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Candidate Portfolios: Sample Leadership Projects
Table of Contents
Initial Teaching Licensure – Leadership Project – Health and Physical Education - Exceeds
Expectations ........................................................................................................................................ 2
Initial Teaching Licensure – Leadership Project – Health and Physical Education - Proficient ......... 17
School Administration (EdS) - Leadership Project - Exceeds Expectations ........................................ 30
School Administration (EdS) - Leadership Project - Proficient............................................................ 58
Advanced Teaching Licensure (MEd) - English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)Teacher Leadership Project - Exceeds Expectations .......................................................................... 81
Advanced Teaching Licensure (MEd) - English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Teacher Leadership Project - Proficient .............................................................................................. 92
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Initial Teaching Licensure – Leadership Project – Health and Physical
Education - Exceeds Expectations
School Improvement Plan Proposal
Part 1: Data Collection
Elementary School Improvement Plan:
Vision:
We believe the responsibility of the school is to provide a safe environment in which each student is
able to successfully grow physically, mentally and emotionally. Success should be experienced daily
by each student to nurture a sense of self-worth. All students will be taught according to their capabilities
for the development of their full potential. The students will be stimulated to enhance their creative
ability and productive reasoning. We believe that the success of our school depends upon professional
attitudes and the continuation of staff development. We believe the staff must communicate and
cooperate for the benefit of each student. The utilization of the strengths and talents of each staff member
is imperative for effective and affective teaching. We believe the curriculum enables each student to
acquire academic skills, understandings, and the knowledge necessary for intellectual growth. The
curriculum will strengthen the development of skills for making value judgments, problem solving,
creative thinking and aesthetic awareness. The curriculum provides for the flexible use of varied
approaches and multi-media materials, as major components of our program. We believe the school shares
responsibility with the parents and the community in helping students develop respect toward themselves,
society, and the environment. Through self-discovery and self-discipline students should be able to
make positive contributions within a changing society.
Mission:
Our mission at
Elementary School, in partnership with our home, our community and
our environment, is to encourage our children to achieve academic excellence, to accept responsibility,
to respect diversity in safe and caring ways, and to care for our natural environment.
URL:
Priority Goals of Current SIP:
•
•
Reading improvement in grades three, four and five is a focus for
in 2010-2012.
o By 2012 the percent of students in grades three to five scoring proficient or above
reading will increase from 65.9% to 81% as measured by the EOG.
Reading improvement in grades first and second is a focus for
in 2010-2012.
The reading proficiency averaged about 57% for 2009-2010 in first and second grades as
measured by the DRA assessments.
2
•
•
o By 2012, the percent of students in grades K through second scoring proficient or
above in reading will increase from 68.7% to 81% as measured by the DRA
assessments.
Comparing and analyzing DIBELS reading scores for students from 2009-2010 to 20102012 in grades first and second and DRA scores for student in grades first and second,
and third would provide the school with information on which reading skills students
gain and which reading skills students lack to target instruction.
o By 2012, a report analyzing strengths/ weaknesses for students in reading
achievement for grades K-2 on the DIBELS and DRA assessments comparing
2009-2010 to 2011-2012 results will be completed.
Character Development Goal: By June 2012, 100% of students will engage in civic
education, character education and service learning through curriculum integration.
Interviews:
Questions:
1. What are the other programs in your school that incorporate health and or fitness?
2. What do you think could be incorporated into your school’s SIP to include more health
and fitness into other programs besides PE?
3. What is the primary focus of your school’s current SIP?
4. Outside of that primary focus, what is something else that has a lot of attention in the
SIP?
5. Is there anything that you would like to see have more emphasis? If so what and why?
6. Do you think that the current SIP is leaving any one or multiple subjects out?
Answers:
Cooperating Teachers; Mrs. M
and Mr.Z:
1. Go Far (Go out for a Run), Jump Rope for Heart, Walk for J
as a fund raiser,
Classroom Energizers, Recess. Also, if classes get a certain number of blue eagle awards
they get 15 minutes of extra PE time as a reward.
2. Brain gym concept (incorporating the cognitive aspect into the PE setting). A lot of
teachers are for getting more movement into the classroom, but they do not know how to
manage that type of activity. The major issue with incorporating movement into the
classrooms is the lack of management skills in those situations.
3. Reading and literacy is the current primary focus.
4. Technology and getting more technology into the classrooms is another big focus of the
current SIP.
5. We would like to see more movement based learning incorporated into traditional style
classrooms. There again is the issue of management.
3
6. Social studies are not a big focus on the current SIP. We feel like social studies as well as
just basic character education is being left out in this SIP. Students are not gaining the
skills they will need to function in society. For example, many of them lack some of the
most basic social skills and we foresee this becoming a problem for them later in life.
Coordinator; K
B
:
1. Other activity based events include the Turkey Trot, GoFar, Walk for J
and Jump
Rope for Heart.
2. Activity based brain breaks could be used more in the classroom to give students a
chance to move around and get out excess energy. This could help them focus better
because they are able to move around and gets blood flowing.
3. This current SIP’s main focus is reading.
4. This SIP also has a lot of focus on math, but most of it is reading and literacy based.
5. I would like to see more focus on students learning basic skills such as the proper way to
greet adults and how to start conversations. I believe that their social skills are lacking
because they spend a lot of time sitting down in the classroom and are not able to interact.
6. As I mentioned before basic skills of life are lacking because students are being pushed
so hard in the classroom. While I understand the importance of literacy and math,
students also need to know how to interact with others and be respectful. This is
something they will need to know for the rest of their lives.
Music Teacher (Member of the SIP team); A
M
:
1. Other programs that incorporate fitness would be Go Far, Jump Rope for Heart, PTA
walk for J
and the Turkey Trot.
2. Something that could be implemented to incorporate health/fitness would be structured
recess. Current recess becomes a social event more than a movement based activity.
3. The primary focus of the current SIP is literacy and reading.
4. Math also has a lot of focus in the current SIP.
5. I believe that the current SIP covers the board pretty well and has something to offer for
all subject areas.
6. I believe that subjects do have the proper focus in the current SIP. I feel like we have a lot
of focus on encore classes so that they are not pushed aside and considered to be just the
“fun classes” that don’t count for a grade.
Summary:
Based on my interviews, there are differing views across the board for the current SIP. The
physical educators say that there needs to be more movement based learning incorporated into to
traditional classrooms and I agree, based on the fact that students spend close to seven hours
sitting still in other classes. I believe that incorporating physical activity would help increase
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both academic performance in the classroom as well as their activity and skills performance in
PE. Based on everything that I have heard from the teachers and faculty I interviewed, there is
little to no focus on nutrition and healthy eating. Even though there is a health component in the
common core curriculum, most teachers do not embrace this and implement it into their
classrooms. There are a couple teachers who are passionate about healthful living at J
,
but this passion is not shared throughout the school. I feel like this should be introduced to
students at a young age so they can develop healthy eating habits as children. If they do so it will
become much easier for them to eat healthy later in life. According to research, children develop
their taste preferences very early in life. Based on their exposure early in life, they decide what
they like and don’t like. This helps form their regular eating habits, because they eat based on
what they know they like as well as what they are in a habit of eating regularly. “It is estimated
that up to 45% of behavior tends to be repeated in the same physical location almost every day”.
(Reit, 2011) This is why it is crucial to form healthy eating habits in children as early in life as
possible.
NASPE Checklist:
J
Elementary only answered no to three of the NASPE checklist questions. The first “no”
was question five, is there appropriate technology incorporated on a regular and continuing
basis? Currently there is not a lot of technology being used especially in PE. J
is
currently holding a fund raiser called the walk for J
to raise money to purchase more
technology for classrooms. The second “no” was for question seven part one, Is there a written
mission statement? There is not currently a mission statement for the Physical Education
program. However, this could be easily changed by the physical educators at J
. They
could come up with a mission statement that incorporates their beliefs as well as the
requirements of the state and national standards. Finally, the last “no” is for question two.
Students do not get 150 minutes of instructional physical education per week; however they do
reach 150 minutes of movement because of recess. The students at J
go to PE class two
times a week for 45 minutes each class. The actual schedule is listed below in the appendix.
Other Data Sources:
-J
elementary has two PE teachers. My supervising teacher is A
M
and the
other teacher is M Z
. I interviewed Mrs. M
for one of my interviews but by just
talking to the both of them outside of the class room (not during the interview but just in general
conversation) I was able to see how activity and wellness is incorporated into the classroom. I
was also able to discuss what seemed to be lacking from the current SIP that is in place at
J
Notes:
5
•
•
•
•
Physical education is used as a privilege for good behavior and success in the classroom.
Brain Gym concept is used in Physical Education class. This concept uses movement to
enhance and increase learning.
The school as a collective unit does not focus on eating healthy and nutrition. (I.e. a
school wide program)
Incorporating physical education into regular classroom settings is a challenge not
because the teachers are against movement and PE but because the management is so
much different when movement is incorporated. According to my cooperating teacher,
most classroom teachers are not familiar with the management styles required in a
movement based setting. Incorporating movement based learning is difficult if the
teachers are not familiar with the methods of incorporating such things into their
classrooms.
My observations allowed me to see how J
Elementary operates and its strengths. I
noticed very quickly that all of the teachers seem to be very familiar with each other and I
believe that this gives the school a comfortable and welcoming atmosphere. This is closely
related to J
Elementary’s mission statement, which states, “We believe the responsibility
of the school is to provide a safe environment in which each student is able to successfully grow
physically, mentally and emotionally” and “We believe the staff must communicate and
cooperate for the benefit of each student”. Not only does this support the school’s mission
statement but it also incorporates the 21st Century Skills. For example, one of the 21st century
skills is “every school provides an environment in which each child has positive, nurturing
relationships with caring adults”. This is critical for student success and learning and I feel that
J
does a very good job of welcoming students and encouraging them to learn and grow.
Another way the teachers work to be cohesive is Mr. Z and Mrs. M
incorporate other
subjects into their lessons in P.E. This is a part of the brain gym concept that is in the schools
SIP. One way they do this is by covering a letter of the alphabet per week. For example, last
week’s letter was the letter C. Anyone whose name started with the letter C, was able to put their
name on the C chart. Then the teachers taught the students the letter C in sign language and
reviewed the two previous letters A and B. After that the teacher then reviews a body part that
starts with the letter C for example, chin begins with the letter C. Then the class did the Cupid
shuffle and the Cha Cha slide as warm ups that start with the letter C. I love the way the PE
setting is conducted at J
because it incorporates more than just PE into each lesson.
There are words around the walls that are based on character education and this is something else
they work on in their class rooms. The teachers push their students to grow not only as students
but as individuals as well as citizens in society.
I observed the second and third graders doing the Pacer test and reviewed how the teachers at
J
perform their fitness assessments. They use a chart to plot formative and summative
assessments based on their performance on Fitnessgram test as well as their knowledge of
muscles and body parts. I feel like these assessments could be used to assess the school as a
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whole. Possibly assess the kids in kindergarten and track their progress all the way through 5th
grade. I feel like the teachers (classroom teachers) could get involved in these activities as well.
They could incentivize progression in fitness scores just like good grades are incentivized. This
is needed because some students do not see the importance of being physically active, or they do
not like it. By providing them with an incentive they are more motivated to become active.
Incentives should be small and not materialistic. An example would be putting your name on a
chart for achieving a certain level of fitness. Studies have shown that this type of incentive can
increase student’s motivation. Incentives that reward perceived competence tend to increase
intrinsic motivation. Incentives should reward effort and learning and not performance.
Performance based incentives tend to decrease intrinsic motivation. (Gill, 2012)
One thing I noticed while observing and speaking with teachers at J
Elementary was that
nutrition was not a focus at J
. Nutrition and eating healthy are crucial for healthy
living. The consumption of snack foods, soft drinks and a lack of fruits and veggies increase
students risk for being overweight and or obese by a large percentage. Also, students who do not
get the adequate amount of vitamins and minerals are at risk for slowed motor, cognitive and
social/emotional development (Tanner & Finn-Stevenson, 2002). Many students suffer from
being overweight or obese mainly because of their diets and inadequate amounts of exercise.
Many students to not receive the proper nutritional foods to help with their growth and
development; instead they eat highly processed foods that do not meet their nutritional needs. I
feel like there should be some sort of nutrition program incorporated into the classrooms at
J
. Physical education should focus on helping students learning to live healthy lifestyles
overall not just being able to perform well in movement based activities.
I looked over the Guilford County schools menu for elementary school lunches. On any given
day of the week there are only a few vegetable options for students to choose from. The main
dishes are usually fried and include a lot of starches and or carbohydrates. While these meals
have to go through the state and national standards for approval, they are said to meet one third
of a child’s nutritional needs. The menus for all schools are universal in Guilford County. Each
school has the same menus that are publicly available on their website. Each menu shows the
food that is available and provides symbols for which nutritional values each meal meets. While
the menu may be considered balanced, their options could simply not be appealing to students
because they are eating them so often. The students do not receive that “one third of their daily
recommendation” if they do not eat part of the meal. At J
, they used an informal poll to
see what students were eating and not eating. The students were instructed to place any food they
did not eat from their school lunch on the end of their lunch table. Each day the students placed
mostly fruit items at the end of the table. Most of the items included whole fruit, such as apples
and cups of fruit such as pears. Other items included breads and or milk. There are several food
options offered during one lunch period, but maybe students aren’t familiar with their options.
The schools need much more variety in their lunch options and they need to promote their
current options. Students do not have to eat extremely healthy all the time but there is a balance
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that should be stressed to help students know how to balance meals outside of school; Balance
meaning that students eat a variety of foods such as a meat/protein, a veggie, a carbohydrate and
a dairy food. Many students tend to eat two fried foods or all carbohydrates and no fruits or
vegetables. While carbohydrates are not bad, this is not balanced. Even if students cannot eat one
of each, eating two different types of food will increase their variability and nutritional intake.
According to the cafeteria staff students get to choose the items they eat.
Finally, J
does not incorporate an abundance of technology into the classrooms. Their
current fund raiser is for new technology in the classroom. I believe that technology can be used
to enhance classroom experiences if used correctly. Mrs. M
and Mr. Z use the Wii for dance
lessons as well as music during the classes, but that is about the extent of the technology usage in
the gym. According to the schools mission statement, “the curriculum provides for the flexible
use of varied approaches and multi-media materials, as major components of our program”. For
J
to ensure that they are fulfilling this statement in all areas of the school, including P.E.
I would like to see the incorporation of more technology in the gym. Students are interested in
the latest technologies and I feel like this is a new way to push them to learn the material,
because students are interested in the latest gadgets and if used properly those gadgets can help
them learn. According to research results from Kennesaw State University, using technology in
the classroom increases student interest in the lesson as well increases student involvement
during class. They did their research using student response systems that feed into a database on
the computer and display the results for the teacher to use. These student response systems can
be used in any classroom or gym and can be used for a variety of things. This is just one simple
way to increase student involvement and learning (Hill, 2004). The use of tablets and apps can
also be a great ways to gain new insight on old ideas. The use of internet sources for nutritional
facts and information about activities. Online blogs could be used for a fitness log for activities
that students do outside of school. This can be adapted for students who do not have access to a
computer as well by allowing them to use the computers at school or writing a manual log. These
are just a few ideas that could help incorporate technology into the PE setting.
Long Term Goals:
The long term goals being proposed are there to implement more nutrition education in all areas
of the school. The plan includes activities and ideas for each department and ways they can adapt
based on their students needs. This plan should help incorporate nutrition and health related
components into all classrooms. These programs being proposed also cover the Future Ready
Students for the 21st Century goals, especially goals 2, 3 and 4. Goal 2 states, “Every teacher will
have the skills to deliver 21st Century content in a 21st Century context with 21st Century tools
and technology that guarantees student learning”. Goal 3 states “every learning environment will
be inviting, respectful, supportive, inclusive, and flexible for student success”. Goal 4 states,
“School professionals will collaborate with national and international partners to discover
innovative transformational strategies that will facilitate change, remove barriers for 21st Century
learning, and understand global connections.” and “School leaders will create a culture that
embraces change and promotes dynamic continuous improvement”. They offer students
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opportunities to make decisions, lead and become healthier as well. This plan does not hinder the
current goals of the schools SIP, being increasing literacy. This Program can introduce students
to different topics as well as give them an opportunity to read about health and nutrition based
subjects. This proposal is taking a holistic approach to incorporating nutrition into the curriculum
for the benefit of students and teachers. This will help students learn information that they will
carry with them their entire life.
• J
elementary school will incorporate a nutritional model into their curriculum that
will include increasing student’s awareness of healthier eating options, furthering
student’s knowledge of reading and interpreting food labels, and offering family
awareness events to help raise nutritional awareness in students as well as their families.
This will coincide with their physical education class and will help them eat better and
feel better so they can try their best in the gym. According to a study done by the British
Journal of Nutrition (Andrasik, 674), that target parent’s education and behavioral
changes. The group that targeted parent’s education about nutrition and diet showed
changes in their children’s percentage overweight and BMI Z scores. This shows that
parents to influence their child’s health through modeling. This is why family and child
education are equally important.
• The implementation of a healthy food pantry will also be a goal of this proposal. It would
be there for students during the school day as well as for students who may not have
nutritional meals over the weekends and or holidays. It could be similar to the backpack
program or actually incorporate the back pack program into it. All food that is in the
pantry would be prepackaged and sealed. None of the foods could be handmade or
opened for health reasons. Children could visit the pantry during lunch and or snack time
with permission from the teacher.
Short Term Goals:
Goal 1:
•
By February 1st, J
will have held at least one family awareness night. This event
will have included information about nutrition and how to choose the healthier options,
nutrition based games to help students learn and remember. Information about obesity
and diseases will be available as well.
Action Plan:
1. The Physical Education department will host the family nutrition nights.
2. Students will vote on a theme and activities.
3. Physical Education teachers will work to develop a “Nutrition Night Committee”
to help organize the events and come up with information, activities and possibly
experts who would be willing to come in and speak with students.
4. Students will be introduced to the benefits of eating healthy as well as the risks of
not eating healthy.
9
•
5. Nutrition based activities in Physical Education class will help introduce students
to the CDC’s My Plate.
6. Implementing this plan will cover the “Future Ready Students for the 21st
Century” Goals 2, 3 and 4 (as listed above). It allows students to help develop the
nutrition nights and this leadership helps inspire innovative ideas that are lead by
21st century professionals.
Goal 2:
By March of 2013, J
will have added nutrition into their curriculum. Physical
education class will have a nutrition component and have 5th grade students keep a
food/drink log to assess their current eating habits.
Action Plan:
1. The Physical Education program will incorporate the My Plate into their activities
to help students learn how to utilize these tools in their daily lives.
2. The science classes will do a nutrition based activity with food labels and or
different foods and their effects on the human body. This will further expand on
their health component that is in place according to common core standards.
(This is open to interpretation for the science department.)
3. The math classes could introduce calories and different nutritional components
and do counting activities with counting calories and or counting steps or different
exercises that burn calories. (This is also open for interpretation for the math
department.)
4. The reading classes can implement the reading of health related articles to
increase student’s literacy as well as their nutritional knowledge. This could give
them a greater breadth of knowledge of nutrition, and expand what they have
learned in their Physical Education Classes. (Also open for interpretation)
5. The social studies classes could do an activity about nutrition and how it has
changed over the course of different events in history. For example, how portion
sizes have changed since the 1900’s as well as what may have been consumed
during historic events in history. (Also open to interpretation for the department)
6. Students in the fifth grade will keep a nutrition log for one week (7 days). This
will track everything they consume for one entire week. This could be done
multiple times over the year and could be adjusted for students with special needs.
These will be used as assessments for the teachers as well as the students.
Students will have to go over their nutrition logs and tell healthier options for
some foods. They will also compare their log to the “My Plate” (USDA, 2011)
and figure out what they are not getting enough of. This activity could take more
than a week and could be done multiple times and adjusted based on student
participation and response.
Goal 3:
10
•
By the end of April 2013, J
elementary will have started a “snack
shack” that provides students with healthier alternatives to their unhealthy foods. The
snack shack will be kept up by students and teachers and will be accepting of donations
of healthy foods from parents and teachers. This could also be used to send students
health meals home on the weekends if they express a need for food over the weekends.
All foods must be prepackaged and sealed for health purposes. The weekend program can
be similar to the backpack program or incorporate the back pack program into it.
J
Elementary is a first year Title one school with 59% of their students receiving
free or reduced lunches. I as well as my supervising teacher feel like a weekend program,
similar to the back pack program would be very beneficial to a lot of students.
Action Plan:
•
1. Convert space in the school as the “Snack Shack”. This (All donated healthy
snacks will have to be prepackaged and sealed for health purposes.)
2. Teachers meet to discuss being “healthy role models” for their students.
3. Begin snack shack based on the 5th grade nutrition log activity.
4. Further develop program to incorporate school wide food drive to collect healthy
snacks for the snack shack.
5. Announce snack shack to students and encourage them to trade snacks and or
bring in prepackaged healthy snacks.
6. Propose the back pack program to supplement the snack shack to send health
foods home with students over the weekend.
7. Increase students leadership opportunities by letting them lead and organize
events and organization.
Goal 4:
By the end of May of 2013, students will be organizing family nutrition nights as well as
new ways to keep the “snack shack” stocked with healthy foods. This is to be a school
wide initiative. The Physical Education department will be leading the school to
implement more nutrition based activities into their classrooms.
Action Plan:
1. Assigned Students will help organize family nutrition nights. They will vote on
themes, events, speakers, activities and anything they would like to see or do at
the nutrition nights.
2. Students use their resources (families, relatives, people they know) to increase
participation and opportunities at the nutrition nights.
3. The Physical Education teachers appoint assistants to help with after school
events.
4. Teachers run nutrition nights as well as oversee snack shack. They will report on
their success or lack thereof on a monthly basis.
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Proposal Explanation:
I chose Nutrition as the topic for my SIP because the school does not currently have a program in
place that focuses specifically on nutrition. According to the CDC, “children who are obese or
extremely obese during early childhood are also likely to be obese during middle or late
childhood and adulthood. This puts them at a greater risk for poor health” (Centers, 2012).
J
has a few things incorporated into their schools curriculum but they are not school
wide. Most nutrition based activities are incorporated through Physical Education, as are the
fitness activities. An example would be doing activities in PE using the food groups or
discussing the different food groups. This program should be school wide and serve all students
of J
not just a select few who may be in need of assistance. It is very important that
children learn how to make good dietary choices early on in their lives. Diet and exercise are the
two main ways that children can control their weight and be healthy. Diabetes is one of the
outcomes that are possible when children are overweight and or obese. According to the
American Diabetes Association, Diabetes (Type 2) can be prevented through a healthy lifestyle
which includes a healthy diet and exercise. “The healthiest diet is one high in plant foods and
low in salt and saturated fats” (American, 2012).
Elementary schools, especially in Guilford County provide school lunches that only meet
minimal nutritional needs. According to Guilford County Schools, each meal that is offered is
made to meet 1/3 of their daily nutritional needs (USDA, 2012). While this is a proper allotment,
if the children do not eat the full meal because there is no variety in food choices, they are not
getting the full amount. There are fruits and vegetables served for lunch, but there are not a lot of
options for students to choose from. For example, there are cups of fruit cocktail that according
to the students, they do not eat because they are in syrup and all taste the same. Fresh cut fruit
may be a better option in this case. In my plan I would like to focus on teaching students how to
make healthy choices both at school and at home. Further education about nutrition and health
will help students see why it is important to eat a variety of foods and make healthy choices.
Students should be taught how to read nutrition labels so they, themselves can make better
choices in foods and beverages. Students should know how to choose the healthier options when
the foods that are available for them are not the healthiest. Simple changes in diet can help
students who are overweight to lose weight and it can help healthy children maintain their
weight.
According to healthypeople.gov, “A healthful diet also helps Americans reduce their risks for
many health conditions, including overweight and obesity, malnutrition and many others”
(“Healthy People 2020,” 2012). Also, if students learn how to balance their diet at an early age, it
will be much easier for them maintain healthy eating habits for the rest of their life. According to
research, nutritional education can start as early as infancy and which can help the child form
preferences to foods. This can help them be more aware of healthy foods. As they grow and
develop, further nutrition education will help them set their eating patterns and habits for the rest
12
of their lives (Carmen, 2001). As stated above, data shows that children from their eating habits
early on in their life and education as well as exposure to health foods can influence their eating
habits for their life. If this nutritional plan is implemented throughout the school, it will be much
more effective. Also, if students see their teachers being role models, they will be much more
likely to participate and be excited about learning. I feel like the family nutrition nights have the
potential to reach out to families of students and help them learn how to balance their diets as
well. This could show them that they don’t have to spend a lot on fancy food to become more
healthy, they just need to make better choices when grocery shopping. One simple way to change
protein intake is to “buy best value meat or meat alternatives such as beans and lentils or peanut
butter”, instead of the expensive meats such as steak. (Fraser, 2009) Small changes like these
suggested in my proposal can positively affect a child for a lifetime and that is the main reason I
chose to focus on nutrition for my proposal.
Timeline for Implementation:
This program will begin in January 2013, when I begin student teaching at J
.
They will begin by hosting a kick off nutrition night for students and their families. This will
help kick start the implementation of the nutrition based program and get students excited about
learning how to eat more balanced and healthy meals and snacks. The next check point will be in
March of 2013. J
will have begun to add nutrition into all subject curriculums. This is a
starting point for this program to grow into a school wide effort to become healthier. The third
check point will be the end of April 2013; this marks the start of the healthy food pantry, or
“snack shack”. This will help all students choose healthier snacks as well as help students who
may not be able to afford healthier foods. Finally by the end of May 2013, students will be in
charge of organizing family nutrition nights as well as helping keep the “snack shack” stocked.
This could involve food drives and or activities to take up food. This is an achievable timeline
for this plan and it allows students to be leaders and make decisions during the process.
Professional Development Options:
Guilford County Schools offer several nutrition education programs that are available to teachers
and students. Listed below are a few of the professional development opportunities that are
currently available.
For more information about the programs through Guilford County visit:
http://www.gcsnc.com/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=338648&li
nkid=nav-menu-container-4-1382753
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American Society for Nutrition Events:
2013
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
April 20-24. ASN Scientific Sessions & Annual Meeting at EB. Boston, MA.
May 14. Roundtable, 9-10:30 am: Encouraging Healthy Food Choices in the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)- Purchasing Patterns
September 9-12. International Symposium on Energy and Protein Metabolism and
Nutrition (ISEP). Sacramento, CA.
September 15-20. IUNS 20th International Congress of Nutrition. Granada, Spain.
September 22-24. ASN/ASAS Innovate 2013: Innovations in Animal and Human
Health: The Next Generation of Growth Biology. Braselton, GA.
November 13-16. Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students
(ABRCMS) 2013. Nashville, TN. Visit us on FASEB Row in the exhibit hall!
December 5-7. ASN 2013 Advances and Controversies in Clinical Nutrition.
Washington, DC. Additional details still to come.
The North Carolina Dairy Council offers Webinars for Child Nutrition. The module names
and URL are listed below.
http://www.nationaldairycouncil.org/ChildNutrition/Pages/Webinars-and-Presentations.aspx
Kids Eat Right Module 1: Childhood Obesity Prevention through Environmental Change: The
RD’s Role
Kids Eat Right Module 2: How Schools Work and How RDs Can Work with Schools
Kids Eat Right Module 3: The Registered Dietitian: Leading Prevention in Schools
The Kids are Drinking What?!
14
References:
American Diabetes Association (2012). Preventing Type 2 Diabetes in Children and Teens.
Diabetes Spectrum. Retrieved January 11, 2013, from
http://spectrum.diabetesjournals.org/content/18/4/249.full
Andrasik, F., Epstein, L., Koeske, R., Ossip, D., Wing, R.
Child and parent weight loss in family-based behavior modification programs. Retrieved
from http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/ccp/49/5/674
Carmen Pérez-Rodrigo and Javier Aranceta (2001). School-based nutrition education: lessons
learned and new perspectives. Public Health Nutrition, 4, pp 131-139.
doi:10.1079/PHN2000108.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2012, December 21). Overweight and Obesity Data
and Statistics. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved 11, 2013, from
http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/pdf/JAMAHighlightsFINAL_12_21.pdf
Fraser, C. (2009). Healthy eating on a budget. Retrieved from http://cawc.net/images/
uploads/wcc/7-2 -fraser.pdf
Gill, D. in Psychology of Physical Activity and Sport [PDF document]. Retrieved from
In class lecture on September 27, 2012.
Healthy People 2020. (2012, September 6). Retrieved from
http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/overview.aspx?topicid=29
Hill G., Smith A., Horn M. (2004). Using technology to increase student interest, motivation,
and (perhaps) learning. (Kinnesaw State University).
Riet J., Sijtsema S., Dagevos H., & Bruijn G., (2011). The importance of habits in eating
behavior.
An overview and recommendations for future research. Appetite, 57(3), 585-596.
Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com.libproxy.uncg.edu/science?_ob=
ArticleListURL&_method=list &ArticleListID=40264501&_sort=r&_st=13&view=c&
_acct=C000033084&_ version
=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=28623&md5=cceddac729f4258
dd0614c6e01b948e3&searchtype=a
Tanner E., & Finn-Stevenson M., (2002). Nutrition and brain development: Social policy
implications. You have full text access to this content American Journal of
Orthopsychiatry, 72(2), 182-193. Retrieved from
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.libproxy.uncg.edu/doi/10.1037/0002 9432.72.2.182/pdf
15
USDA. (2011, February 11). Choosemyplate.gov. Retrieved from
http://www.choosemyplate.gov/
USDA. (2012, Feb 16). Usda: Food and nutrition service. Retrieved from
http://www.fns.usda.gov/cga/FactSheets/school_meals.htm
16
Initial Teaching Licensure – Leadership Project – Health and Physical
Education - Proficient
S
Proposal for spring 2013
12/10/2012
UNC Greensboro
Elementary SIP
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Table of Contents
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Introduction- page 3
Data collections- page 3
Interviews-page 4
Other data sources- page 6
Summary of Findings and Conclusions Based on all data collected- page 7
Proposal- page 7
Long term/ Short term goals- page 8
Benefits – page 9
Action Plan- page 9
Mission- page 10
Professional Development- page 10
Reference list- page 11
NASPE Physical Education Checklist- page 12
18
Introduction
S
Elementary is one of the best schools in Guilford County and in several different
categories. One thing I would like to improve at this school is the student’s engagement in
physical activity and their knowledge of outdoor skills. I am working on implementing a school
improvement plan that involves getting students active, not just by traditional fitness and sports,
but by fishing. Fishing is a pastime for all cultures and way students can become active without
having to be an athlete. Students will learn not only how to cast and fish with a fly rod or
traditional tackle, but at the same time they will gain additional knowledge about fish species,
insects/entomology, freshwater ecology, wildlife resources, and environmental stewardship. The
school wouldn’t have to pay a dime, considering I would be getting grants from Future
Fisherman Foundation and lesson plans from National Fishing in Schools Program. For some
students this would be their first time casting a rod and fishing is a skill that can be past down
generation to generation. This fishing club would require volunteers to monitor students while
actually at ponds or lakes and transportation to and from the event site. Other than that the
students would not be responsible for paying for anything. I have data below that shows this plan
would fit S
perfectly and I have interviews and professional reviews that give some
evidence of this being successful.
Data Collection
S
Elementary SIP:
http://www.gcsnc.com/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectiondetailid=302641&
When reading S
Elementary SIP for the 2012-14 school years I gathered data
on the schools strengths and weaknesses. S
has continued to be a NC ABC’s honor
school of excellence and has showed continued proficiency in reading, math and science.
Kindergarten, first, and second grade classes are having the majority of the students finish the
school year meeting or exceeding the expected DRA ( Direct Reading Assessment). The teachers
at Summerfield are happy with their job, working conditions, and other staff. The turnover rate
here is very low and most teachers have or are currently working on their master’s degree (2010,
gcsnc.com). This data indicates that S
Elementary staff and students continue to work
hard to ensure that their students are proficient and also grow each year. Some weaknesses that
were found were found in the 2010-2011 school year was reading test proficiencies which had
dropped from 90.1% to 89.8%. The staff development in the areas of the new Common Core
Standards needs to continue as teachers begin implementing this curriculum in 2012-2013 school
years.
The four priority goals that emerged from this schools analysis on their SIP were
1) Students will increase overall literacy proficiency.
2) Students will increase overall math proficiency.
3) 100% of students will participate in service learning projects.
19
4) S
will decrease the amount of suspensions each year
In the schools SIP there were no mentions of the physical activity or physical education classes
in the improvement plans. I did see where a part of their objectives were to keep children happy
and active but this was the closest thing to physical education I could find.
Interviews
1. D
L
– Physical Education Specialist
1.) What do you feel is missing in your P.E program?
2.) Do you like your P.E program and do you incorporate health and wellness in every
lesson?
3.) Do you feel your students are getting enough P.E and physical activities each day or
week?
4.) Do you think your students are physically active outside of school?
5.) If you could change one thing about your P.E program or implement something new in
your program, what would you do?
6.) Do you think other staffs here are advocates for P.E and do you get any criticism from
teachers?
Summary
D
L
is not only a good physical education teacher but he also is a tremendous
outdoors man who loves sharing his passion of hiking and camping with his students. Mr. L
likes his program a lot and he would like to add new things into his program like fishing,
kayaking, and backpacking. He wants to change P.E from not just sport models but skills you
can use in life outside of sport like hiking and fishing. Mr. L
believes his students deserve
more time for physical education. His students only have P.E for 45 minutes once a week. My.
L
feels he has no time at all to teach students things because right when the students get the
hang on something he has to move on to the next unit. He can’t afford to spend more than 2
weeks on a subject each class comes only once a week restricting his time and flexibility in his
curriculum. He believes recess is good for students but he thinks it is still not enough for them to
mature and grow as movers and young athletes. Mr. L
and most of the staff at S
believe physical activity is important for the students and they believe that positive effects do
come from physical education class.
20
2. J
H
- Secretary/Treasurer
1) What are your views on physical education?
2) Do you think it is ok for students to miss P.E for other reasons like tutoring?
3) What would you like to see change in Mr. L
’s P.E program?
4.) Do you think P.E helps students in school with things like behavior and attention
span?
5) What’s one thing you would like to see in Mr. L
student growth in character and even academics?
’s classes that could affect
Summary
Mrs. H
believes the P.E program that Mr. L
has there at S
is
great and students really enjoy him and the activities he incorporates. She thinks that he
incorporates core curriculum material nicely and students are learning while they are moving.
She believes that students there do not receive a lot of P.E like they should but she defends the
fact that other courses are important and with EOC’s being a big focus, the school has to make
sure students get the proper time to develop in the classroom and learn the material for the test at
the end of the year. She likes how Mr. L
teaches character and gives the students
responsibilities to help them build character and learn traits that they can use the rest of their life.
Mrs. H
thinks Mr. L
should continue teaching more physical activities that aren’t
sport related like hiking and backpacking. She talked about his after school programs like his
hiking club and camp outs he has yearly. These activities are very popular within the school for
not only the students but parents and staff. She believes things like this should happen more
often and give students more options for different activities.
3. M
B
H
- Occupational Therapist)
1) What do you like the most about assisting Mr. L
in his P.E classes?
2) Do you think students here get enough physical activity?
21
3) Do you like Mr. L
’s after school programs and would you like more and new
ones incorporated?
4) Would you like to see more P.E for students each week here at S
?
5.) Do you think the students here are better off with more core classes or equal time with
physical activity and classroom time?
Summary
Mrs. H
is a part time occupational therapist but is very involved in the school
curriculum plans and is an asset of a lot of different classes. She helps certain students in
physical education and recess so she see’s P.E a lot and gets to talk to the children a lot. She
believes the students here really enjoy Mr. L
’s lessons.
She likes the time on task and she believes Mr. L
does a good job teaching and not just
telling them what to do. She said she would like to see more activities geared toward recreational
activities not just sports. She also likes his afterschool programs but says she would like to see
more and have different ones so students can have many options and see and try new things that
they may have never done before like fish or paddle a boat. She thinks students do need more
activity time a week and education on safety should be added. She also added how important
teaching proper movement and stretching is critical at these ages for the students to avoid
injuries and not becoming competent movers as they mature and get older.
Other Data Sources
The results of the NASPE checklist illustrated a few areas that were not being met by
Summerfield elementary school’s P.E program. The students do not have P.E but once a week
for 45 minutes. This does not meet the requirements on the NASPE checklist which are a
minimal of 150 minutes per week and 3 class periods a week. There are also not adequate indoor
facilities considering the gym is under renovation. The students are having P.E outside when
weather is nice and in a small multi-purpose room when it’s too cold or rainy outside. According
to NASPE the facilities should be safe and be in a place which aren’t disrupted or replaced by
other activities.
According to an article written by James People (2010), fishing is good for not only stress
relief but cardiovascular health and mental health. People has found that fisherman that fish
regularly have good overall health because of the overall benefits. Such benefits include good
exercise from walking around the pond and lake and also good forearm and wrist exercise from
the motion of casting the fishing rod. People also quotes that “fishing is a vacation for the brain
and is perfect for students and employees to relax after a hard day at school or work” (James,
2010).
The Hooked on Fishing Not on Drugs (HOFNOD) program is a program, developed 20
years ago, that has been recently updated. HOFNOD uses angling skill development as a
gateway to teach youth about the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and how to deal with the
challenges facing them in their young lives. Here is quote from David Sobel (2009) an expert
from Beyond Ecophobia who stated that “If we want children to flourish, to become truly
22
empowered, then let us allow them to love the earth before we ask them to save it”. By giving
children the chance to experience the beauty of outdoors and embracing the culture of outdoor
sportsmanship, we can help teach students the importance of ecosystems and wildlife. The
National Fishing in Schools Program provides schools all across the nation with lessons and
ideas for making fishing a unit in the school. Their mission is to provide educators with an
effective school program that empowers them to outdoor education to youth using fishing as the
instructional tool. By having these resources I am confident that my afterschool fishing program
will be a great learning experience as well as great physical activity involvement.
Summary of Findings and Conclusions Based on all data collected (SIP, interviews,
NASPE Checklist, other)
With all the data I have collected from S
including the SIP, my interviews, and the
NASPE Checklist I have concluded that S
does not give the students enough minutes
of physical education based on the NASPE 150 minutes a week recommendation. Also with the
students only getting 45 minutes of P.E a week and recess once a day for 10-15 minutes, students
are not getting exposed to different activities and the students are seeing the same things every
year. The students should have more physical activity time and get more opportunities to learn
about health related topics related to P.E. Staff also seems to think the P.E program should see
more minutes a week and new units on unique activities that maybe go beyond standard P.E.
According to 21st century skills, students should be learning not only just skills but things they
can carry along skills like character traits, social and personal responsibility, and cognitive
function (James, 2010). I also got the chance to ask the students after class one day about their
thoughts on P.E and one young boy told me he wants to do different things because he wasn’t
good at the sports and activities they usually do in P.E I also had a student tell me he wanted to
do more things after school with his friends because outside of school he doesn’t get to see his
friends much and has no one to play with.
After talking with Mr. L
n and reading articles from James and Sobel I have
concluded that implementing an after school program on fishing and nature observation would
help the students at Summerfield by giving them opportunities to try new things, have more
social time with friends, get more exercise, and learn about preservation and conservation of
lakes and streams. Fishing is deemed a relaxing alternative to help de-stress a student. Fishing
around a lake or pond with the nature and wildlife will be soothing to the students and with
testing and other things being a factor of their stress level; fishing would be a great way for them
to escape the pressure. Having an after school program would help not interrupt the students time
from core classes and give students a chance to see their friends more and get their parents
involved with physical activity. Fishing involves walking and constantly moving certain body
parts. In an article written by People James he stated that fishing is good for the body and helps
relieve stress and give someone a mini vacation from everyday life and the complications that it
brings (James, 2010). Having this program would give the students a mini break from the class
rooms and the stressful events they face like test. Students will be able to take 21st century skills
out of the program and can learn important skills like conservation, laws, and many other science
skills. Some of the North Carolina 21st century skills the students would be acquiring are:
23
•
•
•
Every school focuses on developing strong student character, personal responsibility, and
community/world involvement.
Every school promotes a healthy, active lifestyle where students are encouraged to make
responsible choices
Every learning environment will be inviting, respectful, supportive, inclusive, and
flexible for student success.
Proposal
S
Elementary School Vision statement:
S
Elementary, including staff, parents, and community members will strive to
maintain a safe, positive, nurturing, yet academically challenging environment where each child
will thrive and develop a true love for learning. Through teamwork and positive communication
we will develop enriching educational opportunities that will draw on student’s unique talents
and strengthen areas of individual’s needs.
S
Elementary School Mission statement:
The mission at Summerfield School is to provide a safe and positive environment in
which each student is challenged to meet high goals and standards at our school.
http://www.gcsnc.com/education/page/download.php
Long Term Goals:
The first long term goal would be an active after school fishing program that meets once
or twice a week and also puts on weekend events so that parents and staff can come
together and all can learn new activities while staying active. Students will also learn about
ecosystems and the importance of keeping streams and lakes clean. This will teach the students
responsibility and accountability for their actions, which are 21st century skills that in some cases
are not being emphasized in elementary schools. The second goal is to have students receive a
second day of PE for 60 minutes of activity (limited instruction).This would give students
over 100 minutes of physical activity, although it’s not 150 it’s more than 45 and will definitely
benefit the students. This P.E class could meet after school on the Playground and with teachers
and staff helping lead activities. It could serve as a fun day and it could be a reward for good
behavior in the classrooms or scoring well on test. Teachers could have fun day passes and could
encourage all students to be well behaved and perform at their best to get a pass to come to the
after school event.
Short-term goals (SMART Goals) for the school
My short term goals for this school are to get students excited about new afterschool programs
by giving mini- intro lessons of what the afterschool club will be doing that week in hope of
24
grabbing the student’s attention. A fishing unit within the P.E program would be ideal. The
students could learn how to cast, tie knots, and safety all while never getting close to the water.
Students would practice these skills on the baseball field where there is plenty of space and the
hooks are just plastic bobbers. Also a short term goal would be to get the staff promoting the
events and coming out to the after school programs to help with monitoring and guidance. Also a
short term goal would be getting the equipment from the Future Fisherman Foundation and
getting stickers and brochures to give to students to promote the event.
Benefits
I believe that by implementing this after school program students will learn new activities that
are not only fun but good outdoor recreation skills and students can use the things they learn
about ecosystems for a lifetime. Other benefits include:
• Reducing children’s stress and increasing their ability to concentrate ( ADAA.org)
• Increasing students knowledge of conservation and why it’s important( James,2010)
• Bring students and teachers closer together and gives them a chance to build on
relationships. (Sobel, 2009)
Action Plan:
• February 2nd- Apply for future fisherman foundation and present idea to local sporting
goods store Dicks Sporting Goods for possible donations.
• March 1st- Start fishing unit in P.E classes for all grade levels
• March 19th – Grant and donations should be complete and make sure all equipment is
accounted and begin planning for first afterschool fishing club meet.
• March 23th- Have a list of all staff and parents who are volunteering to help. Send home
news letter to parents and have them feel out a form and return to school before end of
week. This gives a head count of how many students will be there.
• April 1st- First afterschool fishing event at 4:15. Students will meet in front lawn and
everyone will walk to park beside school where equipment will already be out and ready.
• April 6th- Have a Saturday event of fishing at the big lake beside the school. Will also go
on hikes and sightseeing to incorporate a full day of fun physical activity.
• April 12th- Have first afterschool fun day with teachers giving passes to students
throughout the month. A form will be sent home a few days before to make sure they
have rides home.
Mission of This Proposal
It is clear that S
elementary has some opportunities to create more activities
for students and get them to be more active. Being active is important for children both mentally
and physically (James, 2010). By implementing this afterschool fishing program the goal is to
get the students to enjoy being outdoors and learn things about the environment and ecosystems
while staying active and partaking in physical activity. Students need to have activities they can
25
relieve stress on and with end of year testing being very stressful on both teachers and students,
fishing programs would release some of this tension and build new knowledge on 21st century
skills like responsibility and accountability. Overall I feel this after school program will benefit
the students and give them a chance to relax, enjoy new things, and learn life skills they can
carry throughout their life. School is hard for students so why not let them enjoy some after
school fun. After talking to a few students the spring time is stressful because the teachers try to
teach more to ensure the students are ready for the end of grade test. This program will give them
time to unwind and not worry about the test or extra work. The grant will take care of the money
and hopefully volunteers will take care of the staffing. The only thing left is to set real dates and
let the fun times begin for everyone.
Professional Development
I will be in contact with and attend the National Fishing in School Program workshop they will
be having in early May. I will also be going to AAPHERD convention where I know the NFSP
will have a booth and I will get the chance to speak to some of the staff about my school
improvement plan and see if they have any suggestions or changes.
26
References
Future fisherman foundation, (2011).Retrieved from http://www.futurefisherman.org/
NASPE CHECKLIST.2009, National Association for Sport and Physical Education, an
association of the
American Alliance for
Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, www.aahperd.org/naspe
People, J. (2010) What Are the Benefits of Fishing to Your Health? Self growth.com (12/10/12).
Retrieved from http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/what-are-the-benefits-of-fishing-to-yourhealth
Physical Activity Reduces Stress, (2008). Retrieved from http://www.ADAA.org
Sobel, D. & Hoey,P. (2007) Lighting up Minds to the Wonders of Their World. Edutopia.com
Retrieved fromhttp://www.edutopia.org/david-sobel-lighting-minds-wonders-their-world
27
School Physical Education Program Checklist
How Does Your Program Rate?
The National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) has been setting the
standard for the
profession for over 32 years and is committed to quality physical education for every student
including Limited
English Pr
oficiency (LEP) and those with special needs. Does your school’s physical education program
help all
students attain the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for them to lead healthy, active and
productive lives?
NASPE urges principals, teachers and p
arents to conduct an assessment of their school's physical education
program by evaluating its strengths and weaknesses, and preparing a plan for improvement
where needed. Here
are 15 quick questions to ask:
1. Is physical education taught by a qualified teacher with a degree in physical education?
Yes
No
2. Do students receive formal instruction in physical education:
a. for a minimum of 150 minutes per week (elementary) and 225 minutes
per week
(middle and high)? OR
b. for at least 3 class periods per week for all grades the entire school year.
Yes
No
3. Is the physical education class size similar to other content areas to ensure safe, effective
instruction?
Yes
No
4. Is there adequate equipment for every student to be active?
Yes
No
5. Is appropriate technology incorporated on a regular and continuing basis?
Yes
No
6. Are indoor and outdoor facilities safe and adequate (so that physical education classes
need not be displaced by other activities)?
Yes
No
7. Is there a written mission statement and sequential curriculum based on state and/or
28
national standards for physical education?
Yes
No
8. Are formative and summative assessments of student learning included in the physical
education program, and are they related to meaningful content objectives?
Yes
No
9. Does the program provide for maximum participation for every student (e.g., inclu
sion, no
elimination games, all students active at once, developmentally appropriate activities, etc)?
Yes
No
10. Does the program help to systematically develop the physical, cognitive, social and
emotional aspects of each student?
Yes
No
11. Do the physical education teachers regularly participate in physical education professional
development activities and have memberships in related professional organizations?
Yes
No
12. Do the physical education teachers receive student health infor
mation and have a plan for
handling emergencies?
Yes
No
13. Is there regular periodic evaluation by administrators of the physical education program
and teacher performance?
Yes
No
14. Do the physical education teachers communicate with other educators, administration and
parents on a frequent basis?
Yes
No
15. Do the physical education teachers seek feedback for improvement from students, peers,
and parents as a means for program evaluation and improvement?
Yes
No
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School Administration (EdS) - Leadership Project - Exceeds Expectations
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School Administration (EdS) - Leadership Project - Proficient
Action Research Project
High School’s IMPACT V Professional Development Evaluation
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
ELC 688 Action Research, Integrative Data Utilization, and Educational Leadership
October 5, 2012
58
Executive Summary
This action research project is an ongoing evaluation of the professional development
offered at
High School in conjunction with the IMPACT V Grant. In 2011,
High School received an IMPACT V Grant from the North Carolina Department of Public
Instruction. This grant has helped our school become focused on the implementation of
technology throughout our school. First and foremost we created a Technology plan which
included a vision statement, mission statement, and goals. We wanted to ensure that we had a
plan in place for the large scale change initiative.
At
High School we hope that the IMPACT V Grant will help us accomplish
the following goals: expand the accessibility of technology, utilize technology to enhance
instruction and enable students to be 21st century learners, utilize technology to improve
communication among teachers, students, and parents, empower faculty with the skills necessary
to effectively integrate technology into instruction. The professional development offered in
conjunction with the IMPACT V Grant is critical if we hope to achieve our goals. Therefore, the
professional development which is provided must be evaluated to ensure that the professional
development meets the needs of the teachers and is providing the skills and knowledge necessary
to help
achieve our goals.
The professional development which will be evaluated include: the best technology
practices shared at faculty meetings, the technology workshops provided on teacher workdays,
the book study of Empowering Students with Technology.
The evaluation questions I addressed are listed below along with the data which was
collected and analyzed.
59
Evaluation Questions
Data
To what extent is the professional
development help teachers use technology in
a more sophisticated way as defined by
administrators?
To what extent did the topics covered within
the professional development meet the
teachers’ expectations?
To what extent did the professional
development change instructional practice?
Teacher observations and walkthroughs, data
collected from the post-PD surveys
Feedback from the teachers’ surveys
Teacher observations, student work samples,
information from mid-year surveys given to
teachers during the mid-year PDP meeting
I do not have all of the data that I intend to analyze. Presently, I only have results from
one of the post-PD surveys and the feedback from the best practice sessions that we conducted
monthly since last year. I can fully analyze the data when the remaining sessions are complete
and the survey results have been compiled. Also, I only have one observation for this year and
we have not reached the midpoint of the year which is when I intend to give the teachers another
survey. We will also ask for feedback in the form of a teacher survey concerning the book study
focusing on Alan November’s book, Empowering Students with Technology. We will complete
this professional development in May.
The perceptual data that was available for me to analyze does indicate that the
professional development did meet the teachers’ expectations. The data also revealed that the
professional development helped change instructional practice by providing teachers with new
technology skills. At the conclusion of the school year I will have all of the data necessary for a
conclusive evaluation. Therefore, I will continue collecting and analyzing the data as I receive it.
The components of the professional development being evaluated are:
•
Teacher feedback from the best technology practices shared at monthly faculty meetings.
•
Teacher feedback from the surveys given after each technology workshop.
60
•
Teacher feedback at the conclusion of the technology book study.
•
Evidence of technology use in the classroom through analyzing peer walkthroughs and
teacher evaluations, and student work samples.
Guiding Questions and Overview of the Evaluation Plan
Haslam’s article reinforced the importance of evaluation planning when organizing and planning
for professional development. Planning teams should be created and they should consider the
following:
identify the need for the professional development, identify the participants,
specify the intended outcomes and related indicators, and the expected
outcomes in student learning, and decide what kind of professional
learning is most likely to produce the intended outcomes (Haslam, 2010, p.9-10).
Haslam’s text also provided five essential questions to inform evaluation questions. I addressed
each question as our IMPACT V team worked to design the professional development
opportunities that we intended to offer. A copy is included in the appendix.
The
High School Impact V team worked together to create a plan for
professional development which included a plan for evaluating the professional development.
The guiding questions which served as the focus of the evaluation are included in the chart
below.
Evaluation Questions
Data
To what extent is the professional development
help teachers use technology in a more
sophisticated way as defined by
administrators?
To what extent did the topics covered within
Teacher observations and walkthroughs, data
collected from the post-PD surveys
Feedback from the teachers’ surveys
61
the professional development meet the
teachers’ expectations?
To what extent did the professional
development change instructional practice?
Teacher observations, student work samples,
information from mid-year surveys given to
teachers during the mid-year PDP meeting
Prior to explaining the evaluation plan, I would like to describe the professional
development plan so you can fully understand the evaluation component. Last year we began
using a portion of our monthly faculty meeting to share best technology practices. As the
facilitator of these meetings, I began using technology tools to deliver my information. For
example, I used prezis, smart board exercises, and smart response systems to demonstrate or
model our expectations. Our teachers also began to share best technology practices that they
were using in their classrooms. This year we are continuing this practice and building upon
some of the basic skills that were introduced last year. Another professional development
component we are currently working on is a book study. Within our existing PLCs teachers and
administrators will also read and discuss Alan November’s book Empowering Students with
Technology.
Thankfully, our system added the five days back into our calendar they were allocated as
days for professional development. Our system set aside each afternoon, so teachers could
attend professional development at their schools. Our school improvement team decided that our
time would be utilized best by teaching technology tools.
The evaluation of our professional development will help ensure that what we are doing
not only fulfills the requirements of the grant, but most importantly sufficiently addresses the
needs of
High School. Each unique component of professional development will be
evaluated. After each of the afternoon professional development sessions, teachers will complete
62
an evaluation to provide critical feedback that we can use to make adjustments prior to the next
session. At the conclusion of the book study teachers will complete a similar survey. At the end
of the school year we will provide a comprehensive survey to help us evaluate the following: the
participation (did people attend), and did the teachers receive quality information that would
change instructional practice.
Another piece of the evaluation plan is looking at observation data. I took a random
sample of 25 teachers and looked at their first observation last year and compared it to their first
observation this year to see if the teachers’ rating in Standard 4 had improved. The evaluation
plan also consists of looking at the peer walkthrough forms that teachers are required to submit.
We added a component to the form which asked teachers to list the technology which was being
used and how it was utilized. The final piece of the evaluation plan consists of looking at student
work samples that utilize technology. I wanted to see how teachers were using technology in the
classrooms. I also asked the teachers if the work they submitted was a new project or assignment
that they just started giving each year.
The evaluation plan consists of qualitative data collection techniques including: direct
observation, surveys using Survey Monkey, and artifacts or student work. I felt as if our
qualitative approach would help us to best analyze the effectiveness of our professional
development. The Mills text explained that qualitative research is not an easy way out approach.
In fact, “The rigor of good qualitatively oriented action research equals the rigor of dong good
quantitatively oriented action research” (Mills, 2011, p.73). I felt using qualitatively oriented
research was most appropriate. Below is the logic model that I described in the above narrative.
63
Figure 1
Context and Assumptions and Values
In 2007
High School entered the North Carolina Leadership Program for
Turnaround High Schools. The schools proficiency was 51%. When I arrived as principal in
2010, the school had achieved remarkable gains and reached 79% proficient. In 2010-2011, the
school’s proficiency increased to 82.1% and achieved high growth, and in 2011-2012, the
proficiency climbed to 86.4%. For the last two years our school has been labeled a school of
distinction. The increased academic success has encouraged growth in the area. We currently
have 1654 students. Our population is extremely diverse and encompasses, northern
64
,
, and
Because of proximity to Ft.
, we serve a very
transient population. Many of our teachers have ties to the military which causes some teacher
turnover. We currently have 24 beginning or probationary teachers.
In an effort to continue moving the school forward, we applied for a grant that would
help increase the accessibility and use of technology within our school. In 2011,
High School received an IMPACT V Grant from the North Carolina Department of Public
Instruction. This grant has helped our school become focused on the implementation of
technology throughout our school. The grant provided over $200,000 to purchase technology,
but more importantly it provided funding for professional development to ensure our teachers
could use the technology effectively.
There are numerous assumptions and values associated with our professional
development plan. Some of the assumptions and values include:
•
Teachers will use technology tools in a more sophisticated and engaging way if they are
taught how to utilize the tools.
•
The training will increase the teachers comfort level concerning technology; therefore,
causing teachers to use technology more frequently.
•
The teachers will appreciate and benefit from the professional development.
•
There will be an improvement in student performance as a result of teachers knowing
how to use technology to engage students.
•
There will ultimately be a correlation between the increased use of technology and the
anticipated improvement in student achievement.
65
Other contextual data we considered when developing both the evaluation and professional
development plans include:
•
High School has 24 beginning teachers which require additional
professional development. (timing is critical if we hope to have their participation and
not overwhelm them)
•
County is dedicated to completing the NC Falcon training models this
year.
•
The focus of our county-wide professional development is the implementation of
Common Core and Essential Standards.
With all of the required professional development listed above I felt as if we must be strategic
when planning our sessions. I did not want to overwhelm the teachers so I organized our
sessions during already scheduled meeting times. I wanted the teachers to be receptive to the
technology training rather than resentful. These sessions required teachers’ active participation
and we required them to add anything else to their calendars I do not think the teachers would
have been open-minded or receptive.
Data Collection
I began collecting data concerning the technology professional development last year.
Presently, I am still collecting data to be analyzed. The following types of data are being
analyzed:
•
Teacher observations and walkthroughs
•
Feedback from the teachers’ post-PD surveys
66
•
Student work samples
•
Information gained from mid-year surveys given to teachers during the mid-year PDP
meeting (I have not done this yet)
First, I looked at teacher observations to determine if administrators saw evidence of
teachers using technology in a more sophisticated way to engage students. I also analyzed
the peer walkthroughs that teachers are required to submit monthly to look for similar
evidence. Next, I asked teachers to submit student work samples to see how many teachers,
if any, were requiring students to utilize technology in their classwork. Viewing the student
work samples, allowed me the opportunity to see the changes in instructional practice.
Also, in order to make periodic adjustments to ensure the professional development was
beneficial to the teachers, I collected perceptual data in the form of surveys. I wanted to be
able to make necessary changes to what was being offered so the teachers’ needs were being
met. I did not want them to feel as if their participation in the professional development was
not beneficial. As such, we developed a survey which would provide insight into the
teachers’ perceptions concerning the professional development.
I am dealing with the limitation of not having all of the data I need for the purpose of
completely evaluating our professional development. Unfortunately, I will not have all of the
necessary data until the end of the 2012-2013 school year. Presently, I only have the
feedback from the first afternoon professional development session. Also, I will not have the
feedback on the book study until May. I do have the data from the survey that was given at
the end of last year in reference to the best technology practices shared at faculty meetings,
but I will not have this year’s data until June. I have been able to look at the data that we
67
have currently with my IMPACT V team and make inferences. However, we will not be able
to fully analyze all data until it is collected at the conclusion of the school year.
Data Analysis
Analyzing Peer walkthrough data
At
High School I require teachers to conduct one peer walkthrough each
month. A peer walkthrough is essentially a 15 minute snapshot of what is taking place in the
classroom. I specifically ask the teachers to note any technology being used and explain how it is
being utilized. I looked at the walkthrough data from an eight month time period. (FebruaryOctober) Each month I collected 75 forms. In February, 24 of the forms indicated that
technology was being used by the students. As you will see in the graph below, the numbers for
March and April were similar to those collected in February. I anticipated that we would see a
substantial increase in the number of classrooms utilizing engaging technology in the 2012-2013
school year. When I examined the numbers for September, I realized that I was correct. Fiftysix of the forms from September documented students using technology. The number in October
was even more, with 59 reporting student use of technology.
68
NUMBER OF PEER WALKTHROUGHS USING
ENGAGING TECHNOLOGY
75
65
56
55
59
45
35
24
25
29
NUMBER OF PEER
WALKTHROUGHS USING
ENGAGING TECHNOLOGY
30
15
5
-5
Figure 2
I discussed the results with the IMPACT V team and our team of administrators. We
attributed the increase in students using technology to the following:
•
•
Our school has more technology this school year. As such, access is not a huge problem
as it once was.
Teachers have received professional development on how to utilize technology in their
instruction which has made them both knowledgeable and comfortable.
Teacher observations
My administrative team selected a random sample of 25 teachers and looked specifically
at Standard 4 of the teacher evaluation rubric. The specific element that we analyzed was
“Teachers integrate and utilize technology in their instruction” (McRel, 2012). We looked to see
how these teachers were scored on this element last year compared to their first evaluation this
year.
69
# of teachers scoring in each rating category for Standard 4
Ratings
Fall 2011, Evaluation
Fall 2012, Evaluation
Developing
3
0
Proficient
18
14
Accomplished
3
7
Distinguished
1
4
As the chart above indicates, we did witness an improvement on their ratings for the
technology element in Standard 4. As such, I decided to dig a little deeper before drawing my
own conclusions. I asked the 25 teachers what they attributed the improvement to. All 25
mentioned our school’s emphasis on technology. Specifically 18 teachers mentioned the benefit
of the professional development. I did not want to ask them specifically about the impact of the
professional development because I wanted to ensure I was not leading them to a certain
response. Our administrative team also agreed that the emphasis on technology in all of our
professional development sessions would have some influence on the increased use of
technology.
Student Work Samples
I decided I wanted a more in depth look at how technology was being used. When
reviewing lesson plans and collaborative planning documents, I saw that technology was being
listed frequently, As such, I asked teachers to submit student work samples which demonstrated
use of technology to create a project. I also asked teachers to let me know if this year was the
first time they required the project for their class. I had 47 teachers share projects that they had
70
students work on using technology. Of the 47, 38 stated that it was the first time they had
assigned the project. My assumption and interpretation of this data is that they are now assigning
projects such as this because our school is now equipped with the technology to provide to
students. I decided that I should ask the teachers why they did not assign the activities before and
85% of the teachers commented that the projects consisted of tools that they recently learned
how to utilize. I think having peers share best practices is a powerful form of professional
development. Teachers realize that if their colleagues can do this, then they can do it to.
Percentage of Teachers who submitted
student work samples utilizing technology
45%
Teachers who submitted
55%
Teachers who did not
Figure 3
The work samples that I viewed are excellent examples of technology being used in more
sophisticated ways. Student work revealed that technology was being use to involve and engage
students in their learning. It is our hope that more and more teachers will begin to feel
comfortable enough to integrate technology into their lessons.
Feedback From Teacher Surveys
71
Our IMPACT V team developed surveys in an effort to secure feedback as to what
teachers thought about the professional development. At the end of last year I asked teachers to
complete a survey which would give us the feedback necessary to adjust the professional
development. We had a response rate of 80%. The chart below contains the data I received.
Teacher Survey responses from the best technology practices
shared in 2011-12 faculty meetings
(68 out of 85 teachers responded)
Question
Responses
Not at all
To what extent did the 2
PD meet your needs?
To what degree do
0
you feel like you will
use the technology
tools in your
classroom?
To what extent will
1
learning how to use
the tools change your
instructional practice?
Somewhat
Very much
14
52
32
36
39
28
I also asked for comments and suggestions at the end of the survey. I used all of the data
received to inform my decisions concerning professional development for this year. Below are
some of the responses we received:
72
Please continue to keep the sessions as a part of the faculty meetings. I learn just enough to determine if I want to
use the techniques in my classroom. If I need additional assistance I know that I can go to the person who presented
the information.
All of the sessions have been helpful. I am not sure if I will ever use all of them, but I have used several already.
Is there any way we could make suggestions as to what we would like to learn?
I enjoy learning from my peers.
Include an optional question and answer session at the conclusion of each session for those that may want additional
help.
We looked at all of the suggestions and comments and structured our sessions this year
with the suggestions in mind. For example, our professional development sessions on the
workdays were developed in response to what topics the teachers wanted covered. We are also
continuing the sharing of best practices during the faculty meetings each month because the
teachers commented that the liked the brief sessions taught by their peers.
I also utilized the same survey for the afternoon professional development sessions. Thus
far we have only had one session. I can fully analyze the data when the remaining sessions are
complete and the survey results have been compiled. The chart below has the data from the
October 31 professional development. I received responses from 57 of the 81 participants which
means we had a response rate of, 70%. In an effort to increase our response rate, I intend to
require that participants complete the survey, via survey monkey, prior to leaving next time. The
data indicates that teachers are pleased with the first session. This does not surprise me because
we allowed the teachers to select what was being taught. We also included extra transition time
to allow individuals to ask questions. I hope that the remaining sessions will also prove to be
beneficial to the teachers. It is our belief, that engaged students will perform better
academically; and technology is a great way to engage students.
73
Teacher Survey responses from the October 31 PD
(57 out of 81 participants responded)
Question
Responses
Not at all
To what extent did the PD
meet your needs?
To what degree do you
feel like you will use the
technology tools in your
classroom?
To what extent will
learning how to use the
tools change your
instructional practice?
1
Somewhat
Very much
13
44
20
37
21
35
Data I have yet to collect
As I stated previously, I do not have the data for the upcoming professional development
sessions. After the remaining four sessions have been completed, I intend to analyze the data to
determine the impact the professional development had on teachers’ instructional practice. I also
plan to look at the test scores from the school year to see if we have seen any gains in student
achievement.
I also intend to give teachers another survey at their mid-year conference when we update
their Professional Development Plans. The questions that we will ask include:
•
•
•
•
Do you feel as if our technology PD has changed your instructional practice?
Are you using technology differently than you did prior to the PD?
Would you recommend that we continue with our technology PD offerings?
What suggestions do you have to improve our sessions?
74
I feel that it is extremely important to let the teachers have a voice. They need to see the
relevance in what is being expected of them. I believe in looking at perceptual data and
making changes if need be. I will use the data I collect from this survey to influence the
decisions made concerning future sessions.
Conclusions and Action Plan
The evidence that I shared in the content of this paper reveals that I have started
collecting, organizing, and analyzing data concerning our professional development.
Another important component of action research planning is reflection. The Mills text
explained that “Action planning and reflection give you an opportunity to identify your
individual and collective continuing professional development needs” (Mills, 2011, p. 160). I
have acquired the data and started to examine it. And more importantly, through reflection, I
have made inferences and drawn conclusions. As such, I will explain what I intend to do to
strengthen the quality of our professional development offerings:
•
Continue sharing best technology practices in the already scheduled faculty meetings. I will
not require professional development that requires teachers to utilize personal time.
Therefore, our professional development will be infused into existing meetings that are
required.
•
Continue keeping the sessions focused brief.
•
Allow teachers to select the topics for future technology sessions.
•
Develop a survey to be given at the conclusion of each faculty meeting so I do not have to
wait until the end of the year to receive feedback on the monthly sessions.
75
•
Include time at the conclusion of each session for those that wish to ask questions and receive
assistance.
The Sanders and Sullins text describes the importance of evaluating programs. The text
clearly pointed out that, “successful program development- whether the program involves a new
science curriculum, a parent-teacher organization, or a character development program-cannot
occur without evaluation” (Sanders & Sullins, 2006, p.1) I must be completely honest and admit
that I had never given a great deal of thought to formally evaluating programs. I always asked
for feedback but how I utilized it was not focused or intentional. I learned a great deal through
this process and will continue to implement the evaluation strategies that I learned through this
course in my work as a principal. I am now working on developing an evaluation plan for our
mentor program. I made some adjustments to the program prior to this year and I would like to
evaluate the effectiveness of the program. I have already asked the members of the professional
learning community (PLC) responsible for the program to serve on the evaluation team.
As a high school principal, I use data all of the time! However, this action research
project made me closely examine my practices of evaluating data. The Earl and Katz article
explains the importance of inquiry. By nature, I am an inquisitive person and I always like to dig
deeper. The article stated, “Leaders who use data productively have a mindset of being in
charge of their own destiny, always needing to know more and creating or locating the
knowledge that will be useful to them along the way” (Earl, L.M., & Katz, S., 2006, p.18). This
statement illustrates the type of leader that I want to be.
76
References
Earl, L.M. & Katz, S. (2006). Leading schools in a data rich world: harnessing data for school
Improvement. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.
Haslam, M. B. (January, 2010). Teacher professional development evaluation guide.
Washington D.C.
Mills, G.E. (2011). Action research: a guide for the teacher researcher. Boston, MA.
Sanders, J.R., & Sullins, C.D. (2006). Evaluating school programs: an educator’s guide.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
77
Appendix
Figure 2.2 (from Sanders & Sullins, 2006, p. 15)
Evaluation Questions
Why the Question is
Important
To what extent is the
professional development
helping teachers to use
technology in more a more
sophisticated way as defined
by administrators?
It is imperative that we
know whether or not the
PD has provided
knowledge that will be
used in the classroom.
Information Needed to
Answer the Question
(evaluation measures)
Data collected from the
post-PD surveys(Did
teachers find PD useful)
McRel teacher
observations
Teacher self-assessments
When and How the
Information Will Be
Collected
Collected monthly
Assessment survey
Post surveys concluding
the PD
Completion of
walkthroughs and
observations
Data Analysis and
Interpretation Procedures
(from Ch. 4)
Comparison of data from
assessment surveys and
post- PD surveys
Comparison of observation
information (how many
more teachers were
viewed as proficient and
beyond with their use of
technology- compare to
last years observations)
Is there a disconnect
between observations and
self-assessments?
To what extent did the
topics covered within the
professional development
meet the teachers’
expectations?
We need to know if what
we are doing is helping
teachers achieve their
goals? (each teacher has
technology goal in PDP)
Feedback from surveys
To what extent did the
professional change
instructional practice?
Our technology PD is
ongoing and we will need
to know what
adaptations need to be
made so teachers and
ultimately students can
benefit.
McRel observation data
Monthly from survey
monkey (post PD surveys)
Looking at technology
portion of observation and
walkthrough tools
Information from midyear PDP meetings with
teachers
Student work samples
78
Monthly from survey
monkey (post PD surveys)
Looking at technology
portion of observation and
walkthrough tools
Compile a list of the
teacher reactions from the
post surveys
Compile a list of
observation data from
McRel (comparing how
many more teachers were
viewed as proficient and
beyond with their use of
technology- compared to
last years observations)
1.
Should the activity be evaluated?
The professional development which is provided at
High School in conjunction with the IMPACT
V grant definitely needs to be evaluated. Professional development is a critical component of the IMPACT grant
and we need to ensure that what is being offered and delivered not only meets the grant requirements; but more
importantly, addresses the needs of our school. We have several different components of professional development
that will be offered throughout the course of this year. All professional development will targeted to all teachers at
Pine Forest, as well as teachers working at the feeder schools within our attendance area. We want to extend and
share our knowledge with teachers at the nine other schools in the Pine Forest district. Each professional
development initiative will last for the entire school year. For example, the book study discussions will take place
during monthly PLC meetings. Also, there are five sessions of required professional development scheduled
throughout the year. Receiving feedback throughout the process will be beneficial. It will allow for adjustments to
be made and it will also make compiling the data at the conclusion of the evaluation easier.
2.
What are the key elements of the professional development that will be evaluated, and what assumptions hold
these elements together?
One of the key goals of the professional development is to share best technology practices with teachers which
will allow them to learn skills to incorporated technology in all classrooms. This year I have an extremely large
number of ILTs. We have 24 initially licensed teachers which will require specific professional development
throughout the year. I do not want to overwhelm these teachers by putting too much on them. Also, teachers are all
receiving professional development concerning the Common Core and Essential Standards. I had a veteran teacher
who has been teaching 18 years tell me that she felt like a new teacher all over again. I know that the technology
professional development is necessary, but timing and organization will be extremely critical. Our teachers are also
going to have to complete the NC Falcon modules. (Our superintendent has temporarily put this on hold due to the
stress teachers are feeling.) I do not want to put more on them.
In the professional development we have organized, we want the teachers to have the opportunity to learn about the
tools as well as have time allotted to practice with the facilitators. The resources necessary are: allocated time, a
copy of Alan November’s book Empowering Students with Technology. Each of the five sessions will introduce
technology tools for the classroom. After each session teachers will complete a survey that will provide feedback
which will be used to help plan subsequent sessions. The feedback will be critical in evaluating the overall
professional development initiative. We will evaluate the timing, the participation (did people attend), and did the
79
teachers receive quality information. At the conclusion of the year, our team will complete the ASPIRE model to
look at what worked, what did not work, and how we will make adjustments for next year.
3.
Who is likely to be interested in the evaluation, and what do they want to know about the professional
development?
The following stakeholders will be interested in the evaluation: Administration, teachers, IMPACT coaches,
DPI, and district personnel. I think the teachers will want to know what their colleagues’ opinions were. It is
natural for one to wonder if their thoughts align with or resemble others. Our district staff and the IMPACT coaches
(to include DPI staff) will want to know whether the professional development took place as intended and who
participated. They will also want to know what the participants thought about the professional learning opportunity.
Ultimately, they will also want to know if the professional development was successful and met the goals. As a
principal I will want to know what the teachers thought of the professional development and whether or not it is
going to help produce the intended changes for improving student learning. I would examine the results with the
administrative team and focus on ways that we can improve the process for future professional development
offerings.
4.
What resources are available to support the evaluation?
I did not allocate any funds to assist with evaluating the professional development. We are going to utilize
informal evaluation techniques within the school and rely on the expertise of those supporting our IMPACT V grant
initiative. We will create surveys using survey monkey to solicit feedback from the teachers concluding every
component of professional development. The IMPACT team will work together to analyze the data and use it to
prepare quality professional development. The additional people that will work to support the evaluation are:
members of our administrative team, and district personnel such as our technology director and grants coordinator.
5.
Who will work on the evaluation?
Our IMPACT V team will be instrumental in leading the evaluation. I will also depend on assistance from my
administrative team and central office personnel. (grants coordinator who helped write the grant and our technology
director) Our grants coordinator helped write the grant and she knows the goals and objectives we hoped to
accomplish. Her input in the evaluation and analyzing the data will be critical. We will work together to create
evaluation surveys using survey monkey and Edmodo.
80
Advanced Teaching Licensure (MEd) - English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)Teacher Leadership Project - Exceeds Expectations
TEACHER LEADERSHIP PROJECT
By
Though my Teacher Leadership Project turned out very differently from what I’d
envisioned, I believe it was more effective than what I originally had in mind would have been!
After contacting some E.S.L. teacher friends to see if we could collaborate to co-teach a T.P.R.S.
(Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling) workshop for colleagues, I realized that
teachers in our area of the state tend to not be familiar with this teaching method.. As I explored
other options, I found an open door to collaborate with community members in High Point who
worked with refugees in various arenas.
My main collaborator was
. I had met her several years ago when I worked for
a refugee resettlement agency. She had some contacts at F
W
church and we worked
together to schedule a T.P.R.S. Workshop. She was in charge of advertising and booking a room
for us. I made the lesson preparations, gathered the materials, and provided the dinner for after
the workshop.
A collection of E.S.L. volunteer tutors, refugee agency employees, and those considering
involvement with refugee ministry attended the workshop at F
W
Church on March
13, 2013.
The refugee agency employees interact with refugees from Burma, various African nations, Iraq
and Vietnam on a daily basis. Some ESL tutors work within the Karen and Chin Burmese
refugee ministry at F
W
.
The goal of the project was to share the T.P.R.S. method with those who were interested
in learning it to utilize with their E.S.L. students. We wanted to meet a practical, immediate
community need. I had wanted my teacher research project to tie in to my teacher leadership
81
project and to give others the chance to benefit from what has proven to me to be a valuable,
engaging teaching method.
I believe that when teachers get to walk in the shoes of their language learning students,
feeling that awkwardness of not understanding what is being said and grasping for meaning in
visuals and actions, we become better teachers because we realize how important these context
clues are. In order for participants in the workshop to get the maximum effect of an immersion
experience using the method, I chose to teach the demonstration lesson in another language. But
what language would I use? My minimal Spanish was not my preference, as I knew that
participants would likely know at least some basic Spanish. I had been interested in learning the
Gaelic languages of my ancestors, including Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, and Welsh. As I
researched these languages which are in decline, I concluded that Irish would be the best choice,
since there are far more speakers of Irish left than the others. I never imagined it would be so
challenging to find someone to tutor me, but it was worth the perseverance.
I searched the internet, listened to native speakers on videos, tried to get in touch with a
tutor in Raleigh, emailed someone with a connection in Ireland, visited a local Irish pub and
spoke to the owner who didn’t feel confident in her level of speaking to help me. I did some
more online research and found that Boston provides great learning opportunities, as there are
Irish societies there who are passionate about preserving the language. I even contemplated
making a weekend trip up there but couldn’t justify it taking the time off work!
As I was just about to give up, I shared my dilemma with my friend G
at a get-
together. He happened to have an Irish friend and said he would get us in touch. I chatted with
his friend, J , for awhile on the phone but J
didn’t think his Irish was quite up to par to help
with the project. However, he did recommend I contact his friend, native Irish speaker Dr.
82
K
R
. I was thrilled to finally have a local contact that was willing to tutor me! I got
some translations of my vocabulary words and the story for the workshop off of a translation
site. These later proved to be only fifty percent correct, but it was a start. I took these to Dr.
R
and he edited my script and coached me in pronouncing the words, which had to be
rewritten phonetically. He recorded onto my voice recorder everything that I needed to say so
that I could practice it on my own at home. That was a smart move, because I know that I would
have botched up the pronunciation terribly without being able to listen to his recording.
With the recording to go by, I made some flashcards of the vocabulary words and taught
them to myself using T.P.R.S. It was a lot of fun, as it is a kinesthetic way of learning. I prepared
the handouts for the workshop, gathered props, and with one last rehearsal of my newly gained
Irish I headed off for the workshop on March 13. The workshop was based partially on a similar
workshop I’d done for some volunteers several years ago not too long after I had learned the
method myself along with some speaking and dialogue methods using picture cards and handson objects.
At the beginning of the workshop, I introduced the TPRS concept and how I had been
using it in my first grade class this semester for my research project and how it had been
increased student engagement and helped me to tune in to the individual learning experiences of
my students. I shared the goals for this workshop and gave a preview of the basic outline. After
the workshop, I handed out an Irish translation which was not phonetically written. We discussed
talked of how different it was, and that we would have struggled with pronouncing the original
Irish words if we had not had it written in phonetic words we could understand. We talked about
how this dynamic can have an impact in their classes, and how it can be beneficial for their
students to write phonetically so they can practice at home. We discussed how they might use
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TPRS and also what they use and find effective. We also talked about planning a time in the
future to come together and share our ideas and practice some more.
At the end of this paper, I’ve inserted the outline for ten hours of professional
development, handouts, a guide to Irish vocabulary that we learned, and a copy of the participant
feedback form. The section of the ten hour professional development that was actually carried
out included the basic T.P.R. lesson, the T.P.R.S. lesson, and practice teaching time. The times
were altered to total one hour, but one participant commented that given the limited amount of
time, it was very good in addressing their learning needs. Of course, I would have preferred
much more time. I am happy however, that we did have a fair amount of time for the participants
to get some practice using the method themselves. The participants commented that they found
the method to be easy, fun and that it works well. Another participant commented that it is
effective, and another said he would likely use it because it is “hands-on”. Of those who are
currently teaching, 100% plan to use TPR or TPRS with their students in the near future. All
participants scored the presentation as very to extremely clear, and the helpfulness in introducing
a new teaching method for them to use as very to extremely clear.
Over all, I feel that the workshop was a beneficial investment into the careers and
ministries of those who attended. I enjoyed working within my local community to collaborate
and pass on skills which will hopefully benefit many refugees that these people’s lives will
touch. I look forward to getting together with them again in the future to share ideas and learn
from each other. I can envision these relationships growing into a community of collaboration of
volunteers and teachers who work with refugees. If it had not been for this teacher leadership
project, this would be “one of those community service ideas I would like to have time to do”,
but would have procrastinated and it would not have gotten done. I’m glad it was required,
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because it gave me the motivation to step out and just do it. The experience reinforced to me
what I’ve been learning all year, that leadership does not mean you have to have all the answers,
but that you get to share what you do have, even if it is a little, and others will benefit as you
learn from them as well.
OUTLINE FOR TEN HOURS OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
INTRODUCTION: An explanation of the method will be given so that teachers know they will be experiencing a
method firsthand, as language learners.
I.
T.P.R. Lesson (Total Physical Response) (45 minutes)
Participants will experience the T.P.R. method firsthand by learning some terms in the Irish Gaelic
language.
II.
Teacher-Centered T.P.R. Lesson (Example of what NOT to do in a T.P.R. lesson!) (15 minutes)
III.
Discussion (Comparison of student-centered and teacher-centered T.P.R. Lessons)(10 minutes)
IV.
Handout T.P.R. Commands for the Beginner
V.
Video of T.P.R. Lesson (30 minutes)
VI.
Practice Teaching- T.P.R. Lesson (30 minutes)
VII.
T.P.R.S. Lesson Plan “The Snake in the Mattress” (45 minutes)
Participants will experience the T.P.R.S. method firsthand by learning some terms and language
structures in the Irish Gaelic language, culminating in comprehending and retelling a short story,
using guide words.
VIII.
Handout-T.P.R.S. Lesson Plan & Practice Teach.(20 minutes)
Participants will teach each other the story in English in pairs or groups of three.
IX.
Teacher-Centered T.P.R.S. Lesson (Example of what NOT to do in a T.P.R.S. lesson!)(15 minutes)
X.
Discussion (Comparison of student-centered and teacher-centered T.P.R. S. Lessons)(10 minutes)
XI.
Video of T.P.R.S. Lesson (45 minutes)
XII.
Practice Teaching- T.P.R. S. Lesson (45 minutes)
XIII.
Guest Speaker (Speaker will share about their own language learning experiences and how T.P.R.S.
method lowered their affective filter and increased their proficiency.) (1 hour)
XIV.
Question & Answer time /Discussion with Guest Speaker (30 minutes)
XV.
T.P.R. Lesson planning with a partner (30 minutes)
XVI.
T.P.R. Practice Teaching with real language learners. (30 minutes)
XVII.
Feedback (20 minutes)
XVIII.
T.P.R.S. Lesson planning with a partner (30 minutes)
XIX.
T.P.R.S. Practice Teaching with real language learners (30 minutes)
XX.
Conversation Lesson Plan Demo. (30 minutes ) Participants will learn how to teach new vocabulary
and language structures, using animal words and pictures. They will experience this language learning
method themselves in Irish Gaelic before practicing it in English with a partner.
XXI.
Conversation Lesson Plan Practice Teaching with a partner (15 minutes)
XXII.
Feedback/Discussion- Remember to discuss the value of language classes and experiencing
firsthand what our ELLs face on daily basis./Workshop Evaluation (15 minutes)
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DETAILS FOR 1 to 2 HOURS:
I.
T.P.R. Lesson (Total Physical Response) (Abbreviated version- 30 minutes)
Participants will experience the effectiveness of the T.P.R. method for a language learner
firsthand by learning some terms in the Irish Gaelic language.
Teacher does and says action.
All students do action.
Teacher does and says action.
One student volunteer does action.
Teacher says action.
All students do action.
Teacher writes action on the board.
All students do the action.
Teacher reads each action.
Students repeat each action orally.
Teacher and students read each action together.
A student volunteer reads each action.
All students do the actions.
A new volunteer reads each action.
All students do the actions.
Students write and draw the actions in their personal dictionaries.
Teacher whispers different actions to two student volunteers, and they perform the actions.
Teacher asks the rest of the students:
1.Yes/No Questions (Is Maria going to sleep? Is Jose standing up?)
2.Either/Or Questions (Is Maria going to sleep or standing up?)
3.One Word Answer Questions (Who is sitting down? Who is waking up? What is Maria
doing? What is Jose doing?)
Commands List:
IRISH GAELIC
seasamh suas
suí síos
gar do chuid súl
oscailt do shúile
dul a chodladh
dúisigh
seasamh suas
Léim
bhécil
dhiaidh sin ar an solas
Mhúchadh an solas
suí suas
bheidh síos
dúisigh
II.
ENGLISH
Stand up
Sit down
Close your eyes
Open your eyes
Go to sleep
Wake up
Stand up
Jump
Scream
Turn on the light
Turn off the light
Sit up
Lie down
Wake up
T.P.R.S. Lesson Plan “The Snake in the Mattress” (Abbreviated version- minutes)
Participants will experience the T.P.R.S. method firsthand by learning some terms and language
structures in the Irish Gaelic language, culminating in comprehending and retelling a short story,
using guide words.
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NEW WORDS:
Say “What’s wrong?”
Cut the mattress
Find a snake
rá 'Cad 's mícheart? '
ghearradh ar an tochta
teacht ar nathair
GUIDE WORDS FOR STORYTELLING
Tá sé clog trí o 'ar maidin.
dúisigh
oscailt do shúile
suí suas
dhiaidh sin ar an solas
rá 'Cad 's mícheart? '
rá 'Tá rud éigin sa trochta.’
dul a chodladh
Tá sé clog ceithre o 'ar maidin.
dúisigh
oscailt do shúile
suí suas
dhiaidh sin ar an solas
rá 'Cad 's mícheart? '
rá 'Tá rud éigin sa trochta.’
dul a chodladh
It is three o’clock in the morning.
Wake up
Open your eyes
Sit up
Turn on the light
Say “What’s wrong?”
Say “There is something in the mattress.”
Go to sleep.
It is four o’clock in the morning.
Wake up
Open your eyes
Sit up
Turn on the light
Say “What’s wrong?”
Say “There is something in the mattress.”
Go to sleep
Tá sé clog cúig o 'ar maidin.
dúisigh
oscailt do shúile
suí suas
dhiaidh sin ar an solas
rá 'Cad 's mícheart? '
rá 'Tá rud éigin sa trochta.’
ghearradh ar an tochta
teacht ar nathair
léim agus bhécil
It is five o’clock in the morning.
Wake up
Open your eyes
Sit up
Turn on the light
Say “What’s wrong?”
Say “There is something in the mattress.”
Cut the mattress
Find a snake
Jump and scream.
1.TPR the new words.
2.Teacher tells the story.
3.Designate 2 or 3 locations in the room to function as the settings.
4.Ask for student volunteer actors.
5.Teacher tells the story while student volunteers act it out.
6.Check comprehension by using 5W words:
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A?
i gcás ?
Nuair ?
cad é?
cén fáth?
III.
Who?
Where?
When?
What?
Why?
7.Embellish the story by asking students for extra details. (Change the names of characters,
characteristics of characters, add exciting locations)
8.Teacher retells the story with added details while students act it out.
9. Student volunteer retells the story, using guide words.
10.Pairs of students retell the story to each other, using guide words.
11.Pairs read the story to each other.
12.Students write the story, using the guide words. Beginning and intermediate level students use
sentence frames and choose words from a word bank to fill in the blank.
Feedback/Discussion/Workshop Evaluation (15 minutes)
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Advanced Teaching Licensure (MEd) - English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Teacher Leadership Project - Proficient
TED677
1/30/13
Teacher Leadership Project
Purpose
My TL project is to create a mini professional development that allows teachers a hybrid
opportunity to learn about the uses of technology in schools. The purpose of my teacher leadership project
stemmed from the need for and interest in utilizing technological resources at my school. I noticed
colleagues on both sides of the coin: those with overflowing amounts of knowledge and those who are
less knowledgable and therefore, scared to utilize technology. My goal is to bridge that gap, not only for
digital natives & digital immigrants at my school, but for others in my district and potentially around the
state. My project aligns with Guilford County Schools Strategic Plan Goal Area VII: Transformational
Technology which supports State Board of Education Goal 5 which states that “NC Public schools will be
governed and supported by 21st Century systems” (gcsnc.com & ncpublicschools.org). Additionally my
project supports ISTE standard 5- “Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership” (ISTE.org). This
project is backed by goals from the district, state, and even international level. Finally, my personal
motivation to create this project comes from the inherent desire to know more about and incorporate more
technology into the classroom. I understand that if I want a Kindergarten student in my classroom to be
equipped to compete in a globally competitive world, technology must integrated into my instruction
through various forms.
The underlying purposes of this TL project are:
-
To help teachers collaborate with colleagues for planning, assessment, etc.
-
To help teachers collaborate and share information with parents.
-
To help teachers enhance their instruction and engage students in learning.
Plans for Collaboration
I will collaborate with a technological “expert” at my school who teaches 2nd grade. We will
implement this project jointly and invite others in the K-2 realm to contribute. I narrowed down the
participant pool to only K-2 teachers because I feel there is a need to address how developmentally
appropriate technology tools should be used in these grade levels. Participate are not limited to general
classroom teachers, but may also include specialists, ESOL teachers, EC teachers, etc. The sessions will
be opened, first, to K-2 teachers at GES. Our goal for this professional development is to expand it to the
district and possibly state level by collaborating with technological “experts” in these areas to help
develop and lead sessions.
I will also collaborate with the media specialist to receive access to the technology at our school.
Additionally, I will require support from the administration at my school who will give permission and
any assistance needed during this project. I have already discussed tentative plans with my principal, who
is in full support of this project, and I will work with my assistant principal to work out any logistical
complications that may arise when this project is carried out.
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Finally, I will need K-2 teachers from my school, then district, and potentially state to “buy-into”
this idea to ensure the project’s success. These participants will be integral to not only the success of the
project, but the development of the sessions. Participant will use a discussion board to give feedback on
each session and they will have the opportunity to give suggestions for future sessions. This is truly a
teacher-centered project with the idea that teachers need to feel informed about and comfortable with
technology in order to incorporate it into their teaching and professional work.
Outline- 10 Hours
*Each session includes a webinar, an instructional video which will be posted on our school’s website,
and a hands-on workshop where participants can come with questions and try the technology tools before
they teach in a risk-free environment.
*Each webinar will include answers to the following:
-
What is the technological tool? (10min)
-
How you can use it instructionally in a K-2 classroom? (10min)
-
How can you creatively organize your time to fit this tool into your busy schedule? (5min)
-
Discussion (5min)
Mid- Late February
-
(1 hour) Week 1
o
“Pre-assessment” interest/knowledge survey
o
Introduction to project/purpose
March
-
-
(2 hours= 1 hour per 2 sessions) Week 2-3: “Using technology to collaborate with colleagues”
o
“Webinar” introduction to technology supporting collaboration with colleagues including
discussion board through WikiPages (30 min. total)
o
“Hands-on workshop” for teachers who want to apply the skills learned (30 min. total)
o
“Webinar” introduction to technology supporting collaboration with colleagues including
discussion board through WikiPages(30 min. total)
o
“Hands-on workshop” for teachers who want to apply the skills learned (30 min. total)
(2 hours= 1 hour per 2 sessions) Week 4-5- “Using technology to collaborate with parents”
o
“Webinar” introduction to technology supporting collaboration with parents including
discussion board through WikiPages (30 min. total)
o
“Hands-on workshop” for teachers who want to apply the skills learned (30 min. total)
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o
“Webinar” introduction to technology supporting collaboration with parents including
discussion board through WikiPages (30 min. total)
o
“Hands-on workshop” for teachers who want to apply the skills learned (30 min. total)
April
-
(2 hours= 1 hour per 2 sessions) Week 6-7-“Using technology to support instruction in the
classroom”
o
“Webinar” introduction to technology supporting instruction in the classroom including
discussion board through WikiPages (30 min. total)
o
“Hands-on workshop” for teachers who want to apply the skills learned (30 min. total)
o
“Webinar” introduction to technology supporting instruction in the classroom including
discussion board through WikiPages (30 min. total)
o
“Hands-on workshop” for teachers who want to apply the skills learned (30 min. total)
• (1 hour)
o
Guest Speakers (1 from district and possibly 1 from the state)
-NC TOY, Darcy Grimes, who has been recognized for her use of technology in rural
-Dr. B
L
-G
- Kenan Fellow from GCS who presented at a conference on
H
schools
, a professor at UNCG who specializes in instructional technology
technology in
Spain
• (1 hour)
o
Attendees create a Prezi, webinar, PPT, slideshow, etc. to present how they have
incorporated technology into their classroom since beginning this PD.
May (1 hour)
-
Survey: “Post-assessment” interest/knowledge survey
-
“Wrap-up” and next steps
Detailed Plan (1 hour from Week 6- Using technology to support instruction in the classroom”)
Objective: to teach teachers how to effectively use technology (today- LittleBirdTales.com) to support
instruction in the classroom.
“Webinar” online session
-The “Webinar” will not be live, but a pre-recorded teaching video posted on our school’s
website. The instructor(s) will take 10 minutes to go step by step and show teachers an introduction to
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LittleBirdTales.com. This introduction will include creating an account, logging in, and exploring features
of the site. The instructor will then take 10 minutes to explain how this technology tool supports
instruction in the K-2 classroom. This will include modeling an example of how LittleBirdTales.com
helped Ms.
conduct research on oral language development in the Kindergarten classroom. The
instructor will go through the process, data, and findings. Finally, the instructor will take 5 minutes to
give tips on how to creatively organize time, using assistant, volunteers, literacy centers, etc. in order to
fit a project using this tool into teachers’ already busy schedules. Participants will then be instructed to
visit the discussion board via the WikiPage (linked from the school webpage) and post their comments,
reflections, new ideas, questions, or concerns on the discussion board. (30 min. total)
“Hands-on” workshop session
-Following the webinar, participants will be encouraged to visited the discussion board via
WikiPages. On this page, participants are invited to attend a workshop in classroom #226 (my classroom
at Guilford Elementary) to “try out” the technology tool introduced this week (LittleBirdTales.com). This
will be a “risk-free”, “non-threatening” opportunity for teachers to explore the tool with guidance if
needed. This is an informal workshop where participants will guide the session. They will tell the
instructor what they need help with, how they need help, and they may ask for a demonstration. The
location may change depending on the tool discussed that week and participants who want to come, but
are not obligated to, may confirm their attendance on the WikiPage. (30 min. total)
Evaluation Plans
Evaluation of this project will consist of three assessment tools: teacher pre and post-survey,
discussion board postings, and the assessment of the participants culminating project. At the beginning of
this project teachers will take a survey through Qualtrics. The survey will be the comparable to the postassessment and will gauge teachers’ knowledge of and interest in technology. Questions on the survey
will give information on how comfortable teachers are with technology, how much technology they
currently use in the classroom, and personal goals from this project. Instead of including a question about
personal goals on the post-assessment, participant will evaluate their growth towards their goals. They
will then be asked to describe how they plan on using information gained from this project in their own
classrooms. Quantitative and qualitative data from comparable questions on the pre and post-assessments
will be analyzed to identify trends and support rationale for this type of project. This form of summative
evaluation will determine how successful the overall project is.
Data will also be collected through the discussion board postings. Instructors will formatively use
this information to guide the workshop sessions and to plan following “webinars”. Using on-going data
from the discussion boards will help instructors tailor the sessions to meet the needs of the participants.
Finally, data will be collected through the evaluation of the culminating project. Participants will
take what they learned and create a Prezi, webinar, PPT, slideshow, etc. to present how they have
incorporated technology into their classroom since beginning these professional development sessions.
Participants will be given the opportunity to post the presentations to our WikiPage and instructors will
assess the projects using a rubric. Rubrics and feedback will then be sent back to each participant to help
guide their next project. This data from the rubric can also be analyzed to determine the effectiveness of
the professional development.
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Final Teacher Leadership Project
Implementation/Final Results
Total implementation lasted 2 hours, see timeline below.
• 11/12/12- Pre-assessment survey on Qualtrics: average time 10 minutes
• 2/11/13- Meet with principal
• 2/25/13- Meet with colleagues interested in collaborating,
• 2/26/13- Introduction at staff meeting
• 3/8/13- Initial session
• 3/11/13- Additional session
-I originally invited the entire staff and explained that the workshop is more geared towards K-2,
but all were welcome. After talking with my principal previously, I decided to use my workshop
as a springboard to get the school ready to roll out “SharePoint”. This is a common space where
schools can post information to public folders which are then shared. My idea was to download
and post my presentation to a SharePoint folder. After the staff meeting, however, the idea of
using SharePoint came to a halt when we found out that the county was suspending the use of
SharePoint so they could update the system. Despite these challenges, I continued on with my
teacher leadership project.
• “Webinar” online session and “Hands-on” workshop session (combined): time allotted 1 hour & 10
minutes/ 2:30-3:40 on 3/8/13
-The “Webinar” session ended up being face-to-face despite the original plan because I ran into
technical difficulties. I decided to make the initial “webinar” face to face because I found out I
couldn’t link videos to my school webpage and I also figured I would get more attendees with a
face-to-face session. As a result, I decided to combine both the webinar & hands-on workshop
into one face-to-face session which took place on March 8th. In this initial session, I offered some
snacks and ended up with eight attendees from various grade levels. The attendees ranged from
Kindergarten teachers to an EC teacher, and even the curriculum facilitator came. I took time to
introduce myself and explained that my purpose for this presentation was to expose teachers to
new forms of technology so they can be better equipped to teach their 21st Century learners and
support their instruction in the classroom. I chose to begin with “ Using technology to support
instruction in the classroom” because of the data I received on the initial survey I sent to teachers
in my school and around the district. In November, I sent a survey entitled “Technology in the
Elementary Classroom” and the responses to two of the questions stood out to me. When I asked
teachers if they believed their school provided them with appropriate training and tools to best
utilize technology in the classroom, only 25% said yes. When asked if they would be interested to
learn more about how technology can be used, as a supplement, to increase the oral language
skills of students, 83% said yes. Keeping the interests and needs of my potential audience in
mind, I began the presentation. I started off by explaining the purpose of the presentation by
explaining how technology is best used as a support to direct instruction, how
LittleBirdTales.com supports specific standards within the Kindergarten curriculum, and then
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how digital storybook programs (such as this one) can help teachers differentiate to meet the
needs of all students. Next, I attempted to show a video from YouTube that illustrated how
LittleBirdTales can be used for younger children (once again technical difficulties arose even
though the video worked when I tried it out before) and I explained the implications for the
classroom by elaborating on my current action research project. I stated the research question and
then went into the process, data collection, and preliminary findings. Then, I had a participant
volunteer to create an account so I could explain how to navigate the website, including creating
“tales”, managing classes, and even sharing the “tales”. Finally, I allowed discussion for ways to
incorporate projects using this website in the classroom. We talked about how to creatively
organize time, using assistant, volunteers, literacy centers, etc. in order to fit a project using this
tool into teachers’ already busy schedules. We also discussed how to mitigate limitations such as
time and lack of computers in the classroom. I gave the participants time to play around with the
website, create an account if they desired, ask questions, and complete the session evaluation
form. Some participants were enthusiastic about the website in their classes while others were a
bit intimidated by it. I explained that I would be available for more hand-on sessions if they
wanted on, but to let me know.
• “Webinar” online session and “Hands-on” workshop session (combined): time allotted 40 minutes/
2:30-3:10 on 3/11/13
-After the first session, I had a few colleagues that wanted to come but could not make it on
Friday, so I scheduled another introduction session for Monday, March 11th. Out of the five
people who showed interest, only one person came. Interestingly, the attendee was a third grade
teacher who was looking for a way to engage struggling learners in her classroom. The session
went similar to the first one, but with no technical difficulties as I figured them out after the first
session. I signed her up for an account as well and she stated that she would use the website to
assign homework and individual projects to students. I was encouraged by her enthusiasm and
glad that she found this K-2 resource useful in Third Grade. Of all the participants in both
sessions, only one had heard of LittleBirdTales.com before.
Evaluation Data
The pre-assessment data was retrieved from a survey I sent to my staff and colleagues around the district
entitled “Technology in the Elementary Classroom”. Of the thirteen teachers who took the survey, about
half have taught kindergarten through second grade and the other half have taught third through fifth
grade. When asked how often teachers use technology, the results showed that they used technology for
lesson planning a majority of the time and for student assessment the least. Teachers have primarily used
United Steaming (Discovery media website), PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, and an Elmo camera and
projector when incorporating technology into their daily routine. The greatest barriers to integrating
technology seemed to revolve around lack of resources and lack of time. When asked about the impact
that technology has on students the majority of teachers noted that technology impacts motivation with
the least amount of teachers choosing oral language. Only 25% of teachers stated that they believe their
school equips them with the training and tools needed to utilize technology in the classroom. However,
when asked how many teachers would be interested in learning about ways to use technology in order to
help increase oral language skills, 83% of teachers said “yes”. This pre-assessment data was used to help
me guide information for my presentation. I used the information about barriers to create an area of
discussion at the end of my presentation. Additionally, I took what I gathered about their technological
“background knowledge” and I made sure I went step by step through the website because I assumed no
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teachers had navigated the website before. Finally, I used the responses relating to oral language to as a
platform for why this type of presentation about “using technology to support oral language development”
was needed and even used information from my action research project to back it up.
The post-assessment data was given to workshop participants at the end of the session. Participants were
asked four basic questions and choices were provided on a Likert scale. The results from the four
questions and an additional question are recorded below:
1) The workshop was helpful:
45%
55%
Strongly Agree
Agree
2) In the near future, I plan on using information from the workshop:
Strongly Agree
Agree
45%
55%
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3) I would like to see other workshops, similar to this one, in the future:
Strongly Agree
Agree
100%
4) I would like to access a web space to share and discuss ideas about technology
34%
55%
11%
Strongly Agree
Agree
5) What would you like to learn more about?
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Neutral
11%
89%
Support instruct & engage students
Collaborate with parents
Finally, participants were asked open ended questions to give feedback on the quality of the presentation.
When asked about the strengths of the presentation, responses were varied and encouraging. Participants
stated that the presentation contained new & helpful information, the pacing was appropriate, the
presenter pointed out potential trouble spots with the website, and they enjoyed listening to and viewing
actual student work. In addition participants mentioned that I shared valuable ways to extend lessons,
helpful technology ideas, tips for classroom instruction and homework. Overall some felt the presentation
was well-presented & constructed, user friendly, engaging for teachers who can make instruction
engaging for students Areas for improvement included incorporating “how-to” notes and instructions for
teachers, other helpful websites, and more time to explore. I felt that the post-assessment data speaks for
itself and contains helpful information for creating technology presentations and workshops in the future.
Reflection
The most salient benefit from this Teacher Leadership project was the ability to inspire and stir up
an attitude of teacher leadership and collaboration within my school. Even though the plan and
implementation of this project were created by myself, the collaboration before and the potential for
collaboration in the future were worth the effort. The inspiration for this project came from a presentation
given by our Second Grade team during a staff meeting. They highlighted programs such as Prezi,
WallWisher, and more that they have used in their classrooms and how they have used such technology to
support their instruction. During the presentation I shared my enthusiasm for what was being discussed
with colleagues around me and their responses were not reciprocal because they stated that they don’t
have the time or training to integrate technology like this in their own classrooms. Despite the discussion
with those around me, I was impressed by the amount of knowledge this team had about instructional
technology, so I went to the team “techie” to find out more. I discussed my leadership proposal about
creating a “mini-PD” in order to share technology ideas, such as the ones they presented by second grade
at the staff meeting, with colleagues throughout the school, around the district, and even potentially
around the state. He was very supportive of this idea and was willing to participate in the professional
development session if given the opportunity. I created the draft proposal and invited my colleague to join
the sessions, but he was unable to attend and participate due to other obligations and time constraints. I
conducted the two combined sessions and received helpful feedback both written and verbal from
colleagues who were able to attend (as described in the previous section). After the second session one
colleague mentioned that she wished more staff members would step up and lead sessions sharing
technology ideas. She appreciated the opportunity to learn about this resource and so I explained to her
that I had talked to another colleague about the potential for more sessions in the future. Obviously there
is a desire to learn, but limitations include time and the willingness to take “risks” with technology. Since
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the sessions, I have talked to other colleagues on my grade level who have experience with Animoto,
Glogster, and other Web 2.0 tools and we are working on creating another workshop in the future. I feel
that the project was successful because it met a professional need within our school dealing with
technology and it will, potentially, create more opportunities for teacher leadership within our school.
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Workshop Evaluation
Please respond by circling a number in the table for each statement and by answering the
questions that follow.
Strongly
Disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly
Agree
This workshop was helpful today.
1
2
3
4
5
I would like to see other workshops
in the future
1
2
3
4
5
In the near future, I plan on using
information I learned from the
workshop.
1
2
3
4
5
I would like to access a space (blog
or Wiki) where we can share ideas
and ask questions about technology.
1
2
3
4
5
What would you like to learn more about? (circle one)
How technology can help support instruction & engage students.
How technology can help support collaboration with colleagues.
How technology can help support communication with parents.
What did you enjoy about today’s workshop?
How could this workshop be improved?
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