Reflections on Creating a Newsletter (EDLD 5366)

Creating the newsletter for the course took quite a bit of planning. I had previously been a contributor to newsletters but had never been responsible for the entire document. Deciding on a topic for the newsletter was the first hurdle, the second being what articles to include, followed by the design. After I picked several topics for the articles and wrote some drafts I printed what I had and took it to school. I asked several of the other teachers to look at what I had already done and tell me how it looked; was the format appropriate for the intended audience, was the spacing easy to read, what articles were good for the newsletter. I also asked other members of the faculty for input on what articles or announcements they thought should be included in the newsletter.
One thing I learned new in this course was the Consistency, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity principles. Proximity, consistency and alignment were not new to me, but I never taught them as a complete set of principles to the students in my Technology Applications classes. Using the CRAP principles in my newsletter made me stop and look at the design in a critical way. I had to look at each page, looking for repetition, alignment, and consistency, fix anything that looked like it needed formatting, and then look again for the design principles.
I have known for quite some time that I am a visual learner first and an auditory learner second. In creating this newsletter, I struggled with what I consider to be one of my personal problems. I would think OK, I am done, would print it, then see something that could be rearranged, reformatted, edited for better sentence structure, etc. I finally had to say, “DONE! I am not making any more changes.” I was pleased with the final copy of my newsletter. I am not a writer and would not want to have to produce one on a regular basis.

Week 3: Creation of Animations for EDLD 5366

The following animation is one that I did in Flash, recreating the logo from the week 2 assignment.


This is the Stykz animation I made for an assignment during week three of the Digital Animation class.

The 4 Principles of Design -- EDLD 5366 ET8021

First impressions are important, even if we don’t want them to be. My first impression of these ancient manuscripts is they are extremely ornate. Color is used extensively and most of the colors are bright colors. I will focus on the Bible from Ethiopia to illustrate the four principles of design. The first C – Contrast: The bright colors on the pages of the book create one contrast. Another example of contrast is the different stripes on the pages of the canon tables. The canon tables themselves are an example of R – Repetition. Each page has a table with a similar design. The symbols drawn on the pages with text are also an example of repetition. A – Alignment: The pages with text have columns that have justified alignment; the pages that are illustrations all have the same amount of margin. Last, the illustrations all have elements in them that show P – Proximity. All of the pictures that have multiple parts to the story have the characters of each part close together. The parts of the page are obvious yet they create a cohesive page.

All of the parts of the books that are shown on the British Library virtual books pages have a common thread. To show importance on the pages the artists used color. Royal colors show titles and headings, reds, blues and golds. In the Bible from Ethiopia, the symbols on the pages with text are all reds and golds and they are numerous on the pages, indicating importance.

When I looked at the books, the beautiful drawings made me want to keep turning the pages, to see what would be on the next page. It didn’t matter that I couldn’t read them without help, they were worth looking at.

To view the ancient manuscripts used in this assignment visit the following website: http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/virtualbooks.

My Public Service Announcement

Here is the video of the PSA Chris West and I worked on together.
The Dangers of Texting and Driving

Week 5 Post Production Comments

Work on our PSA has been intermittent. We came up with the idea of cell phone use in school zones. The shots for this idea seemed simple. So it was time to work on a script. We researched and found the Texas law, HB 55, that established a law restricting cell phone use in school zones. Then we thought we could add information about the number of accidents in school zones involving cell phones. As we looked at the data on the TXDOT website we ended up changing the focus of our PSA to the dangers of texting while driving. We used the data to write the script. Much of the footage that had already been taken was usable for the changed script. We had to go back and take a little more footage of someone texting. We chose to use teenage students for the talent since these are the persons that have the most wrecks.
I like the data that is reported in the narration of the video but I think the video could be a little more attention grabbing although it gets the point across. We used the following articles and websites for the information in the script.
1.http://www.hg.org/article.asp?id=18043
2.http://www.textndrive.com/wordpress/2010/09/plano-police-enforcing-texting-ban-in-school-zone/
3.http://hfs.sagepub.com/content/51/5/762.full.pdf/keytype=ref&siteid=sphfs&ijkey=gRQOLrGlYnBfc

Week Three EDLD 5363

This week has been interesting. We are to join with 2 or 3 other people in the class for the last three weeks of the class. This week we had to get our groups together and agree on a subject for our Public Service Announcement(PSA). We finally agreed on the cellphone ban in school zones. Once we decided on the subject coming up with shots was easy. Now in the next two weeks we will have to finalize the shots and the narration for the PSA. OH, we will also have to shoot and edit the video. We are going to use a wiki to keep in touch. The other members of our group are Ashley Dietz, Christopher West, and Stephen Rektenwald.

Web Conference Participation Week 2

I did not find the time to participate in one of the web conferences this week. BUT, the IA sent a link to a saved conference, so I watched/read the conference at a later time. It was very interesting. This was the first time I had "participated" in a web conference after the fact. When the conference first showed up on the screen, I started reading the posts and then tried to scroll down and read more, but the screen kept jumping back up. I finally realized that this was like real time. I had to read the questions and answers the same as if I had participated live.

Many of the questions that I had, and some I didn't know I needed to ask, were covered in this session. I was a bit confused about audio/video and where to post the podcast but those questions were asked and answered. I felt much better after sitting through the conference.

Video Editing Podcast

This is my video editing tutorial podcast. I chose Roxio VideoWave because I already had it on my computer. I purchased and downloaded it from the website for under $100.

Powered]] by Podbean.com

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

Video Editing Software Evaluation

Week Two: This week we are to evaluate free video editing software. I found links in one of the readings and downloaded Jahshaka. I chose it because the name reminded me of a song. I know that is exactly the way we all choose products. The download process was easy. I found plenty of tutorial videos, 17 of them were by the same person. The tutorials were very easy to follow but I must say this program is not for beginners. There was no menu toolbar, only buttons to click on. Some of them were words and some were pictures. The Load and Delete buttons were easy to figure out. There were 6 main action buttons, 5 tabs for different parts of those actions. The animation button transferred you to a section where you could apply transformations. This was the only part that was self-explanatory and easy to use. I had to keep flipping back and forth between the Jahshaka software and the tutorial videos to guide me through what I was doing. I found that frustrating. The next day I sat down to try and edit some video with Jahshaka and could not get past doing a few transformations. When I tried to do some actual editing I could not remember how without going back to the tutorial videos. If you have become proficient with some of the easier programs you might like to try Jahshaka since it is free.

I personally have used Windows Movie Maker and Roxio VideoWave and both of them are easier to use than Jahshaka. I have taught Adobe Premiere and Adobe AfterEffects,and used them, but since I had books and textbooks the process was easy to follow, but I have not used them to their maximum abilities.

After using Roxio MyDVD 9 at school, I purchased it to use on my home computer so I will compare Roxio VideoWave to Jahshaka. The VideoWave video editing portion is easy to use. The links for importing, exporting, choosing transitions, creating effects and text with effects are self-explanatory. You have two ways of showing what you have imported. There is the timeline version and the storyline version. I prefer the timeline version because I am used to it after using Adobe Premiere. The buttons for editing are all pictures that make sense for what you are about to do. There are also menu toolbars which I like. The cost of the Roxio package is less than $100 and contains more than just video editing. It has six applications including creating custom DVD's with your movies. I know I will continue to use video editing software and will be willing to try new ones.

Of the two programs that I have chosen to compare, the user-friendly Roxio VideoWave would be my choice.

Thoughts about my Digital Story

Well, I have finally created my Digital Story. I only changed my mind about what I was going to do two times. First, I thought about my experiences as a JH and HS cheerleading sponsor. Then I thought about writing a story about my grandmother. I even went so far as writing a script in my head, gathering pictures from old albums, and scanning them into the computer. Then, while I am in the shower, I have an AHA! momen. That is when I usually have my AHA! moments. I had a really neat experience for my 50th birthday. I had, I guess you could say, three different events. One in Kentucky, one in Austin, and one in San Marcos. The one in San Marcos took place seven months after my birthday, but it was the only time when everything and everyone were in line. All of my family that lives in Austin and one family that lives in Houston were there to see me do a tandem skydive. It was absolutely the most awesome thing that I have done and I would do it again in a heartbeart except that my husband, who had no idea I was doing it, has put his foot down and said not again while he is living. Even after the fact, he was scared that something could have happened to me, so I have told him that I won't.
I am pleased about how the story turned out. I am looking forward to creating the next movie.

Week 1 EDLD 5363

During my current course,EDLD 5363 Mutimedia Video Technology, as part of the first week's assignment, participation in a web conference was required. I participated in the Web Conference this morning, Saturday August 28, 2010. The dialogue was very helpful. I had a few questions to ask and they were all answered. I have been struggling with the content of the second part of this week's assignment, a digital story, and the discussions that took place helped me decide. I will be posting the creation on this blog at a later date.

Week 5

I finally met with the site supervisor and he told me the research plan looked fine to him. He thought maybe the research could be put into the Campus Improvement Plan. It is okay with me if he does so. I finished my assignment a little bit late but before the deadline. After having extra time for the assignments each week, I had my time managed differently than I needed it to be for this week.
I would like to post a quote from the Dana textbook that I like because it fits one of my personal philophies.

According to Roland Barth (1981):
Nothing within a school has more impact upon students in terms of skills development, self-confidence, or classroom behavior that the personal and professional growth of their teachers. When teachers examine, question, reflect on their ideas and develop new practices that lead towards their ideals, students are alive. When teachers stop growing, so do their students. (p. 145) (as quoted by Dana, 2009)

Week 4:Meeting the Site Supervisor

I was finally going to meet with my site supervisor. We had a meeting scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. So I arrive for the meeting, go to the office, tell the secretary I was there. She says "Well, he is not here. He is in Livingston." I asked "Why is he in Livingston." She said he received a phone call and they were having a Grandbaby. So off to Livingston he went. I came back the next morning hoping to see him. I went to work in my room until he got there but I received a call telling me he was gone to Shreveport to have another Grandbaby (2 daughters, 2 grandbabies in 2 days). So I was rescheduled during Week 5.

My Action Research Plan

Colmesneil ISD has had difficulty communicating with parents of students. The principals have tried different ways to communicate with parents but have not agreed on the best way. There have even been times that the principals wanted to punish students because there was no response from parents. Discussions during faculty meetings have led to the following inquiry: What is the most effective way for Colmesneil ISD teachers and administrators to communicate with parents? Will the most effective method for grades K-6 be different from grades 7-12?

The second question guided me to separate the data for each set of grade levels. The following plan will take place on both the K-6 campus and the 7-12 campus. This is manageable because the two campuses are at the same physical location.

September 2010: Teachers will send a letter to the parents by passing it out to the students and instructing them to take it home. This letter will be created by the principal and will require a response from the parents. The letter for each campus will be sent during a different week. The principal will collect the responses from the teachers and will tally the number of responses using a spreadsheet.

October 2010: The principal will create an email message for the teachers to email to parents using school management software. This email will require a reply from the parents. The email for each campus will be sent during a different week. The principal will collect the responses from the teachers and will tally the number of replies.November 2010: The principal will post an announcement on the school site that will require a response from the parents. The form for the response will be an email link on the site. The principal will tally the number of responses.

December 2010: The principal will make a comparison based on the number of responses from the parents. The principal responsible for the research will take the time here to reflect on the results, meet with the other grade level principal and determine if there was a definitive answer to the inquiry. If not the principal will examine the data to find possible gaps and then determine if the plan should be revamped or maybe even be scrapped.

The results of this action research plan will be reported during January 2011 at our CISD In-Service day. Further communications with parents will take place in the way that was determined to be the most effective, and will be the means for evaluation. If there is a positive outcome from these later communications then the teachers will use that method as the first means of communicating with parents. If there is a negative outcome from these later communications then it will be back to the drawing board to brainstorm new ways to improve contacting parents.

Week 2 (EDLD 5301) Reflections

Lessons Learned: No matter how good we think our school is performing, even if the school has achieved Exemplary ratings from TAKS results, there is always room for improvement. There are examples in the Dana book that made me start thinking about the way things are done at our school and then I started realizing that there are numerous procedures that could be improved. Now I don't really want to be the person responsible for making all of the changes but I could certainly work on a few.

An Education Leader's Use for Blogs

I think leaders in education could use blogs for the purpose of communicating information to faculty/staff/students. If the administrator make a regular posting to the blog and has the teachers set up RSS feeds on their computers then the administrators ideas will be readily available for students/faculty and parents to read. This could be an excellent way for them to stay current with information from the educational leaders.

Learning About Action Research

In the process of reviewing articles, and books, I have learned several things about action research. Action research, or inquiry, is a self-evaluation of your teaching methods or if a principal then your leadership practices. This type of inquiry directly involves the people that will be affected by the outcome of the inquiry. Several steps are involved in this process.

First, you must recognize there is a need for improvement. Maybe you hear grumblings from the faculty about a procedure you have been implementing or you hear from unhappy parents about something the teachers are doing in the classroom, or maybe your students are not performing as well as they have in the past. Recognizing this need leads to the second step.

The second step is asking questions. This could be done as a survey or a questionnaire. The principal can ask the teachers to respond to a set of questions. If the inquiry is being done by a teacher, then the questions can be asked of the students and/or the parents. The questions need to be pertinent to the need the principal/teacher identified.

Third, the principal/teacher will take the results of the survey and analyze them. The surveyor needs to prepared for the answers to the questions if the students/faculty have been honest. After analyzing the data the practitioner should reflect on the results.

After reflecting on the results the principal/teacher will make a plan for the changes. This plan should address the problem that was identified in the beginning.

Last the principal/teacher will communicate the action plan to those actively involved in implementing the plan.

The outcome of the inquiry should be that improvement in student achievement has taken place on the campus. It could be the result of a change in the classroom, a change in rules and regulations, a change in the way evaluations are done or maybe even something as simple as a change in the cafeteria menus.

I can see how I could use action research to determine how I can improve the use of technology in the classroom. Both teachers and students can be questioned about their uses of technology in the classroom. From the results of the questions I can design a plan and implement the plan in the classrooms.

Texas STaR Chart

See more presentations by LynnStacy | Upload your own PowerPoint presentations

TEACHING and LEARNING

The Long Range Plan for Technology,2006-2020(LRPT) contains four key areas. The first of these is Teaching and Learning. This key area addresses the future of the ways curriculum will be taught and the ways the learning environment will change. The 'Old School' way where the teacher chooses what is to be learned and then gives lectures is not going to serve the 21st century learner.

One of the main ideas that is presented in the Teaching and learning area of the plan is the use of distance learning. Because of the physical or financial constraints of many schools, online courses provide access to curriculum that other schools are able to offer at their physical locations. Some of these classes include dual credit, Advanced Placement, credit recovery and other classes required for graduation.

Progress in the four key areas of the LRPT is documented through the Texas Campus and Teacher School Readiness(STaR) Chart. According to the 2007-2008 data from the document Progress Report on the Long-Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020, Texas schools are progressing toward Target Tech in the key area of Teaching and Learning. Data comparisons between 2007 and 2008 shows that Early Tech levels have dropped from 5% to 4% while Developing Tech levels dropped from 74% to 70%. Advanced Tech levels increased from 20% to 25% while Target Tech remained at 1%.

Locally our campus data from 2007-2008 showed the Teaching and Learning key area stayed the same at Developing Tech.

At the Federal level, No Child Left Behind, Title II Part D, addresses technology literacy and integration through Technology Applications TEKS. No Child Left Behind(NCLB) provides technology applications standards for teachers and students.

Progress in the implementation of these standards is also documented with the STaR Chart. The growth for Technology Application TEKS implementation from 2007 to 2008 was small. Campuses at Early Tech fell from 12.64% to 10.25%, while Developing Tech increased from 68.83% to 69.65%. Advanced Tech increased from 16.43% to 18.19%, while Target Tech increased from 2.09% to 2.59%.

NCLB requires every student be technology literate by the time they finish eighth grade. Documentation of student progress is done at the local level. Student Mastery of Technology Applications TEKS showed a decrease at Early Tech levels dropping from 16.23% to 10.80%, while Developing Tech rose from 61.03% to 61.72%. Advanced Tech rose from 20.16% to 24.81%, while Target Tech increased from 2.58% to 2.67%. The increases here were also small.

I feel the state is on the right track with the emphasis on distance learning in the key area of Teaching and Learning. As a veteran high school teacher I have had experiences with student who needed to work 40 hour a week jobs at the same time they attended school. Online courses give the students the 24 hour a day /7 days a week access that is not available through traditional classes. If online courses had been available in the past, school would have been easier for some of those students.

I have a recommendation in response to the NCLB requirement for schools to measure student mastery of the Technology Applications TEKS at grades two, five, and eight and report results to TEA. There is no standard statewide process for this assessment so the results are subjective. For this to be a true measure across the nation, there must be a standard assessment available to the states.