EDLD 5326 Action Research Update Reflection

I have two classes, plus the final internship class, remaining in this program.  During the first internship class, I made adjustments to my Campus Supervised Summary and Validation Report for the Technology Standards and for the Principal Competencies.  The two documents that I had prepared for my original internship plan were combined and I began “catching up” on writing reflections for all of the activities that I had already completed.  Additionally, I wrote reflections for all of the Course-Embedded Internship activities completed to that date.  I also posted everything required up to that date into TK-20.  I have continued writing reflections for all of my activities to date.  All that I need to complete for Course-Embedded is nine more reflections for activities that I will complete in the two remaining classes.  For the campus supervised requirements, I still have nine activities to complete during October, November, and December.  The largest project, still uncompleted, is my action research project.  It had to be redesigned during the last internship class.  Due to personnel changes in the district, the project was not able to be started until the beginning of this semester.  It will be December before any data are examined.  I also have about 12 activities that I have completed and taken notes on, but have not yet completed the reflections.

Week 5 EDLD 5363 Multimedia and Video Technology

Week 5 Final Reflection

I really enjoyed working on this project and collaborating with my team members.  I had never created a video before prior to our Week 2 assignment, so I was a little apprehensive.  As our group members posted comments to our collaborative document, I realized that I was not alone… that we would all learn together. 

Our group had five members:  Looai Mansor, Jasmine Goodly, Jana Dugas, Melva Brown, and myself.  We communicated through various methods, i.e., e-mail, telephone conference calls, and our Google Doc.  The majority of our ideas and role discussions took place on the collaborative Google Doc, with each member recording their thoughts in different colors.  We began with e-mail communications and then Looai Mansor started us out with the collaboration document in Google Docs.

Looai also had the original suggestion of working on a public service announcement about recycling.  Group members suggested a few ideas, but we did settle on the idea of a PSA about recycling.  Looai outlined the tasks and our group began to volunteer for roles.  All of us brainstormed about the elements that the script should contain.

As a city employee, I had access to some recycling materials and a recycle campaign CD from the American Beverage Association (ABA) with jingles intended to be used for radio ads.  The ABA encouraged the free use of the jingles to educate the public about the benefits of recycling.  I got the idea for a “rap” script from one of the radio ads.  We actually wound up using part of the radio ad as background music for our credits.  I assumed the role of writer and came up with a script intended to be “rapped” by the students in Jasmine’s class.  The script that I wrote was very lengthy.  I knew that it would have to be edited to make it fit the time requirement, but felt that it was better to provide too much information rather than not enough.  I also provided links to free music clips and free video clips to use along with our filmed shots.  Looai provided a draft of the project proposal.  I put together the first project proposal document from the actual assignment and e-mailed it to everyone.  Looai placed it into the Google document for everyone to add to.

Jasmine was our videographer, and her students were the actors.  Jasmine prepared the shot list for the Week 3 assignment, and began to practice the script with her students.  After rehearsing for several days, Jasmine began filming the students.

Jana volunteered to take care of the copyright part of the assignment and began compiling the resources and copyright information.  She also volunteered to do narration for any slides or still shots.  We used material from the American Beverage Association including the idea for the rap and the music for the credits.  I wrote the script from facts gathered from researching websites, including Pulltabs for Charity, The American Beverage Association, South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, and Why Recycle. 

Melva had a death in her family so we were unable to speak with her at the start of the project.  We proposed that Melva could assist with any or all parts of the project as she was able to join in.  Melva was able to join us later and offered suggestions regarding script, filming, music, and editing.

Looai, Jasmine, and Jana did the editing for the video after suggestions from the group.  I provided the final script and the storyboard.  Looai posted the video to YouTube, and Jana and Jasmine e-mailed revised production plans to the group.

The group worked very well together.  We had a little confusion about the due date for the project, and then a little stress about completing it in time when we realized that we only had until Friday night.

The PSA could be improved with a little more time for editing.  The introduction could have used a film clip of a landfill with voice over narration in addition to the slides with facts.  All in all, it was a great first effort from a group of people who have never met and who had little experience with this type of project.

Web Conference Reflection - Week 4 - Multimedia and Video Technology

I enjoyed the web conference this morning and it did clarify several items for me.  It was nice to have a contact for all TK-20 questions and to have Pam on the conference with us. 

It was a bit worrisome to learn that the deadline for all assignments this week is Friday instead of the usual Sunday, but we will get it done!

Our group will continue collaborating this week to complete our assignment and produce our PSA.  Our PSA is on recycling and encouraging school children to get involved with the program.  The web conference clarified that our collaboration documents must be posted on our E portfolio and to TK20, along with the revised and updated project proposal and the final project.

Dr. Abernathy told the participants that we will be transitioning away from Epic and will begin using Blackboard in the spring.  We were all encouraged to download everything from Epic to save for future use.

Our group is working hard to produce a quality project and we hope it turns out well.  It has been interesting researching all the different aspects of the project and figuring out how to put it all together. 

Dr. Abernathy encouraged all of us to attend commencement when it is time.  She described all of the wonderful events they have planned.  I look forward to actually getting to meet all of my classmates in person.

EDLD 5363 Multimedia - Week 2 Web Conference Reflections

I was very glad that I was able to participate in this web conference because we received a lot of information about the Week 2 assignment and what to expect in the coming weeks.  Participating in this web conference probably saved me a lot of time and frustration.  After reading the assignment, I thought that I would have to create a video to post to Youtube.  The conference made clear that we were only to produce an audio file (although I did wind up having to import it to Movie Maker and save it as a video file in order to upload to Youtube). 

Although other audio editing programs were discussed, we were told to use Audacity, thus saving me some research into other audio recording programs. 

I also learned that we could use the discussion board to ask each other questions and bounce ideas off of each other.  I did not do that this week as my partner and I had already created a wiki to collaborate.  I will be using the discussion board for other than the assigned discussions in the future.

EDLD 5363 - Week 1 - Reflection about creating personal digital story

The hardest part about creating a digital story was coming up with an idea for the story.  Then I located a partner and began considering the questions, "What is it like to be a firefighter?", "How do you feel about the danger?", and "What keeps you going after 32 years?"  Then I began just jotting down adjectives to describe my feelings about being a firefighter.  The adjectives turned into phrases, and before I knew it, I had written a poem.  I then looked for photographs that illustrated each of the phrases.  I did this by creating a storyboard and placing the pictures above the phrases.  I used Microsoft Photo Story 3 to put together the photos and narrate.  I liked that Photo Story 3 allowed me to edit the photos, type in notes for narration, and add music if I wanted to.  I chose not to add music because I didn't want to take away from the narration.  I really enjoyed this assignment.  I can see where I will use this new skill to create digital stories for the department and/or academy websites, and for projects with my students.

Reflection of Week 4

This week's assignments were geared toward helping me improve my action research plan.  Review of my classmates plans was helpful and so were the suggestions I received from my site supervisor. 
I was able to conference with my site supervisor, Paula Yezak, in person this Thursday afternoon.  I shared my observations from my review of classmates’ blogs and we agreed to modify my plan to include the items described in Assignment 3, i.e., reference the Technology Applications TEKS, and add disciplinary records to methods of evaluation.  Paula suggested adding the students’ previous year assessments to the documents used to assess growth.  She also pointed out some errors related to numbering and grammar in the previously submitted action research plan that should be corrected.  We also discussed some of the challenges of the project such as time constraints, accessibility to teachers and students, and access to and understanding of school reports.  We agreed to establish regular monthly meeting times for review and discussion of the research project and other activities that are a part of my internship plan.

Week 4 Updated Research Plan

Action Plan Template - REVISED

Goal:  Improve the quality of instruction for, and academic success of, ESL learners through technology integration.

Action Steps	Person(s) Responsible	Timeline:  Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
1. Secure principal and teacher approval for research project.	Intern, Internship mentor, ESL Coord., Principal, Teacher	November 2011 / May 2012	MS Word, research plan proposal	Signatures of principals and teacher.
2.  Secure parental permission for sample population of students.	Intern, Teacher	11/1/2011	MS Word, permission form	Signed release form from parents.
3.   Share details of study with students.	Intern, Teacher	11/4/2011	Research plan proposal	Student meeting held; attendance sheet.
4.  Address Technology Applications TEKS integration.	Intern, Teacher	11/1/2011	Technology Applications TEKS	Review TEKS
4.  Develop pre-test	Intern, ESL Coord., Teacher	11/1/2011	Rosetta Stone, Pearson PASeries	Test instrument
5. Administer pre-test	Intern, Teacher	11/4/2011	Pearson PASeries	Test results
6.  Select reading passages for 3-week interval assessments	Intern, Teacher	11/4/2011	Class textbook	Passages selected
7.  Develop reading assessment rubrics	Intern, Teacher	11/1/2011	MS Word, Assessment form	Review of rubric
8.  Develop podcast lessons	Intern, Teacher	11/1/2011 – 4/1/2011	GarageBand, PhotoStory, MovieMaker,  i-Tunes	Recorded lessons
9.  Develop student surveys to be given at 3 week intervals	Intern, Teacher	11/1/2011	Eduphoria online survey	Review of survey instrument
10.  Develop teacher survey to be given at 3 week intervals	Intern	11/1/2011	Eduphoria online survey	Review of survey instrument
11. Deliver 3-week assessments	Teacher	11/4/2011 – 5/30/2012	Class textbook	Teacher observation, Assessment results
12.  Conduct student surveys	Intern	11/4/2011 - 5/30/2012	Eduphoria	Survey results
13.  Conduct teacher survey	Intern	11/4/2011 - 5/30/2012	Eduphoria	Survey results
14.  TELPAS test given	Teacher, State of Texas	3/7/2012 - 4/8/2012	TELPAS test from State	Test results
15.  STAAR test given (if applicable)	Teacher, State of Texas	Spring 2012	STAAR test from State	Test results
16.  Prepare spreadsheets and charts from assessments and surveys	Intern	6/15/2012	Excel, Current year’s assessments Previous years’ assessments from Eduphoria, disciplinary records	Analyze collected results from spreadsheets and charts
17.  Share collected periodically results with stakeholders	Intern, teacher, principal, parents, students	Monthly	Reports, meeting space	Comments/ suggestions from stakeholders