Week 3 Instructional Leadership Report

In looking at the Sorters Mill Elementary Campus Improvement Plan for the year 2009-2010, I see many instances where technology has influenced campus curriculum and instructional development. To begin with, four of our campus objectives are that at least 90% of all students will pass the math, reading, writing, and science portion of the spring 2010 TAKS test. A recurring strategy that is listed in the CIP that is intended to help meet that objective is the utilization of an online program called Study Island. Study Island is a TAKS objectives based program that is broken into four content areas: reading, writing, math, and science. Our campus has committed itself to this program for all students in the second through fifth grade. By beginning this program in the second grade, a grade that is not TAKS tested, it is building a foundation that will enable our campus to meet these 90% goals (Sorters Mill, n.d.).
The New Caney Independent School District’s Technology Plan has specific provisions that relate directly to each campus. As stated in the District Technology Plan (n.d.), “Each school will annually submit a technology plan as part of their school development plan. This technology plan should support the improvement goals for their school. The plan will correlate to the district policies and key for TEKS and budget”. This is directly in line with the Sorters Mill CIP objective that directly affects technology by stating, “Sorters Mill Elementary will foster the use of technology as an effective tool for instruction and classroom management, thereby enabling students to be successful in an increasingly technological world” (Sorters Mill, n.d.). There are many strategies listed that include the following: implementation of Accelerated Reader and Accelerated Math, targeting students using Headsprout Reading Lab, implementation of E-instruction and Quizdom into the classroom, the purchase of software programs for pre-kindergarten and kindergarten curriculum, and having opportunities for district training providing technology instruction. All of these encompass grade pre-k through fifth, which I feel shows a continued strand of technology use throughout the curriculum (New Caney, n.d.).
New Caney ISD is making great strides aligning itself with the Long Rang Plan for Technology. This is self evident as you study both the District Technology Plan and the Sorters Mill Elementary Campus Improvement Plan. I just happen to be the technology facilitator for Sorters Mill elementary, so I have the advantage of seeing this on a daily basis. One of the key observations I have made regarding my school district is in it fight to preserve the technology applications teaching position at each of the eight elementary campuses. While many districts around us have chosen to delete this teaching position, our district has worked faithfully to keep it. This shows that our district is committed to getting technology instruction into the hands of our students. At my campus, each class, grades kindergarten through fifth, rotates into the computer lab one day a week. All of these students are guaranteed 30-55 minutes of technology instruction on a weekly basis with a one-to-one student-computer ratio. In addition to that, my campus has an additional computer lab that teachers may use to give further instruction and enrichment. Students have access to the Internet and a variety of software programs that would enhance their learning. The ability for our school to do this aligns our technology plan with that of the Long Range Plan for Technology when they state, “All learners have access to relevant technologies, tools, resources, and services for individualized instruction” (Long Range Plan for Technology, 2006).
Technology is being used to deliver and enrich instruction in many ways on the campus of Sorters Mill Elementary. As the campus technology coordinator, one of my assigned tasks is in tracking the inventory and use of technology equipment that is purchased. I know which teacher has checked out which piece of equipment, how long he/she has it checked out, and as I go about my daily business, I can see first hand how the technology is being used in instructions.
Recently, I was fortunate to catch one of our 4th grade teachers simultaneously using multiple pieces of technology equipment. This teacher, I should say, is very proficient in technology, and she is willing to try new things. She has been innovative in setting her classroom up in a manner that would accommodate transient equipment in the least-intrusive way. I continually use her as an example in staff developments that I do as someone who has it all together. The day I was able to view first hand her use of technology was the day she called my classroom asking if there was an extra CPS Chalkboard available (she already had one checked out). Curious about what she planned, I took the chalkboard to her room. What I saw was overwhelming. She had given the first CPS Chalkboard to one student, and after we quickly connected the second one, she gave it to a second student. Working with simple Algebraic statements, both students were “competing” to see who could solve the equation first – both using the CPS Chalkboard at the same time while their progress was broadcast onto the screen via an InFocus Projector. When both students were not successful in solving the equation, this teacher switched from using the projector to using her document camera for a review of how to solve the problem. She then switched back to the CPS Chalkboard/projector combination and let teams of students work together to solve the equation. Besides the fact that there was actually active, engaged learning taking place, the students were ecstatic about being able to use the CPS Chalkboard themselves.
As identified in a report submitted by Morris Fuselier, Associate Superintendent for Administrative Services, to the New Caney ISD school board in April 2009, technology integration is an ongoing process. According to the report, the following examples of integration were given in regards to the 2008-2009 school years:
· In January of 2009, all campuses were given the opportunity to participate in live streaming of the presidential inauguration over the Internet. Locations were set up on each campus to allow for large audience viewing of the event. “This allowed our students to actually be a part of this history-making event as it was occurring rather than watching the event after it was finished.”
· Discovery Education enrollment for teachers has increased in the district. Teachers are allowed to download short video segments that are used to augment their instruction. 1092 downloads were done in the month of March.
· All second and fifth grade students participate in a Technology Applications benchmark at the end of the school year.
· All sixth grade students complete a keyboarding assessment at the end of each school year.
· Eighth grade students at one of our middle schools participated in the second year Technology Literacy Pilot Program through TEA. The results of these assessments are part of the NCLB Title IId report that is submitted at the end of the school year.
· Free summer technology programs are offered to students in grades 4-8. Programs include exposure to robotics, video production, webpage design, computer animation, pod-casting, geocaching, and desktop publishing.
(Board Book, n.d.)
Morris Fuselier’s report to the school board also presents information regarding staff development. According to Fuselier, the Instructional Technology Division of the Department of Technology has offered 122 technology trainings in various formats during the months of November through March of 2008-2009. There were 1030 participants who completed the trainings, representing a total of 2757 completed technology training hours. The following is a breakdown of the training offerings:
§ Web Ex Training 5
§ Distance Learning Opportunities 40
§ Hands on Training 75
§ Seminar/Conference 2
(Board Book, n.d.)
Also according to Fuselier’s board report, during the summer of 2009, there were 22 technology staff development opportunities. He stated that “the majority of our course offerings will focus on technology integration.” Topics covered during these summer staff developments include the following: Student Response Systems, Geocaching, Pod casting, Digital Storytelling, Webpage Design, Electronic Chalkboards, Online Reference Databases, Open Office, Easy Quality Assessments, and Scantron utilization (Board Book, n.d.). Jeannie Reed, Instructional Technology Coordinator/Trainer for New Caney ISD offered the following statistics in regards to the summer staff developments previously listed: There were a total of 2181 hours of technology training taken by 387 NCISD employees during that summer; 392.5 hours were devoted to distance learning; 28.5 hours were devoted to online training sessions; 1671.5 hours were devoted to general technology training (Reed, 2009). As you can see, New Caney ISD is committed to ongoing teacher training in the area of technology use in their classrooms.
Since I actually teach a technology applications course, I do not feel that my representation of technology use in my classroom is an item of discussion. I am fortunate enough to have one-to-one computing available. I have an InFocus projector 24/7; I have access to digital cameras on a daily basis, and I use a CPS Chalkboard on a regular basis. I have worked to bring in outside items for my students to use. One that most intrigued the students was a flexible keyboard. While most students quickly tire of doing basic keyboard drills, when given the opportunity to use this flexible keyboard while doing them, it was a challenge to get them to stop when it was time to quit. We have used digital cameras in my classroom so that we could edit them in a photo editing software program. Students were expected to take their pictures and upload them to their computer. We had great fun and success in this activity. Using the Internet is not a challenge as I have 24/7 access – as recommended in the Long Range Plan for Technology.
To broaden my search for how technology is being used in the classroom, I interviewed two teachers. Sandra Lee, a 5th grade science teacher and a member of the Site-Based Decision Making committee at Sorters Mill Elementary, discussed with me how she utilizes technology in her classroom. She has daily access to a document camera as well as an InFocus projector. She uses the Internet based web-site Brain Pop and Power Point presentations to teach and reinforce science concepts. She states that she also uses the SRA Snapshots program to teach and reinforce concepts.
One of her main concerns in regards to student access to technology is based on her student’s limited use of technology in her classroom. The main reason for this is that there are only 3 computers in the classroom for her students to use. This does not align with the Long-Range plan for technology in respect of schools having one-to-one computer-student ratios. Most of her student’s work on the Internet does involve the group process where teams work together to research various science topics. On the whole, she feels that her students are successful in using the Internet as a research tool, and they are able to apply what they learn from it to the classroom instruction. Mrs. Lee’s hope is that as the years go by, more technology equipment will be able to be purchased so that more students can individually utilize them. Cindy Cummings, during the round table interview posted in the Instructional Leadership online course, mentioned that it is becoming more and more important that today’s administrators be “innovative in finding funding to supply technology” in the classroom (Jenkins, 2009). This would obviously help in this situation where the demand for technology certainly exceeds the supply.
Vicky Siega, a 2nd grade dual language teacher at the same school, also discussed with me how technology is used in her classroom. On a personal note, and as the campus technology coordinator, I can attest to the desire that Mrs. Siega has to learn technology, use it actively in her classroom, and get it into the hands of her students. She states that she regularly uses the website Thinkmath to play math games with her students after introducing a new math concept. She has just recently gotten a document camera as well as an InFocus projector, and she is adequately learning how to use them with instruction. She utilizes Discovery Education (United Streaming) to show student more detailed information as it relates to her science lessons. She is very excited about utilizing Math in a Flash – a part of Renaissance Learning – with her students. She says that this program is an excellent way for students to work independently on the computer and still apply math concepts covered during the class. She also says that a benefit of this is that both she and the student receive immediate feedback in regards to their work. Mrs. Siega is in the process of utilizing Study Island – and Internet based TAKS program – more in her classroom. Using the E-Instruction “clickers” in large group instruction allows her to monitor her student understanding of an objective on the spot. Mrs. Siega also utilizes the one student lab on our campus by regularly scheduling blocks of time for her entire class to use. She incorporates individualized instruction with group instruction as she teaches concepts to her students. Dr. Kay Abernathy, in the round-table discussion for Lamar, states that teacher learn to be innovative in their teaching (Jenkins, 2009). Mrs. Siega is a prime example in this innovative teaching. She is using the resources she has to the best of her ability; she is willing to learn how to use new pieces of technology equipment, and she remains focused on student learning.
I spoke with a group of eighteen 5th grade students asking them their opinions about the technology equipment they use at Sorters Mill Elementary. The first obstacle in my discussion was the fact that we had to discuss what “technology” actually was. Their initial thought was it was when they came to my computer applications class one time a week. To them, simply using a computer for word process or spreadsheet applications was “technology”. Once we clarified all that the term encompassed, they were more open with their responses. To begin with, many of them stated that they felt that there were simply not enough “things” for them to do with technology. Many of them stated that it was the teachers who ended up using the technology and that rarely, if ever, did they get the opportunity to use it for themselves. I asked them about things they liked that they saw their teachers using. Their overwhelming accolade was for a CPS Chalkboard, which is basically a wireless, pencil-mouse on a tablet. This pencil/tablet allows the teacher to be mobile in the classroom while still being able to control the application on her computer. Since all these student have ever seen was a traditional mouse, the idea that a pencil could do the same thing as a mouse, was a concept that really peeked their curiosity.
When asked how technology has improved their learning and academic performance, they referred to one specific teacher who utilizes the Study Island Internet based program for TAKS instructions This teacher encourages the students to use this by offering incentives for the end of the year. Study Island is broken down into the different TAKS objectives; in this case, the math objectives. Students can individualize their work by personally selecting the objective they would like to cover. This teacher also gives “blanket” assignments of objectives to her class as a whole. There is a deadline for the students to follow, so they must complete the work before it comes. Email is also opened between the student and teacher in Study Island. This teacher sends personalized instructions and encouragement to each student, and in turn, each student is able to respond to her. If they are having difficulties with an objective and they don’t feel comfortable addressing it in person, they have the avenue of e-mail to communicate with their teacher.

References

Board Book. (n.d.) Retrieved December 1, 2009 from Board Book Website: http://www.boardbook.org/apps/bbv2/temp/55E9ABF5-BFF6-190B-A4A6A15D01F364E6.pdf.
Jenkins, S., Abernathy, K. and Cummings, C. (2009). Interview Part 1-4. EDLD 5352 Instructional Leadership. Lamar University.
Lee, S. (personal communication, December 1, 2009).
Long-Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020. (n.d.). Retrieved November 27, 2009 from TEA website at: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/technology/etac.
New Caney Independent School District Technology Plan. (n.d.). Retrieved November 30, 2009 from Department of Technology Website: http://www2.newcaneyisd.org/tech/index.htm.
Reed, J. (personal communication, December 2, 2009).
Siega, V. (personal communication, December 2, 2009).
Sorters Mill Elementary Campus Improvement Plan 2009-2010. (n.d.). Retrieved November 30, 2009 from Sorters Mill Elementary Website: http://www2.newcaneyisd.org/sortersmillelementary/pdf/Sorters%20Mill%20Campus%20Plan%2009-10.pdf.