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Ancient Manuscript Design, Assignment 2, EDLD 5366

I am comparing the Ethiopian Bible and Baybars Magnificent Qur'an. When I first accessed the Ethiopian Bible, I was impressed with the use of pictures and bright colors. However the longer I went through it, the more this bothered me. When looking through the Qur’an, I liked the use of borders and colors but I did notice there were no pictures. Contrast in the Ethiopian Bible was shown in the use of the bright colors of the pictures and the red and black font. The Qur’an did not show much contrast. Most of the font was in white and gold but there was some font (presumably what needed to be noticed) was in red and there were occasionally accent marks in red and blue. Repetition in the Ethiopian Bible was shown with the placement of pictures on the left and the writing on the right along with the page numbers on the left side pages. The Qur’an showed repetition by the use of the scrollwork borders that were almost identical and occasional round designs on certain pages. The Ethiopian Bible showed alignment by the use of similar or identical spacing of the borders (especially on the leather cover) and the placement of pictures on the left and writing on the right of several pages. Identical spacing of the writing and between the points in the border shows alignment in the Qur’an. Placement of pictures on the left and writing on the right show proximity in the Ethiopian Bible while the Qur’an showed it by placing words in the middle of a page surrounded by an elaborate border. While both of these manuscripts showed each of the four elements of design principals, they showed it in their own way due to their particular culture.

Breaking News: Stories go Digital!

Our week 1 assignment was to create a digital story. I was very excited about this assignment but felt dread when I had so many topics I wanted to cover. Because I could not decide between my grandmother or father as topics, I created a story about myself. I borrowed a storyboard template from my mentor and got started. It seemed easier to pre-edit because I put my thoughts down on paper. I usually do not do that and will do so in the future. I then went through the many pictures I have of myself and scanned each that I chose. Since I had used Photo Story in the past and wanted to try a different program, I used Movie Maker to create my video. I had no idea this was already on my computer and found it very easy to use. I really like that the instructions are already on the left side of the screen. After importing my pictures and typing a sentence about each picture, it was time for me to decide if the order would keep the interest of my audience. I must have changed the order of my pictures a half dozen times before I was satisfied. I then needed to find a way to upload it to Youtube.com. Unfortunately, I was not aware that Youtube.com did not accept the .mmv file extension so I went back into Movie Maker and read the directions for saving a project. After saving my project to my computer, I was able to upload it to Youtube.com. My husband and sons agreed that it was definitely a video that described me but felt I left out "child".

21st Century Teaching for a 21st Century World PSA

I was a little wary upon finding out our assignment for weeks 3-5 consisted of working in a group to create a public service announcement. I feel I work better on my own since I sometimes work backwards. My group consisted of Megan Perello, Sharon Liles and Katrina Gonzales. We had actually looked ahead during week 1, discovered we had to work in a group and created our group at that time. Our first interactions occurred through email and that seemed to work for a while. We then moved to Skype. My group members were familiar with it but it took me a few minutes to become comfortable using it. This avenue allowed us to collaborate with more efficiency. We also continued to use email and a wiki page set up specifically for our PSA. Our pre-production seemed to go by quickly. We threw out ideas but eventually we all decided upon encouraging the use of 21st century technology in the classroom. It did not take us long to each arrive at the shots and pictures we wanted to use. We planned to have them to our editor by the end of the week. We also decided to upload it to Youtube.com since we all had found it the easiest web delivery site. It seems all of us had trouble uploading to Teachertube.com at some point. It was not easy for me to arrive at obtaining my videos. I wanted to make sure I used other angles rather than from directly head-on so I discussed various angles with my mentor (who is also our campus instructional technologist). I must have shot at least 30 minutes of video and then had to edit it down to maybe 10 to 15 seconds. Whew! That was tough. Then we came to the difficult part-sending it to our editor. After many emails, Sharon found a video converter that was free and easy to use. Megan was ready to roll! Well, after she took her math certification test. Once she was done, we viewed the video and made comments and suggestions. We then decided to add music. I had already gone through various songs on freeplaymusic.com so by sending emails we chose one of my suggestions. Our PSA is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States.

To Web Conference or Not to Web Conference-That is the Question

I loved the idea of web conferencing to share ideas. However, my thoughts changed during this class. I was thoroughly disappointed with the three web conferences I tried to attend. The first conference had too many people in it so there was no sound. That was not so bad because I feel I do better at typing. I eventually became frustrated in trying to keep up with all of the typing to see if my questions were answered so I exited the conference. The second web conference I attended was not much better. It was also pretty full and I attempted to concentrate on the typing. My frustration mounted when everyone began chatting about the weather and were not asking or answering questions about the assignments. One classmate attempted to get her question answered at least three times and I do not think it was ever answered. The last conference I tried to attend was on Sunday the 19th. I attempted to enter the conference only to see a message that the meeting was over. Upon checking the Lamar M.Ed. page on Facebook, I discovered that another student tried to get in at 5:45 p.m. and was told the meeting had actually started at 5:00 p.m. and not 6:00 p.m. as stated in the overview. I would like to see the web conference times posted correctly, conferences broken into smaller groups and some kind of order during the conference. In the two conferences I could get in, no one was raising their hand and there was too much "outside chatting" that was not related to the course or assignments. I hope our future web conferences will be easier to attend.

Ready, Set, Edit! Video Editing Comparisons - EDLD 5363

I wanted to test other video editing programs that were different than what most of my classmates would test. Unfortunately that led to some frustration. I began with jahPlayer. The first problem I discovered was that the video of my son’s first football game was in .wmv and jahPlayer did not support it. I discovered it accepted .avi, .mpeg and Quicktime. I then converted my video to .avi and was able to begin working with it. I did not like the overall look of the screen and found it hard to figure out where to go when I wanted to do something. I would get thrown out of the entire program without any explanation when I tried certain things. I should have done my homework and researched it more because I quickly became frustrated using it. That is when I started to read more about it on their main website and found that it was suited more for editors with more experience. I grudgingly gave in and tried Movie Maker. I was able to easily upload my video and work with it. I really liked how easy it was to use. The steps were on the left side of the screen and help was easy to access if needed. It also supported just about any format so I would not have to worry about converting my videos. It was very easy to add titles, credits, transitions and music. Students from 3rd grade through high school would be able to easily use this video editing software.

Action Research - Are you ready for some action?

Action research. The mere thought of the words brought “oxymoron” to mind. As a high school student, research meant poring through books and articles in which your findings focused on knowledge for the sake of theory. That certainly did not mean action. My outlook on the subject soon changed after viewing the videos, searching the web, reading and discussions with fellow educators. I learned that action research is a personal journey that one can take in order to bring about change. I discovered that my principal had been conducting action research during our faculty meetings and know I feel more inclined to fully participate when asked. Action research is not just for administrators. Teachers and other campus faculty can also use this form of inquiry. I like the fact that you are in charge of the project – you choose the subject, population, setting, time frame and data. The subject is one that is very personal to you and there are many opportunities to document your wonderings, personal views and experiences. Subjects can include teacher retention, professional development, technology use in the classroom or classroom management. I also appreciate that action research is flexible. You can change the direction of your plan depending on your discoveries and take it further when you are done. When you come upon a stumbling block, you do not have to give up your action research. You can continue even if it means a drastic change in the design of the plan. The learning does not have to stop. You do not have to set aside a specific time to carry out your plan. You can design your plan to take place during a typical day which is perfect for teachers. Depending on the plan, there are more than enough types of data you can use to help in your discovery. They include standardized tests, student work, field notes, interviews, journals, various literature, surveys and technology. There are also various strategies that can be used to sustain what you have discovered to be working on your campus or sustain improvements that you will make based on your plan (Harris, 2010, page 94). Because you have used layman’s terminology throughout your plan, it is easy to share your results with others. This is highly encouraged when using action research. Why would you conduct an action research plan if you did not plan to allow others to gain knowledge from it? When sharing your outcomes, not only would you have gained but your campus, community and other schools. I became comfortable with most of the design aspects of action research but did find myself wondering about data collection and analysis. I feel I need to work on which data to use for my action research plan and whether they are the correct forms to use. Perhaps I will start an action research plan to discover appropriate data to use during action research plans.

Harris, S., Edmonson, S., & Combs, J. (2010). Examining What We Do To Improve Our Schools, 8 Steps From Analysis to Action. (pp. 84-86). Larchmont, NY: Eye On Education.

Ipods in the Classroom

I went to my district Ipod training on Monday. We learned how to upload various media and got some ideas of how we can use them in class. We ended the day getting 9 Ipods! I spent the whole day Tuesday finding things to put on my Ipods. I've got nursery rhymes, videos about alliteration and rhyming and various songs about shapes, numbers, letters and school. My PK students can use them to reinforce those concepts throughout the day. I also plan to have my students also use them to take pictures and videos to create vocabulary projects to share with the other PK and K classes. I'm SO excited!!

The Letter S

Goal: To increase PK students vocabulary scores on CIRCLES test by allowing them to use various forms of technology to create vocabulary activities.

Activity 1: Provide background information for action research project to principal and reading coach.
Background Information:
District Improvement Plan goal is to upgrade and integrate technology into instruction.
Campus Improvement Plan goal is to have 90% of K-3 students developed in all areas of TPRI. One area that is extremely low is comprehension which is directly affected by lack of vocabulary knowledge. In 08-09, 66% of students were developed. The 09-10 goal was to have 70% of students developed.
Campus Improvement Plan also stated that they would like to have technology integrated into 70% of instruction. However, the only forms of technology mentioned that a student might actually use was digital portfolios and the ActivBoard.
Resources: CIRCLES data, district and campus improvement plans
Timeline: August 2011
Responsible Person: Bobbi Prince
Process for Monitoring Achievement: feedback from principal and reading coach

Activity 2: Train students in the use of various forms of technology.
Resources: Digital camera, computer, internet, Ipod
Timeline: Begins August 2011 and continues as needed
Responsible Person: Bobbi Prince, Margie Gonzalez-aide
Process for Monitoring Achievement: Observation, Student projects
Assessment Instrument: Student projects, oral descriptions of how to use technology

Activity 3: Use digital camera, Animoto.com, Photo Story and Ipods to create themed vocabulary videos.
Resources: Digital camera, computer, internet, Ipod, Photo Story
Timeline: Begins August 2011 and continues as needed
Responsible Person: Bobbi Prince, Margie Gonzalez, Elda Mancha-Instructional Technologist
Process for Monitoring Achievement: Student projects, oral descriptions of how to use technology

Activity 4: Assess student knowledge of vocabulary
Resources: Student projects, ActivBoard flipcharts, Power Point slideshows, picture cards, CIRCLES assessment
Timeline: weekly throughout the year
Responsible Person(s): Bobbi Prince, Margie Gonzalez
Process for Monitoring Achievement: oral assessment using student projects, ActivBoard flipcharts, Power Point slideshows and picture cards; use CIRCLES assessment three times during the year (beginning of year in September, middle of year in January and end of year in May)

Activity 5: Review data
Resources: student assessments, student report cards, CIRCLES data
Timeline: Begins August 2011 and continues as needed
Responsible Person(s): Bobbi Prince, Michelle Martin-Reading Coach
Process for Monitoring Achievement: The PK teachers will meet once a week for grade level meetings and review progress concerning vocabulary development. Once each CIRCLES test is given, the reading coach will provide comparison data to the principal and each teacher. This staff will then review the data together.

Activity 6: Share data and student projects
Resources: student projects, CIRCLES data, action research results
Timeline: May 2011
Responsible Person(s): Bobbi Prince
Process of Monitoring Achievement: Feedback from principal, reading coach and any other faculty/staff that hears the data. This will be done at annual Technology Fair, end of the year meeting and summer staff development.

EDLD 5301 Week 2 - Action Research Ponderings

I have learned so much about action research plans during the week 2 readings. I came into the course thinking that only administrators would use action research but discovered that I could use it as well. Because I have moved from teaching 1st grade for 8 years and have only taught PK for 1, I could use action research to self-reflect about my teaching methods in a new grade level. I can also use it to review methods I use to help such young students adjust to school for the first time. I definitely want to use it to promote the use of technology in all grade levels. As I discovered in our Campus Improvement Plan, one of the goals our campus had was for students to be using technology in the classroom during 70% of instruction time and I would like to focus on that goal. I have also realized that my principal has more than likely used action research in order to obtain several objectives when looking into school community, leadership, management and school performance (maybe that is why we have been an exemplary campus for the last two years). I am excited to learn how my action research plan will benefit me, my students and my campus.

EDLD 5301 Week 1 Assignment - Action Research

What have I learned about action research?
Until taking EDLD 5301, an action research course, I had not really thought about self-reflection as anything other than "thinking" about my teaching. During my readings and additional research for the first assignment, I realized action research goes much deeper. I have learned that action research is a method of self-reflections that can be used to help formally organize your data, thoughts, ideas and plans. It allows you to complete this on your own or collaborate with others that have a personal interest in your inquiry. This avenue means that you can share various experiences, include personal views and recognize different ways of achieving a goal. I have experienced the traditional educational research when reviewing test scores. We were given a specific set of data which we then reviewed and determined a goal to meet the expectations required by an outside source. I felt that the expectations were a little higher than what our students could achieve. When reading about action research, I realized that I felt this way because outside sources do not take our particular students into account when setting standards of achievement. Action research would allow a group to use background knowledge, personal insight and experiences to set more attainable goals. It also includes a step to create a maintenance plan after reaching your goal. Most people or groups do not include this step when drafting a plan. I would like to use action research to find a way to improve the use of technology by pre-kindergarten students and to find the most interesting activities in which students in my district can improve their vocabulary.
How can educational leaders use blogs?
Educational leaders can use blogs in many different ways. Administrators can use a blog to determine the satisfaction of their staff in many areas including morale, professional development needs, district policies and campus expectations. They can also use them to facilitate sharing information with staff that would normally be done through email, meetings or newsletters. Blogs can also be used to communicate with educational leaders in different districts to share experiences and ideas pertaining to issues such as attendance, drop-out rates, student morale and staff development. This would benefit all parties involved because blogs can be accessed any any location and at any time. This would also allow for a greater number of ideas being shared.

EDLD 5368 Instructional Design Course Reflection

• What benefits do you see in educators knowing how to design and implement online learning?
As a principal, I feel that online learning would have many benefits. Online learning would first be introduced to teachers in order for them to master it. It would be used so they could complete required professional development on their own time, such as completing the StaR chart and sexual harassment lessons. They would have had practice using it so they could then begin creating activities that their students would be interested in completing. If educators are trained properly, online learning would make it easier to design engaging lessons. They would then be able to interact with their students more, thus allowing the students to feel that teachers were interested in them instead of teaching a test. According to Michael Horn in his book Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns, “Moving lesson planning and delivery online can provide students with more supervision, not less. It would free teachers, to do hand-holding and mentoring, something which is pretty much impossible in the current model.”

• How will you professionally use your course that you designed?
I would use online learning courses to cover many aspects of teacher professional development. In our district, teachers have had to stay after school every Monday or every other Monday to complete district requirements. Courses would include TAKS training, special education training and other required subjects. Teachers must also complete two days of workshops to fulfill flex day requirements and online learning would help accomplish this feat. Courses can also be used to educate teachers regarding the various forms of technology available to them along with changes that occur with this technology. Teachers would have the time to learn about these matters on their own time instead of having to use their conference time or staying after school which would leave them more time to plan or mentor students. They would also be able to refer back to the lessons if they need a refresher. Teachers would also be able to show their mastery of online courses by participating as presenters during summer workshops and the Fall Staff Development Conference.

• Will you integrate online learning in your role as a principal/staff developer?
Integrating online learning will benefit principals, teachers and students. By using online learning to assist my teachers in becoming highly qualified teachers, they will in turn use it to help our students become highly qualified students and the future workforce. By using online learning programs to communicate with teachers, this will free up time for both the principal and teacher since they can create activities and view them on their own time. This will also promote teamwork amongst teachers by providing opportunities to collaborate in the creation of activities and to participate in discussion boards without having to be in the same room or on the same schedule. Observing the ease with which this can be done, my hope would be that teachers would then take it upon themselves to complete more professional development on their own by using online learning. I will also use this to encourage teachers to assist students who are having attendance issues and miss critical learning.

• What questions do you still have about online learning?
As a principal, I have many questions regarding online learning. As an administrator, I question the cost and toll it would take on our infrastructure. I would need to know what hardware and software would be required. I would also need to know who would be responsible for the initial implementation of the use of online learning. Once we get started, I would need to know what kind of time frame would be feasible as a requirement for teachers to be considered masters of online learning. I would also like to know what kind of accountability would be acceptable to use when determining compliance. Are there other online learning programs other than Schoology that would be easier, faster and more cost-efficient to use? How can teachers make the time to create engaging lessons for online learning use? Will we have enough computers for students to use at school in the event they do not have one for use at home? I have many more questions but I feel they can only be answered if we implement and work them out as we go.

• What will you do with this new learning?
With this new learning, I plan to move learning at our school into the 21st century and assist our digital native students in becoming successful in their future plans. Teachers educated in the proper use of online learning can create engaging activities that students will be eager to complete. Not only will this help with their learning, but it will give teachers the opportunity to personalize their interactions with their students. This will keep students interested in learning, make them feel respected and keep them from dropping out of school later. I will create an even more cohesive team of teachers that will enjoy working on creating appealing online learning activities and participating in discussion groups when they have the time. This will help with building a workplace where teachers are relaxed and eager to work harder. Online learning will also help produce highly qualified teachers that are willing to not only improve their students education but their own education as well.


Christensen, C.M., Horn, M.B., & Johnson, C.W. (2008). Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns (1 ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

What kind of learner are you?

Found out that I'm mostly visual but also pretty tactile. It really does depend on the subject and how busy I am. If I have a lot to do, just give me the information and I'll read it - don't want to hear you blah, blah, blah. I wonder if students change?

Any good AUP's that include anything with blogging, the web, hardware breakage, etc.? Our ISD seriously needs to update theirs!

Pre-K use of technology

Wondering if anyone out there had any ideas on Pre-K actually USING technology besides a keyboard and mouse. I'm talking about digital cameras, video, etc. Has anyone had their students using these to create projects? If so, share please!

What came first - telephone network or wireless?

Copper wire:
After having dug to a depth of 10 feet last year, New York Scientists found traces of copper wire dating back 100 years and came to the conclusion, that their ancestors already had a telephone network more than 100 years ago.

Not to be outdone by the New Yorkers, in the weeks that followed, a California archaeologist dug to a depth of 20 feet, and shortly after, A Story in the LA Times read: " California archaeologists, finding of 200 year old copper wire, have concluded that their ancestors already had an advanced high-tech communications network a hundred years earlier than The New Yorkers"

One week later. A local newspaper in Texas reported the following:"After digging as deep as 30 feet in his pasture near Muleshoe, Texas, Bubba, a self-taught archaeologist, reported that he found absolutely nothing. Bubba has therefore concluded that 300 years ago, Texas had already gone wireless".
Just makes a person proud to live in or be born in, Texas , don't it?

My Opinion on Education Preparation and Leadership in the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020

The vision for Education Preparation and Leadership in the Texas Long Range Plan for Technology calls for teachers to be proficient enough to transform learning through the use of various forms of technology. An additional goal to accompany this vision is that educators realize that the world is fast moving towards technology and that they need to be able to prepare students to thrive in that world. In order to do this, educators need to be willing to learn and attend professional development. I currently work in Somerset ISD and have taught there for 9 years. My district is very adamant about using technology in the classroom. According to the 2009-2010 Campus Improvement plan, teachers will integrate technology in the classroom during 70% of the instructional time. The district has provided a wide range of software, increased Internet access, scanners, projectors, Promethean ActivBoards, laptop carts for student use, Palm Pilots, various video equipment and printers. They are in the process of trying to obtain at least 1 digital camera per classroom and IPods so students can download teacher-created lessons onto them. In the past, our district has obtained both Target and Pave II grants. All of this has occurred within the last 5 years. To go along with this hardware and software, my district has also provided numerous opportunities for technology staff development. This mostly occurs during the summer when teachers have more time to attend training and to also provide the training. Several of our teachers have attended a Promethean Conference and presented their use of technology in the classroom. Each campus has a Technology Instructional Specialist to assist with the use of technology and a great deal of training is provided on our district website for teachers to access at any time. I feel this is more than most school districts offer. The district I live in, which is larger than Somerset, does not provide near the amount of technology in the classroom. The only time my son had access to technology was once every 2 weeks when he rotated to the computer lab. In the 5 years he attended elementary school, I did not see any student computers in the classroom. They were too busy building new schools to accommodate their growth and not spending the funds to update their older schools for the use of technology in the classroom. His current school is just now obtaining Smart Boards and I know of one teacher that actively uses open share programs and various technology such as headphones with microphones. Whereas some schools are vigorously promoting the use of technology, I see others that are still behind the times.

Texas STaR Chart Information

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