Instructional Leadership Reflections

As I reflect on this course, I must be honest it was not at all what I expected. The title of the course is Instructional Leadership. The vision I had was of learning about how to lead a campus in achieving its instructional goals. While I see how technology is very relevant in that area today, I did not expect to focus so heavily on technology. I enjoyed many of the readings, and can definitely see how, in a perfectly funded system, we could accomplish amazing things and teach kids amazing lessons through technology. The fact of the matter is that technology is expensive and many districts either don't have the funds or are unwilling to part with them. I am simply not sure how practical or real-world the material learned in this course will be to the average administrator. Many of the things in this course put me in mind of things learned while earning a teaching degree. You listen with all ears and it all sounds ideal, in practice, however, it does not go as taught.

I can honestly say I learned a lot about technology I did not know before. This knowledge will carry over into my current job as a campus technology coordinator. I am considering using some of the knowledge gained to lessen the amount of face to face meetings I hold. Using technology such as wikis and discussion boards would go a long way to help reduce the amount of time my teachers must spend in face to face staff development. The huge focus on technology in this course will definitely benefit my work as a technology administrator. It was an unexpected benefit for this course, but a needed one.

The outcomes I did not achieve stem from my expectation that a class called Instructional Leadership would have more content than solely technology. I would have liked to see more reading and lecture on the topic of improving instruction in schools. While I realize, instruction needs to be done technologically more often than not, I still think there are huge problems with instruction these days. I think our teachers are teaching to the middle (because they are forced to) and those who are on a higher level get left in the dust. I would like to see some case studies on schools that have achieved great outcomes with gifted and high level students. I believe that the total focus on technology to improve instruction left a gap in the area of Instructional Leadership.

I have been successful on these assignments thus far, despite staying confused on many of them. The assignments in this course were tedious and, in many cases, not valuable to my current assignment. The expectations for the assignments in this course were not clearly written in many cases. This was a frustration echoed by many of my online colleagues. I received decent grades on all of my assignments, but most of the time I spent on them was trying to make sure I understood the purpose of the assignment. I believe that the expectations of the assignments need to be clarified and made as relevant as possible. The assignments took me a long time to complete and the course happened to fall at a bad time during the holidays.

One of the things I did learn about myself during this course was how little I know about recent technology. I have heard of and, in most cases, experienced all of the things spoken about during this course. Due to my placement in a small, rural school district, I have not had the opportunity to see many of these current things being practiced. I did enjoy learning about them and would love to see how I can implement them, at least in a small way, on my campus. I certainly like the ideas presented in many of the articles and would love the opportunity to test drive some of the newer technologies.

Blogging is one of those technologies I knew about, but had never explored in great detail. I have always enjoyed writing and one would assume blogging would be something I would gravitate toward. However, I think I had the opinion that blogging was something the kids were doing these days and really wasn't something adults (who aren't in the entertainment industry) do. I see the impact that blogging could have in connecting educators all over the globe. It could be a great idea sharing forum. I can also see the benefit of blogging to communicate with all involved in school activities.

I think my concern about blogging would be the liberty some educators would take with the concept and the damage it could have on schools. I realize it is up to schools to teach proper blogging etiquette and have policies and procedures in place for any blogs that take place on the school's website. However, I know from working in education almost ten years that some educators would take the opportunity to have a blog as a license to gripe and take jabs at the school. I do believe this could be nipped in the bud rather quickly, but I do find it to be a concern.

Despite my concern of misuse, I do believe blogging to be a great communication tool with school stakeholders. Every parent would love to know as much as possible about what is going on in their child's school. Blogging would give parents a "fly on the wall" vision into their child's classroom and school. If teachers were able to post daily blogs on the happenings in their classroom, parents would be able to have meaningful conversations with their children when they got home. If principals posted blogs about school events and news items, parents would feel more informed and be able to stay in the loop even if they are not able to be there for all events. I would love to see blogging used in many capacities at our school.

Brock Junior High STAR chart data

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Texas STAR chart

After looking over recent data from the Texas STAR chart, I would like to analyze the category of Educator Preparation and Development. This category should be one that sits heavily on the hearts of all administrators and teachers. I think we are in big trouble in this area. Statewide in 2007-2008, only 0.6% of campuses report being in the target or ideal range of this category. That number is actually down from the previous year's 0.7%, which is a pathetic number as well. The majority of Texas campuses sit in the "Developing Tech" area. Our students today deserve for us to be prepared and preparing them. I think Texas has to get aggressive and serious about certifying more Master Teachers of Technology. We need to be offering paid incentives for these programs (not having teachers pay to get the certificate) and offering stipends to those who have this certification. If the state of Texas is really interested in raising the level of educator preparedness in the area of technology, they need to put their money where their mouth is. The Long Range plan for Technology speaks of wanting to run a close race with countries like China and Japan. We cannot begin to do that until we have teachers who know how to teach what our students need to know. Our students are not leaving high school prepared to enter today's workforce. Even an entry-level job requires computer skills these days. Texas must get serious about preparing the educators before it can get serious about preparing the students.

Pre-K Technology Guidelines

The pre-kindergarten guidelines for technology provide a framework for future technological learning. The pre-K guidelines discuss using appropriate computer terminology which is carried over in the K-2 TEKS. The pre-K guidelines also talk about using a variety of software programs with sound, video and graphics (multimedia), which also carries over into the K-2 TEKS which discuss publishing and accessing a variety of multimedia formats. The pre-K TEKS addresses creating both written and artistic works on a computer. This correlates with the K-2 TEKS which already assumes the students know how to do basic word processing and paint applications.

The pre-K TEKS provide a great base to build upon throughout the grade levels. However, because pre-kindergarten is not required in Texas, many students have not had this knowledge before they enter school. This forces a re-teach of basic concepts and may delay the mastery of all TEKS later on.

Texas Long Range Plan for Technology

I am actually encouraged by reading the Long Range Plan for Technology compiled by the Texas Education Agency. It is encouraging to me to know that the state is not only aware of the technology shortcomings of its schools, but is making a plan to do something about it. The plans laid out in the document are very necessary. Equitable access to technology, professional development opportunities for teachers, a reliable infrastructure, and effective leadership are all quite necessary and are severely lacking in many school districts today. I will be interested to see if the state is able to follow through with the objectives laid out in this plan. Hopefully, it won't be modified down to an unrecognizable version of its former self.

Week One Assessment Reflections

After completing both of this week's reflections, I realized several things. The first is that I have not worked for a school, in the past 8 years, that has access to the appropriate amount of new technological resources. The second assessment asked a variety of questions relating to technology used by staff and students. I realized in answering most of those questions that our students do not use technology near enough. My response to most of those survey items would have reflected poorly on the district I currently work for as well as the one I worked for previously. I do not know any teachers who are using technology in "new and innovative ways." All of the teachers I have worked with and work with currently consider themselves lucky if they get in the lab more than once a year. I do and did work for small, rural districts with very little funding for technology. However, I think more than funding, it is not seeing the benefit of upgrading technology. They have the, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," philosophy. They feel that what they have is sufficient and see no need in upgrading.

The second thing I realized was that, despite the fact that I am more advanced than most I work with, I need to upgrade my technological skills. I can navigate around word processing software like a champ and am almost a pro at Power Point. The internet and e-mail never have me stumped. However, that is about where it ends. I rarely, if ever, integrate multimedia components into my presentations. I have not used a database system in ten years and I couldn't remember how to use mail merge if I tried. The first assessment asked about my personal skills and I can tell you, I need an upgrade.