CEDO 599 Week 4

My site is done!  Well, at least it's done enough for my project.  I'll continue adding to it as I get more questions.  The toughest part for me was thinking of the questions to post.  I get a lot of questions on a daily basis at school but most of them are much too specific to post on the site because they would only apply to about 2 people.

I started to use Evernote to keep track of the questions I thought of so I wouldn't forget them by the time I was working on my site.

All in all, I'm happy I completed the project and I'm very glad I could find something that fit my graduate program as well as be very practical for my school.

CEDO 599 Week 3

This week I added several more videos to the site.  I used a program called ScreenFlow to make the videos.  ScreenFlow is a pretty awesome program and it has lots of bells and whistles I didn't even get into yet.  It will let you record the video from your computer screen as well as the video and audio from your webcam.  Then it lets you create picture in picture tutorials so people can see and hear you talking as well as what you're doing on the screen.  You can zoom in, highlight the cursor, blur the background, add music and transitions, etc. I highly recommend it!

CEDO 599 Week 2

This week, I added links to tutorial pages for several applications that we use at school.  I also added Google Analytics to the site to monitor the level of traffic, though I'm not totally sure that's working properly yet.  There are also a couple simple questions that I answered.  During the next week I plan to add more videos that are specific to our school and network.

CEDO 599 Week 1

My proposal for my culminating experience is to create a website for the teachers and students at my school that includes help information for our network and video tutorials answering common questions.  This website will serve as a first line of defense for technology related questions at our school.  The site will also include a form to submit questions for consideration to be added to the site so it can continue to grow as our school progresses into the future.  I also plan to include a page hit counter or Google Analytics account so I can monitor how often people are actually using the site.

Some issues I already see include making or finding the initial crop of videos and educating the teachers and students to check this page first before coming to me for their questions.

CEDO 565 Week 6

My definition of leadership wasn't really changed as a result of this class.  We talk a lot about leadership at our school as our school mission statement is to "prepare Christian LEADERS--one student at a time."

I'd never really thought about "teacher leadership" as a separate category before.  As I understand it, we are all called to be leaders in different areas of our life whether that's in our job, family, friendships, etc.  So my view of teacher leadership is similar to my leadership in my family, etc.  It's just with a different group of people.

My opinion of my leadership potential hasn't changed either.  But I will say that in the past 5 years or so I have matured quite a bit in my view of leadership and the responsibility that I have to be a leader in different situations.

I definitely agree with our textbook's assertion about "improving education from within."  The teachers have to be the ones to make change.  They have to see the value of the students entrusted to them, the effects that our current educational scheme has had on students, and how positive change can be made in that area.

CEDO 565 Week 5

This week we talked more about the Plan Do Check Act model.  While this model isn't exactly what we follow at my school, I still think there are some beneficial things to be learned from it.  Our school is so small that we probably spend the same amount of time and money to make a school wide change as other schools/districts spend just on the Plan and Do phases.  The model makes a lot of sense but it's just hard to scale down far enough to be useful for a school my size in every situation, especially for technology changes.

CEDO 565 Week 4

This week we finished up our change simulation.  It was an interesting experience.  I have a really hard time wrapping my head around how much red tape and "back and forth" is needed to make change in a public school district.  My school is pretty small so if we want to implement something the process is pretty simple.  If I want to try something in the area of technology, as long as I have money in my budget I can pretty much do it.  My administrators trust our teachers and we are in contact with our administrators and each other constantly.  So seeing all of the hoops that the simulation presents as necessary would just frustrate me.

Our homework this week asked us to look at important topics such as morale and climate in our schools.  I'm very blessed in both of these areas.  My school isn't perfect but we work together well and we support each other.

CEDO 565 Week 3

This week we looked at the Millenial generation, which I am a part of, how schools can help and mentor teachers in that generation and the possible issues that are prevalent among members of that generation.  This discussion has helped me understand some of the things that I went through my first few years of teaching.  I came in all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to take on the world and I met with some resistance from some teachers.  The article we read helped to clarify some of the background behind those interactions.

Another thing I appreciated was the idea of thinking about a system instead of just its individual parts.  This makes a lot of sense and often times you can't really understand what's going on with a person, or department, or school, until you understand the systems that those things are a part of and how those systems as a whole are affecting each of the parts.  This will help me have a wider perspective in the future when I'm looking to implement a change at school or analyze a situation.

CEDO 565 Week 2

This week we've been mostly looking at data and how it can be helpful in educational situations.  My school doesn't collect much data.  We get ACT scores but I believer that's about it.  My school's senior class has earned over $1 million in scholarships for the past several years, so we must be doing something right.  Not bad for 45-55 students, eh?

I really feel like a lot of this week's work doesn't really apply to me.  It's hard to find a similar school to compare ourselves to.  The public schools in the area are larger plus we have to charge tuition so we can't even factor in enrollment as an indicator of classroom effectiveness.

Our students also come from a variety of public and private elementary and middle schools so we can't really use the data those schools collect to help us very much.

CEDO 565 Week 1

Blog about how you currently lead in your school or job.

Currently most of the leading I do at school is in the area of technology.  As the school's technology coordinator I am responsible for the administration of the website, PowerSchool, the network, student and teacher data, printers, photocopiers, A/V setup, projectors, smart boards, computer labs, teacher laptops, email, etc.  I make decisions about when to upgrade hardware, software, network infrastructure, etc.  I present staff in-services to introduce new things and answer questions about all things technology for staff and students.  That's in addition to teaching 5 out of 8 periods.

In my teaching I try to be a leader by including technology in my lessons and challenging long held practices or rules that may not be wrong but need to be reexamined to make sure we really do have a valid reason for continuing them.

CEDO 555 Entry 3

"In light of what you've experienced in creating your portfolio, how might you use portfolios professionally or personally in the future?"

I'm beginning to like ePortfolios because they are easy to setup (at least in Google Docs), extremely customizable, and they are a great way to show growth and work samples over time.  I'm definitely going to use them in my classes in the future.

My Creative Technology class does a lot of work with digital media, audio, video, etc.  I've had them produce a website and post their past projects before, but I always did it with the mindset that the website was another assignment and they were learning how to post material to a website.  I never really considered the website itself to be an ePortfolio but it was.  With this new perspective I can approach the assignment with different goals and give the students a better understanding of how this can be valuable to them in the future.

CEDO 555 Entry 2

"What big picture issues related to ePortfolios are you still missing?"


I need to take the time to choose with assignments would be most beneficial to include on an ePortfolio.  I've had some of my technology students post examples of their work on a website before but I'd never thought of it as an ePortfolio.  It wasn't really showing their growth, it was just a place to post their work so it was organized and others could view it.

CEDO 555 Week 1

This week we looked at several portfolios we found in the internet and compared them in our groups.  I don't have a lot of experience with portfolios but I definitely see their value in a variety of settings.  I'm acutally looking forward to putting my portfolio together to help me (and others) see the journey that I've traveled in this program.