we have to be prepared for times when it is not functioning properly and how to over come those times.

New Experiences

Hello, this is my first blog I am trying out this new experience. I am taking a graduate online class for the first time. Tomorrow is a new day is how I'm living my life right now. Everyday is bringing new challenges with this class.