Program+Goals

//**Envision and guide organizational change.**// I definitely see myself as a change agent, an effective change agent. I think that I am very proactive in pursuing change as a means for improvement. I have recently served on our district’s 21st Century Skills Team, participated in a Professional Learning Community and embraced learning how to use the Smartboard as a tool in my classroom. I don’t embrace change just to change, but this is an evolving world, and I believe in keeping up with it rather than becoming a dinosaur.


 * Seminar Entries: To better enable myself to "walk the walk", during the 2011-12 school year, I volunteered to be the 7th grade Science PLC Leader. Even though I was concerned about taking on a traditionally dysfunctional group, the experience was enlightening. I was able to utilize much of what I had learned from the Educational Leadership graduate program: data-driven decision-making, project-based learning and especially applied research. **


 * With the focus and importance on change, it is important to know why we make a change and whether the change was successful or not. This is the role of data. Data allows educators, and just about everyone, to back up their decisions and to measure their success. Data helps educators make informed decisions and can help justify their actions (Picciano, 2006). As a PLC Leader, I was able to spearhead the use of data in two different manners. **** Data was used in evaluating student achievement on common assessments. By doing so, our PLC was able to evaluate our scores side by side. This allowed for discussion of instructional practices and we made changes in our delivery system based on this data. Data was also applied when designing a placement process for accelerated coursework. For the 2010-11 school year, a 7th grade Accelerated Science class was piloted. It was deemed successful, and fully implemented in the 2011-12 school year, with three sections being offered. During the course of the 2011-12 school year, it became apparent that there were students in the course, who were not meeting the rigorous expectations. After examining the data used to recommend these students, we found that some improvements could be made to how recommendations were being made. To enhance the selection process, our PLC created a placement test for the incoming 7th graders, utilized scores from that, along with MAP scores in both reading and math for at least the past six testing periods (if available), and a teacher recommendation that focused on critical thinking skills, study habits and readiness. Using this compiled data, we created, what we thought would be a way to better make recommendations for Accelerated Science. The process was used for the 2012-13 school year on the incoming 7th grade class, so the success of the new recommendation process is still pending. **


 * Students will take greater ownership of their work if they are expected to create a finished product that demonstrates not just content, but also makes a contribution (Jacobs, 2010). Full implementation of a district project-based learning unit was completed during this school year, combining science standards and community service. Our students studied the scientific method, inventors and their inventions. We then invited in speakers from different agencies within our community to share the challenges that some populations of people have. Students heard about cognitive, physical and literacy challenges from people who live with these challenges daily. The students were then challenged to create an invention that would make life more convenient for one such person. These were authentic problems that students were engaged in creating a solution for. Their response was overwhelming in terms of the connections they made and the ideas they came up with. This was a valuable project-based learning opportunity for our students. **


 * Where I felt that my education was best put to practice was in applied research. This in itself was enlightening, because I dreaded doing research. I felt that it was going to be tedious and impractical. However, I found that research is far from being graduate busywork; it is good research that adds to our body of knowledge about our physical and social environments, so that we can further the welfare of our society (Leedy & Ormrod, 2010). My research focused on visualization and increased achievement. Together with my PLC, I was able to generate data that proved my thesis that posting a brightly colored banner in the classroom with the learning objective associated with class instruction did indeed raise student achievement on a correlating common assessment. **

** I am sincerely looking forward to the challenge of being the combined 7th and 8th grade Science PLC leader for the 2012-13 school year. I am sure that I will have many more opportunities to apply what I have learned in this graduate program. ** //**Communication.**// I pride myself on being an effective communicator; however, I know there are days where life is going so fast, that I think I’ve communicated something, and I actually haven’t. Any breakdown in my communication process more than likely can be blamed on disorganization.


 * Seminar Entries: As Carr points out in //The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to our Brains// (2010), our students are digital natives and receive their information in "snippets". Therefore, a way to reach these digital natives is to use the technology with which they are comfortable. I feel that going forward, technology -- specifically the use of a website -- will **** enhance my communication efforts. During the school year, I utilized my google site for students in an effort to enhance communication giving them "snippets" of information regarding assignments and supplemental information concerning the concepts we were learning in class. I tried to implement sign ups for presentations online and current event connections. Next year I would like to add some materials that assist me in flipping my classroom. I am attending a seminar on flipping classrooms in August to assist me in doing so. **

//**Advocate for diverse populations.**// In a global sense, our school district does not //**look**// very diverse. But diversity can be more than just ethnic differences. In today’s world, the nuclear family is less and less existent. This breakdown results in the culture of families becoming more and more diverse. Over half of our students come from one-parent homes or blended families. Advocating for this diverse population is a challenge. What a student faces at home each night is important to his/her learning. Learning what obstacles any diverse population has and then trying to find ways to remove those obstacles is an area I can definitely improve upon.


 * Seminar Entries: This is by far, still the most elusive goal for me, given our almost homogenous district. However, I have been trying to re-teach students the meaning of "fair" in my classroom. Kumashiro (2004) cautions educators about having predispositions on their subject matter. I offer that same caution to my students when I differentiate in my science classroom. I spend an entire week on the front-end of our loop recognizing and celebrating our differences. I have them do multiple intelligence testing, interest surveys, leadership style activities, etc. setting them up for 2 years worth of "fair is not getting the same; fair is getting what you need". Establishing this atmosphere early, allows me to differentiate in the classroom without students feeling objectified because they are assigned a different vocabulary assignment than their best buddy. Then, throughout the year, I can differentiate based on a student's science abilities and his/her MAP reading score for vocabulary and project assignment. Students who struggle with reading the science text and need more support are given assignments that focus on knowledge and comprehension of science vocabulary and concepts. Students who demonstrate grade level proficiency, and learn vocabulary rather easily, are given assignments with application in mind. Students who need an added challenge, because they read the text and understand the vocabulary rapidly, are assigned tasks that focus more on analysis and evaluation. The objective is to get all my students to a higher level of thinking; however, they are all at different places in learning the vocabulary. When it comes to projects, I differentiate in the same manner. **

//**Continuous learning.**// One of the reasons I chose to pursue this program was because of my lack of knowledge and understanding of new theory, data and research that is out there. I have a co-worker that excels in looking at data, finding trends and then creating systems within her instructional practices that help improve a student’s learning. I am actually quite jealous of her skill set and have much to learn in this area.


 * Seminar Entries: I am already dreading the day when this graduate program is over. It has made me feel so much more connected to what is going on in education today. In order to pursue continuous learning, I have already signed up to be on the CESA 7 Science Advisory board for unpacking the New Generation Science Standards that will undoubtedly become Wisconsin's Science Common Core State Standards. In addition, I have also signed up to attend a John Kuglin seminar in August on flipping classrooms. I will continue to push my PLC to look at data regarding common assessments and to improve our instruction based upon that data. I am committed to continuing to push myself on being a life-long learner. Complacency is the enemy! **