EDLD 5363 Web Conference Review

Week 2 Conference - I attempted to listen to the web conference but the sound kept cutting out and I missed the majority of what was said. I did get that the assignment was about the digital story.

Week 4 - I had the same issue trying to listen to this conference as well. The sound keeps cutting out and I'm missing most of the conference. Dr. Abernathy did speak on the team assignment and clarified some points on what was due and when. She also spook about the internship, which was good because I was somewhat confused on that assignment.

Overall, trying to listen to the conferences was frustrating but from what I could hear it was helpful.

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Reflection on UDL Lesson Plan

I found the UDL lesson plan a little confusing and difficult to understand. I was unable to fully understand the difference between a UDL lesson plan and any other lesson plan which I would create for my lessons. It seems to involve the same criteria with the exception that the UDL lesson plan asks for materials used and the other lesson plans I use do not.

CAST2006 Adapted from http://lessonbuilder.cast.org 1
CAST’s UDL LESSON BUILDER
Lesson Overview
Title:             Grandfather's Journey
Author:         Allen Say
Subject:         ELA, Science, Math & Social Studies
Grade Level(s): 2nd, 3rd, 4th & 5th
Duration:           Six Weeks
Subject Area:    All Core Subjects
Unit Description:   Reading and Writing
Lesson Description for Day:   Begin reading Chapter 1 in the book
State Standards:       TEKS 2 (A-C), 3 - 22
Goals:                       Reading with understanding
Unit Goals:               Read with understanding, write legibly and with clarity
Lesson Goals:          Understand the key terms "culture" and "customs"
Methods:                  
Anticipatory Set:     In order to engage students in the assignment, ask the students to talk about    different places they have been. As a class discuss the different things they saw and some things they noticed that were different from where they live.
Introduce and Model New Knowledge:  Students will use the book and sources to learn about different cultures. Students will learn how to create their own book using an online program.
Provide Guided Practice:   As a class, we will read the story Grandfather's Journey; the teacher will guide the students through the steps of using the computer to research different cultures read about in the book.
Provide Independent Practice:  Students will work independently on researching a particular culture for a country or place they will write about in their own book.
CAST2006 Adapted from http://lessonbuilder.cast.org 2
Assessment:       
Formative/Ongoing Assessment:   Periodically, students will be asked to tell about the main character in a particular chapter.
Summative/End Of Lesson Assessment:   At the end of the book, students will be given a quiz on who the main character was in the book and what was the main theme. Students will also be asked to tell what 2 of the different places were the Grandfather went.
Materials:  The book Grandfather's Journey in hardcopy and audio vers ion, Computers, 1 voice recognition computer with speak and type software, paper, pencils, markers, scissors, scanner, projector,  Maps, globe, books on customs and cultures

EDLD 5301 Reflection

       I have a learned a lot from this course. The readings and the discussion postings from the classmates have been beneficial in providing relevant information pertaining to my research project. Before beginning this course, I was confused and didn’t have any ideas on how to begin my action research project. The template provided for the course in addition to the readings from the Dana text gave me precise information on how to begin my research. I had an idea of the topic but without the text readings and the discussion postings from my classmates I would not have been able to provide the detailed information that was needed to begin my research project. The quality indicators in the Dana text Leading with Passion and Knowledge, is an excellent source of information for analyzing and assessing the information in my research. The information in the indicators gives me a basis of questions to ask in analyzing the questions currently in my research plan.

Action Research Plan

Action Step	Person Responsible	Time: Start/End	Need Resources	Evaluation
To meet with my site mentor and the science teacher to discuss my project and to make any necessary improvements	Kathy O’Kelley & Amanda  Bramlett	1 week February 6th -10th	Internet access, laptops	Will be determined by the acceptance of the Science and Math teachers.
To research available technology used in Science and Math classes for little to no cost.	Ms. Amanda Bramlett	3 to 4 weeks Feb. 13th – March 13th	Laptop, internet access	To be monitored by Ms Bramlett
To narrow the search down to at least 5 software programs	Amanda Bramlett and Kathy O’Kelley	Feb. 13th – March 13th	Laptop, internet access,
Meet with Science teacher and math teacher to preview the top 5 choices	Amanda Bramlett and Karen Sellers	March 16th – March 24th	Laptop, internet access, projector	Monitored by Kathy O’Kelley
take the top 2 choices and research how to best implement the chosen software and the full cost to implement the software on 24 computers	Kathy O’Kelley	March 24th – April 10th	Laptop, internet access	To be determined by administration pending approval

Action Research reflection

During week two of the course Action Research, after reading the posts on the discussion board and reading chapter 2 in the Dana text I have picked up some great information on different research topics. The Dana text provided some insight into how to take ordinary to topics around my campus, such as the architecture and climate and think of an action research topic. This was very useful information.

Action Research

      Action Research is a type of research used in some schools which allows teachers and principals to use their knowledge and expertise to help come up with solutions to problems inside their own schools instead of using 'outside research'. Based on the information I have read in the text Leading with Passion and Knowledge by Nancy Fichman Dana; action research differs from traditional educational research, which uses research done by outsiders who are not familiar to the classroom, relies on research from within the school. This allows both teachers and principals to play a part in the problems which are affecting their schools.

      Not all students are the same; cultures play a part in each student’s learning. Whereas, schools whose primary student population is African-American, Asian, or low-income versus high-income population are going to have different sets of problems. Therefore, the research used to solve those problems should not all be the same. Traditional Educational Research takes all students and learning styles throws them in a sack, and shakes it all up; then they pull research based on an expert from an outside source which outsiders feel will ‘best’ solve the ‘biggest’ problem they pulled from the sack. Not the most efficient way for Principals, teachers and administrators to resolve the issues in their individual schools.