EDLD 5397 Internship in Supervision

During my internship, I polled faculty members at a workshop who indicated that they would welcome professional development in technology training. They also commented that they resent the high expectations placed on them to use technology in instruction without formal training and the availability of technological resources. Therefore, my site mentor and I shifted our subject of research from a group of students to the faculty at his new campus. The need is greater for the faculty to be knowledgeable of how to use technology because their knowledge in should positively impact a larger number of students. The vision of my action research plan is to equip faculty with the skills of technology integration for their instruction so that they meet the digital demands of their students and enhance their learning. The rationale is that if I use my remaining internship time to focus on facultys professional development, then a greater number of students will improve their academic achievement. The development of a teachers integration skills can be measured by his/her instructional evaluation forms. Increased student academic achievement can be measured by any improvement in their benchmark scores. My site mentor and I both decided that I would have to revamp my action research project with the relocation of his site for administrative practice. We both considered how I could change my action research plan without drastically affecting my internship plan. We considered how technology integration would still remain the focus of my research as well as how to recycle some of the steps that I used in my original action research plan. We decided to use my presentation to previous faculty members about the importance of technology integration as the introduction to the new project we want to do. Because Prensky (2005) urged educators' to use lesson plans that cater to the digital demands of their students and mentioned to ignore technology integration is "lethal" to the students' education. I would ask in what ways can I help enhance professional development in technology integration to improve overall student academic performance. We also decided that in the first six weeks I will help staff with technology integration, the second six weeks the administration and myself will evaluate the effectiveness of their integration, and that the 3rd six weeks benchmark scores will correlate effectiveness of technology integration with improved student achievement. I will present the vision of my action research plan to faculty at during their first session back to school (and to parents at the first parent teachers meeting). The action research plan is to poll staff on which method of development that they prefer; use that method to train staff by the end of the first six weeks; evaluate technology integration in the second six weeks; and compare benchmark scores in the third six weeks. My time management relies on how staff desires instruction. Student learning and safety were strongly considered in the request of educational materials for the research plan. I requested 5 laptops, 5 LCD projectors, 5 webcams, 5 speakers, 5 interactive boards, and five wireless cards (campus is not wireless). The wireless cards are needed to allow teachers to access educational websites that are blocked by campus internet filters. I am implementing the action research plan by, first, polling the faculty in a meeting on how exactly they would like to be trained in the professional development. In the first six weeks I would like to have trained all of the departments on how to use a few web 2.0 tools in their instruction. The second six weeks of the school year should initiate the weekly observation of technology integration in the classroom. I will still be available to assist teachers on their
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EDLD 5397 Internship in Supervision

continued development of technology usage. By the third benchmark results, we should have enough data to correlate which teachers are successfully integrating technology and which classes have shown most improvement in their benchmark performance. The strategies that I would use to lead the operations of the plan are to give the faculty an option of their professional development and provide faculty with the evaluation form of the technology integration with a grading rubric. These strategies group similar minded faculty members in development groups for built consensus on instructional strategies. The strategy I would use to set priorities in my plan is to reward teachers who submit completed assignments with priority in resource usage. This communicates to the faculty the importance of technology usage and its scarcity on campus. All strategies help to resolve conflict on how faculty is trained and evaluated. The action research project will serve special needs students by fostering an engaging environment for their academic growth. It will stimulate the exceptional students as they assist their teachers in technology integration in the classroom. Students of diverse backgrounds (despite language barriers) can share their interest through the promotion of technology usage in teaching and learning. I plan to motivate staff by involving them in the decision making of the action plan. They will decide the format of the training. They will decide if they want to train during or after school. They will be provided with a supplemental evaluation form that appraises their technology integration prior to their evaluation. I plan to promote community involvement in the vision by assisting teachers to blog their experience on technology integration. Therefore, other staff members, students, families, and community members can read and comment on the action plan.

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EDLD 5397 Internship in Supervision

After I introduce myself to the faculty and explain to them who I am and what all I will be doing, I will give them a pre training survey: 1. Which training formats appeal to you: ___ class style workshop on campus ___ recorded workshop presented as podcast

2. Which time is best suits you for the training workshop on campus: ___ planning periods ___ after school

3. With which of these tools are you familiar (check all that apply): ___ Animoto ___ Blogger.com ___ Glogster.com ___ Wiki/Google Sites ___ Windows Movie Maker ___ Windows Photo Story

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EDLD 5397 Internship in Supervision

After the first six weeks, I will ask faculty of their blog sites and give them a post training survey: 1. How pleased were you with the technology integration training: ___ Very Satisfied ___ Satisfied ___ Neutral ___ Dissatisfied ___ Very Dissatisfied

2. How pleased were you with the technology integration training: ___ Unfamiliar ___ Somewhat familiar ___ Very familiar

3. What did you like most about the training:

4. What did you like least about the training:

5. Which web 2.0 tools do you plan to use in your instruction:

6. How could the training improve:

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EDLD 5397 Internship in Supervision

After the second six weeks, I will ask faculty of their blog sites and give them a post evaluation survey: 1. What web 2.0 tools did you use in your instruction:

2. How did you use the tools:

3. Has there been an increase in student engagement in your class? If so, how:

4. Which additional web 2.0 tools do you plan to use in your instruction:

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EDLD 5397 Internship in Supervision

From previous research experience, I do not plan to rely too much on the multitude of functioning personal computers. I do plan to seek funding for a wireless card so I can freely browse the web for my demonstrations. Most of the resources for this action plan will draw from the time I use to train the faculty and the time the faculty will use to develop their lesson plans. I will establish a priority in the usage of technological resources for days that I train and days that faculty are evaluated. I propose that there will be a confidence/relief in facultys instruction while appraised. I believe this because the administrations expectations are no mystery and I will be there to assist their preparation. Motivated teachers design engaging lessons. Increased student engagement definitely helps to promote a positive school culture. I plan to present my action research findings before my site supervisor and his administrative cluster. I believe my site supervisor could advocate for my proposal recommendations to district personnel (since the district is very small). Professional growth strategies that I will employ to enable the faculty to successfully realize the vision of my action research plan is blogging. I plan to construct a blogging community on campus where faculty could blog about their experiences with training and evaluation. I will strongly encourage the importance of leaving comments as feedback. Another phrase to describe my action research plan is: Technology Integration through Teacher Training)

Prensky, Marc. (2005). Adopt and Adapt: Shaping Tech for the Classroom. Edutopia, 1-6. Retrieved from www.Edutopia.org

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