Kelsi S.

Wilcox ED 617 Advanced Educational Technology Field Experience Action Plan January 31, 2011 I plan on obtaining an Instructional Technology Specialist Certificate and later, in my teaching career, obtaining a position as a technology specialist, coordinator or technology coach for a school district. I consider myself a life-long learner, and what better field to be in then teaching, and specifically technology education, as it is an ever-changing and advancing field. I would excel in this role, as I thoroughly enjoy incorporating technology into my own classroom. A few of my colleagues have begun to notice this and ask for suggestions on how they can do the same in their classrooms. This would be such an exciting role, for me, as I would be training the trainer and assisting in developing technology skills within my colleagues and in turn, enhancing the learning experience for their/our students, as well. ACTION PLAN Job Shadowing 10 Hours I plan to job shadow our districts Instructional Technology Specialist, Barbara Witkowski and the Classroom for the Future Coach, Sharon Geary. I will participate in this job shadowing activity during my prep period and after school. During this shadowing experience, I will learn many different aspects of both of their positions. I would like to focus on the grant writing process, professional development sessions and the process of assessing technology software, websites, etc. Both of these women are great assets to the school district and to myself as mentors. Through job shadowing these two positions, I will become more familiar with their duties and skills needed for their positions. Classroom Observations 4 hours I plan to observe three of my colleagues who are already incorporating technology into their classrooms. I will spend two of my prep periods with each teacher. The classroom disciplines I plan to observe are History, Language Arts and Information Technology. This will benefit me in many ways. For one, my current experience includes only incorporating technology into my Language Arts classroom, so, I look forward to seeing different ways to do this in other subject areas. This will also assist me in beginning to explore ways to help teachers incorporate technology into their lessons, in a different certification area than I hold myself. Administrative Interviews 2 hours I plan to conduct interviews with my districts administrative team (including: Superintendent, both Building Principals and Vice Principals), as well as the elementary and high school Business/Technology Teachers and Instruction Technology Specialist. I plan on inquiring about their philosophy of technology in education and their goals for the school district in relation to technology.

Life Experience On-Going I use technology every day in my Language Arts classroom. This includes using my Smartboard to display agendas and notes for the day. Other times for vocabulary instruction, drill and practice, writing assignments and project-based learning. I am always evaluating my technology use and researching more tools to best incorporate technology in my instruction. I have subscribed to the Tech and Learning magazine along with their electronic newsletters, I also read many technology blogs and websites, I follow educators on Twitter and interact with other colleagues on best practices. I am always yearning to learn and exploring new technology tools to incorporate into my teaching and passing on information to other teachers that I feel would benefit their classrooms, too. REFLECTION Job Shadowing/Webinars/Training 10 hours Grant Writing Webinars Thinkfinity Workshop Smartboard Training Edmodo Tutorial Apple I Works Products Tutorial 1:1 shadowing with Mrs. Witkowski Grant Writing Webinar I thoroughly enjoy the workshops Mrs. Witkowski presents. She is a very good listener and asks us what we want to see with these workshops and then prepares herself to conduct the workshop well. I learned how to navigate Thinkfinity website and my Smartboard. I also learned so much about the I Works products, which I didnt know about before. Both Mrs. Witkowski and a new teacher very well did the Edmodo workshop this year Miss Visseau. Since the workshops, I have implemented Edmodo in my classroom and it has been received extremely well by my students. Through shadowing Mrs. Witkowski, I learned the history behind the Instructional Technology Specialist position within this school district as well as information about the position in the surrounding districts. I also talked with her about the Elementary Technology Teacher role and the history behind that position. The full-time position for the Instructional Technology Specialist was implemented in 2003-2004, whereas, the Full-Time Elementary Technology Teacher was implemented in 2004-2005. We are the only district around this area that has a Full-Time Instructional Technology Specialist. One other district does have a full-time Technology Coach and another district has a Business Teacher in place, her role is half Business Teacher and the other half Instructional Technology Specialist. The Elementary Technology Teacher works with K-2nd grade, by going into the classroom and presenting a technology activity which aligns with what they are learning about in class. He also has a 2.5 hours 1 hour 1 hour 1 hour 1 hour 3.5 hours

specials class with 4th, 5th, and 6th graders, with the main focus being keyboarding. Our superintendent and school board, due to the extreme budget cuts our district is facing this year, have brought up the Elementary Technology Teacher position in the furloughing discussion. During the school board meeting, the motion failed, though Mrs. Barb Witkowski worries the discussion on that and more cuts to the technology area isnt over yet. She emphasized the need for the continuation of grant funding to further fund technology within the district. I was also able to work with Mrs. Witkowski in my own classroom, when I asked her to come in and walk through creating Gmail accounts with my students. She went over where to go to locate copyright-friendly images and the importance of doing so. She also gave a tutorial on Google Sketch-Up, showing the basics to my students to assist them in creating their Ideal Schools. Classroom Observations 4 Hours Two Class Periods with Jessica Visseau, 8th Grade English One Class Period with Sandra Mcravy, 9th Grade English One Class Period with Sharon Geary, 7th Grade Information Technology One Class Period with Conrad Warner, Senior High Social Studies One Class Period with Pamela Warner, 10th Grade Biology Administrative Interviews/Workshop 2 hours One of the questions I was planning on asking the administration was their view on the future role technology would have in the district. Not long after I created my Action Plan, I was asked to serve on the pilot program of technologys future role. My district will begin implementation in the fall on E-Academy. I gladly accepted my role and participated in a workshop describing the implementation plan and my role in this program. Mr. Jonathan Maddy, Vice-Principal and Director of Technology 0.5 hours Mrs. Vicky Walters, High School Principal 0.5 hours E-Academy Workshop 1 hour Life Experience Over the course of this second semester of the year, I have updated my Classroom Wikispace and learned more ways to make it more appealing and also discovered more ways to use the widgets. I also integrated a research project, not only using technology to gain knowledge from the research, but also to allow students to create a product with my students Fakebook Profile Project Classroom Wikispace Quizlet Edmodo Implementation