Assignment 5

I read the title of the class, Instructional Leadership, and had no idea what the course would be about. The syllabus explained the learning outcomes for the class. I looked over the outcomes for the class so that I could have a better perception of what I would be learning over the next five weeks. The syllabus discussed students being able to describe the Texas Long-Range Plan for technology, identifying how to integrate technology on a campus using technology standards and recognizing that students are digital natives. Other outcomes included examine different data sources to make informed decisions about technology, ways to meet technology goals and identify social, legal and ethical issues related to technology.

After studying the syllabus, I envisioned that I would effectively be able to describe and give examples of the Texas Long-Range Plan for Technology. I achieved this outcome because I was able to correlate the similarities with my campuses technology plan and was able to identify ways to integrate technology on campus. In the Katy Long-Range Term Plan for Technology I found the objective, “Investigate and expand opportunities for student and teacher collaboration through the use of interactive tools such as discussion boards, podcasting, blogs, wikis, or other social media learning environments” (Katy Long Range Plan, 2009, p. 10). I will be able to implement these interactive tools at my campus because I have participated in discussion boards and blogs within this class.

I found that blogs can improve classroom instruction by engaging students. Students can collaborate and peer tutor with other students all over the world. While doing this, they are teaching themselves how to learn and interact with groups of students. A student could post a blog and students from around the world could post comments. I am still worried about student’s safety. After the discussion board with other students, the answer was never determined on how to protect students on blogs. I am not worried about students getting on the wrong websites because I rarely have that issue. My students understand that they are only to get on proper websites about the curriculum we are covering. I monitor to ensure that they do as they are suppose to. Not only can students use blogs but so can administrators.

I will use blogging to communicate with all stakeholders when I am an administrator. I will create newsletters and weekly updates to keep all stakeholders informed and up-to-date. It is important that stakeholders are apart of the school community and the only way to do this is to keep them abreast with school information. An open line of communication must be formed. I will learn, on my own through trial and error, the podcast and wiki technology. I would have liked to be able to set up a wiki with our graduate class where we could share classroom curriculum with each other. Articles I read spoke about podcast and wikis but never said how to set them up or gave step-by-step directions.

Another outcome from the syllabus that I achieved was understanding and determining students are digital natives. I read numerous articles in the class to learn that I am a digital immigrant because I was not raised with technology. Technology does not come first hand for me. I need staff developments to show me how to properly use the technology or I must spend many hours figuring out how to use it. Digital natives are most students because they were born into or with technology. Digital natives save documents on the computer; where as digital immigrants are more comfortable with a hard copy of the material. I will be able to be a leader with technology because I have an open mind to learn new things. I have encountered teachers that would rather teach the way that they always have. I have shown my own PLC members that it is easy to incorporate technology in the classroom. They were first against the idea but are now accepting. I will do the same as an administrator. I will show teachers the easy accessability of implementing technology in the classroom.

Additionally, another outcome that I am able to determine is data sources to make informed decisions about technology. One type of the many data sources that I learned was the STaR Chart. I analyzed the STaR Chart to determine the strengths and weakness of my campus. I found the greatest strengths on the STaR Chart were in Leadership, Administrator and Instructional Support (Key Area III) and Infrastructure for Technology (Key Area IV). The campus’ greatest weakness on the STaR Chart was Teaching and Learning (Key Area I) and Educator, Preparation and Development (Key Area II).

Lastly, I was able to identify social, legal and ethical issues related to technology. The articles and lectures were very useful. One of the laws confused me. The law discussed material made by a teacher belongs to the district. I would like more details and clarification.

In conclusion, my vision was closely aligned with the course outcome. I stated a few areas that I would have liked additional explanation and information. I also explained the many areas that I accomplished the learning outcomes. I will currently and always be able to utilize what I learned in this course. I can use what I learned as a teacher or an administrator because technology will always be at the forefront of education. The course assignments have helped me achieve the learning outcome in this class. I was not always sure what parts of the assignment wanted me to do. I used the discussion board to communicate with other peers. Together we figured it out. This only goes to show how important discussion boards are.