Embedded+Assignments

=Embedded Assignments=

This assignment really opened my eyes to the details of how teachers are supposed to be using technology in the classroom. Up until this assignment I had no idea Texas had a long range plan for technology. I know I had only been teaching for a few years when I completed this assignment, but I seems that someone, somewhere along the way, either through my district, or my undergraduate courses in Interdisciplinary studies I would have been informed of the this long range plan. The other part of this assignment was to analyze the Technology Application TEKS. When completing the assignment, I was relieved that I had at least heard of these, unlike the long range plan, but I still did not have a good understanding of them and did not know the TEKS for my level as well as I should have as an elementary teacher. What amazes and confuses me the most is that many of the teachers I work with had heard mention of either the Long Range Plan or the Technology Application TEKS, but not one person I spoke with could give me any details about either. They seemed as puzzled as myself that the district had not given us these documents or even held us accountable in any way what so ever. The Texas Long Range Plan is very clear about the importance of technology, yet it is not important enough to inform the teachers? This assignment opened my eyes to the lack of emphasis technology has in schools. We know it is great for student learning, but it seems to get shadowed next to TAKS scores and since there is currently no state assessment on the Technology Application TEKS, I have a feeling the shadow with not be lifted soon enough.

I worked alone on this assignment, there was no group process.

5333 Leadership for Accountability
In this assignment we were to use campus AEIS data to find a school weakness and plan an appropriate staff development to address the issue. For me, this was a challenging task because our campus is Exemplary and all of our data, sub populations and all, were in the 90% or the high 80%. This assignment forced me to look deeper and find an area to focus on. After examineing the numbers, I noticed our Economically Disadvantaged population struggled in all three grades. I felt this was a great area for improvement. This particular group of students needs our time and attention to reach their full potential. I shared my idea with my principal can colleagues and they all felt these students would benefit from more attention and their learning would increase if we invested time into their lives. More importantly, I felt by focusing on these students, improvements would go beyond TAKS scores and reach into their self-confidence and ultimately into the success of their futures. I would love to see what other schools are doing to help improve the motivation and learning of the Economically Disadvantaged populations. I fear that these students can so easily get left behind and I hope my plan of involving the parents will help these students get excited about learning and become tight part of the school community.

I worked alone on this assignment, there was no group process.

5362 Information Systems Management
I gained a lot of information and knowledge through this assignment. I did not know there was an information system that our district used. My assistant principal gave me a ton of knowledge on the iTCCS system which further helped me when I interviewed on information system manager. There is so much detail in the system and I am amazed that one system holds almost all of the districts data from demographics and attendance, to discipline and graduation information. The previous knowledge I had about the information system was simply the grade book software and attendance. I know understand the importance of detail needed in all of the report I send to our office staff. The data gets put into iTCCS which need to be accurate as it part of the PIEMS data that is sent to the state.

I found that iTCCS is detailed system and completes many functions for our district, but my assistant principal and information systems manager differed in opinion. My assistant principal was not please that many times he has to create new reports before transferring data over to the system, it wastes time and could be done a better way. The information systems manager said nothing needs to be duplicated. I feel this is an area of difference that should be fixed and corrected.

I worked alone on this assignment, there was no group process.

I should research other information systems and get opinions for the users. I have a feeling that none of the systems is perfect and serves every need of all its users. I am confused though as to why the assistant principals have not conveyed their opinion about our information system to the manager. The problems cannot be fixed if no one knows there is a problem.

5364 Teaching with Technology
Group Google Site []

Collaboration Document []

EDL Lesson []

Electronic Book []

Team Reflections []

 This assignment incorporated so many different aspects, it would be impossible to walk away without new knowledge. I have never used a Google doc before, I was only used to using wikis. I did like how everyone made comments in a different color, this really added to the effectiveness of our collaboration. I also learned about CAST’s UDL lesson builder and the book builder site.

I have used many different lesson building templates and many of their aspects are the same, but I did like how CAST’s lesson builder focused on the different learning styles of the students and their different needs. As a teacher, that is one thing you can never go overboard on and we need to always keep this a focus.

Our group worked really well together and our final project showed the effort we put into it. Everyone’s opinion was heard and considered and we all worked well to make sure everyone completed their tasks and were included in planning.

I would like to know how other teachers are using the online book builders and would like to share the books I have created and have access to books others have created. It was not difficult to create, it just took time and to share with others would save teachers the precious time we do not have enough of. I cannot say at this time that any part of this assignment puzzles me.

5368 Instructional Design
[] I gained quite a bit of knowledge through creating this online course. I have completed online classes through Black Board and through Epic, so I enjoyed learning to create an online course through a different program, Schoology. It was a new experience being the creator of a course. It was a challenge, but I enjoyed it. I also was able to get more practice building lessons with the backward design. I have use the backward design with my lessons in the classroom, but I am glad to have the reminder and will be using it again when I plan for next year.

I fear my colleagues will not be completely open to the online course. I work at an elementary campus with teachers who have taught for years and they constantly refer to the good ‘old days way back when. I had a hard time setting the course up and I fear the initial process would scare them away from online courses for good. I also feel I would need research as to how online courses are benefiting the elementary classroom.

I am very interested in how other elementary teachers have used and plan to use the Schoology online courses. I feel my mind is blank as to the many uses for the younger students. Part of me wishes I taught older children to better utilize this program, but I just know someone out there uses Schoology effectively with my age group of kids. I am puzzled at how few examples of elementary uses of online course I have been able to find. I know they are out there.

I worked alone on the creation of this course. The performance indicators I experienced during this assignment were: I.B, II.A, II.B, III.A, III.C, III.D, AND III.E.

5366 Digital Graphics, Animation and Desktop Publishing


This assignment was one of my favorites. At first I was very nervous about trying to create four pages for the newsletter and it took me a while to get excited about the assignment. Learning about the design rules were interesting, contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity. I never knew so much thought was put into movie posters, font setting, and colors. I have seen may poorly designed newsletters, but the well designed ones did not seems to stand out the same way as they do now that I know more about design principals. I knew the basics of font color needed to contrast the background color, but did not know about repeating elements and the importance of proximity.

I worked alone on this assignment, although I did ask my husband several times if my layout looked good, or if the color matched! I do not have any questions to ask about this assignment. I would like to see several of the other students’ newsletters as I am sure I would see many awesome uses of the design principals. I know my colleagues were excited to see the newsletter I put together for our school.

During this assignment I gain experience in the following performance indicators: II.D, II.E, II.F, III.A, III.C, III.D, V.C, and V.D.

5363 Video Technology and Multimedia
[|Travel Video] Digital Storytelling [|Group PSA]

This was probably one of the classes I found the most exciting. I think because we put together finished projects in a multimedia format. I learned a tremendous amount about not only video editing software and audio software, but different ways to work as a group through the internet.

I had never worked with any video editing software and as a beginner I found that Windows Movie Maker was able to complete the tasks I needed and it was user friendly. Some of the others I looked at were not as easy for me to use. Our PSA was edited by a group member more experienced in video editing and they used a more sophisticated software. As a teacher, I feel Movie Maker would be a great program to use with students to create and edit videos. Also, teachers that wanted to create videos might find that Movie Maker will fulfill their needs. This program currently available to our district.

To complete the assignment, we needed to work well as a group. Lots of brainstorming and planning were needed to compile our final PSA. I was nervous as to how this would work, since we all live in different places. One of the group members was able to create a chat group for us to communicate. I found this to be great because we were able to get responses from everyone in the group immediately instead of waiting on email responses or posts to a wiki page. Everyone contributed in different ways and I was impressed how five people across the state could collaborate so well. One of the most valuable things I learned during this project was different ways to use the web to communicate.

I know I am not a professional at creating and editing videos. I need to do more research about more advanced editing software that is affordable for the district. If I were to work more with editing videos, Movie Maker might not be able to complete all of the tasks needed. There is nothing that puzzles me with this assignment. During this assignment I gained experience in the following performance indicators: I.A, I.B, II.C, II.F, V.B, V.D

5365 Web Design
Web Policy

Before this assignment I did not know what a Web Policy was and what it was needed for. Once I realized it was a document to layout the guidelines for website use and creation it made since, I just did not know there was a formal document for it. I learned the great importance of this document, especially for large sites like school districts. You want there to be consistency throughout all of the pages in the site and the Web Policy creates that.

In the beginning, I had a hard time imagining how I was to create this document from scratch. I spent many hours researching other school district Web Policies and unfortunately I found very little out there. Our readings for the course also did not address all of the components required in the document. This is an issue that puzzles me. There were some components that seemed to cover the same material as the others and since I could not find examples of the components, I do not feel my work would be sufficient to serve a district. I wish we would have been given further instruction on this assignment.

I am curious as to why so many sites do not publish there Web Policy. I wonder if this is a privacy policy to protect there unique sites?

I worked alone on this assignment, there were no group processes. During this assignment I gained experience in the following performance indicators: I.A, I.B, VI.A, VI.C, VIII.A.