Data Analysis Course

Data Analysis Course 

I have really enjoyed becoming "Data Wise". I am looking forward to using and sharing with my peers the process. The following are just a few of the things that I have taken away from this course. Reflect on your learning during this course and how you may be able to use it to help your school use "data wisely." Please include reflections on the following:

• What are the 3 most important things you learned during this course? The first most important thing that I have learned is the purpose and importance of a data team. I have recommend to my administration that we have a school wide data team(grade level chairpersons) and then also department or grade level data teams. The second most important thing that I have learned is the importance of posing the right questions to increase data analyzes among the entire staff. The right questions are able to lead the conversation in the evidence based manner. The third most important thing that I have learned is the importance of organizing all the data that is being collected. I believe that we have enough data in our school to identify the learning problems that we face as a school. 
• What was the most valuable field experience in this course and why? (Elevator Speech, Data Team Summary, Data Inventory, Instructional Initiatives Inventory, Data Overview, Action Plans) For me the most valuable field experience in this course was the Data Inventory. This assignment was valuable to me because of were my school is in the Data Driven Process. We are currently establishing a data team. I think it is very valuable for us to organize and analyze the data that we are currently collecting. 
• How do you plan to continue applying this learning in your school? I have been assigned to the data team. I plan to continue to share what I have learn about the Data Driven Process. The most important ed part of my plan is to continue to use the data to increase the learning of my students. Hopefully that I will serve as a model teacher for the rest of the school in the Data Driven Process. 
• What challenges do you anticipate as you continue to implement these ideas in your school? The challenges that I anticipate as we continue to implement these ideas in our school is that we are knew to this process. I can see a staff that grows impatient with the process and slow progress. 

Reflection

I have truly enjoyed blogging. I have to say that this is my first time blogging also. I have started blogging as a form of communication with my parents and students. I also allowed my students an opportunity to blog in class. In this what Mark Barnes says "iStudent" age we all should consider different methods to integrate technology.

Shooting from the hip!

This is a great article that I shared with my peers after a interesting conversation we had!http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/feb15/vol72/num05/How-Do-We-Get-There-from-Here%C2%A2.aspx

Get your schools story out!!!

This is an interesting article hope you enjoy it as much as I did?http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/apr15/vol72/num07/Getting-Your-Message-Out-(and-Why-It's-Not-Enough).aspx

Flipping leadership

Flipping the classroom is an interesting topic to me. It’s very close to my heart because it gives the responsibility of learning to the students. I believe that flipping the classroom is an equalizer for disadvantage students. What I mean by that is that no matter what background a student comes from, if that student takes responsibility for his or her learning she or he will improve. I am still in the beginning stages of flipping my classroom, however I have had students to tell me how that wanted to show me that they have meet the learning targets. By flipping the classroom I have only been concerned with teaching process instead of products, and teaching the learning targets. Student take responsibility to meet the learning target and the process to achieve the learning target. After reading Flipping Leadership Doesn’t Mean Reinventing the Wheel by Peter M. DeWitt it made sense to me to teach the process and the learning target. DeWitt mentioned that “in an effective flipped classroom model, learning intentions are clear, students can see where they are going, and the learning process is clear to everyone involved.” When students are able to anticipate the next step I observed the desired learning outcome is more achievable. In our school we talk about frontloading information, so that we can have the high expectations. Peter DeWitt says that leaders and teachers should use technology as a tool to frontload information for the staff meeting so that teachers are not wasting so much time with side bar conversations. When the information in front loaded now it’s realistic for leaders to have higher expectation. Prior to our last staff meeting our principal sent some research for the staff to read about school improvement. When we got to the staff meeting we had rich conversation about the research.  

Empowering the school!

I have to say that this book was just what I needed to support some of my ideas. One year ago my school with through an evaluation process from the state of Georgia. As one of our campus leaders I was one of the people that had to meet with state personal in a collaborative setting with personal from the state. One of the comments that I made was that a school should be set up in such manner that any school should be able to call upon staff from within the school to teach best practices. I was asked to elaborate on my comment and as Pernille Ripp referred to as “Cultivating the Expert Within” is the very idea that I expressed. One of the instructional strategies that is written in our school improvement plan is small groups. During one staff meeting our principal gave a shot out to one of our teachers for the way the used small groups in the classroom. Well the very next week we had a district coach come in and teach us about small group. I felt as though it was perfect time for the teacher to share with us exactly what she was doing in her classroom to be successful using small groups. With all that being said the two common themes that helps summarize Pernille Ripp’s book is trusting you co-works, and overcoming your professional fears. Trust and fear were the two common reasons that the author mentioned about the school leaders empowering teachers, and teachers empower students. The author writes that to implement the change leaders have to assume that each staff member will share the common believe that students come first. I am a firm believer in shared power. I believe this is important because I think that “one monkey should not stop the show.” Ripp mentioned empowering students by giving the students a voice. I feel this is equally as important as teachers having a voice. I remember just a few months back I was in a committee meeting about positive behavior. We were trying to figure out how to celebrate the students who had demonstrated good behavior. My recommendation was that lets allow the students to tell us what they would like especially sense all of the committee members seemed to be bored and not wanting to be there. 

PLN Reflection

The following is my thoughts of my most recent PLN. I really hope you enjoy reading. Happy reading!

I have to say that blog spot and twitter have been the two most effective tools for me. They both are user friendly and effective communication tools. I am able to update them both from my phone in an instant. I have enjoyed sharing these tools.

            Blog spot has engaged me more than any of the other tools. I have shared this with many of my peers. I have incorporated blogging within my class. My students are able to share their ideas and thoughts about the particular topic. One of my student informs me when we have missed an opportunity to blog. One interesting part of blogging is that it allows me to assess what my students know in a short amount of time. It allows me opportunities to clear up on any misconceptions on an individual bases. I have also started a communication blog on my school wires page. This allows my parents to see what the students are learning, homework, and other important events that are coming up. Blogging has also allowed me to communicate with my peers. I am able to post a blog or one of my peers post the blog to begin a discussion.

            Twitter has to be my favorite even though I have not learned to use this tool for learning. I have been able to learn personal and share with my peers things that I have learned from Twitter, but my goal is to incorporate Twitter into my class. What I really like about Twitter is that I am able to create a list of friends and hashtags, and share information with that group. I have learned the effectiveness of the hashtags and I absolutely love to use hashtags.