I attended a Web conference - Feb 4

The February 4th web conference turned out to be over an hour filled with important details and conversation. I was surprised to find out that everyone is assigned a Lamar Supervisor whom is supposed to contact you three times during your program. If you don't know the name of yours, email kayabernathy@gmail.com or contact Roy Benevides who is supposed to be able to find out which supervisor belongs to you. Good luck, I still haven't located mine yet, despite several attempts.
The excitement of web 2.0 was in the air at our web conference as some of us had audio problems, others camera problems, I had a completely black screen....but that is how technology goes so we just rolled with the punches.
Talk of Graduation raised my blood pressure. Dr. A spoke of a reception for our family and friends at 9:30am, followed by a caravan of Ed. Admin. students and families cars' to the Montain cernter for the actual graduation. I can't wait for that day. Many sleepless nights, many technology struggles, many LCE retests....they will all fade away at graduation while all the learning remains ready to stand trial as we take on our administration positions. Onward and upward my Lamar friends.

STar Presentation that actually works

http://www.slideshare.net/aeverton78/s-ta-r-presentation-2-11361338

http://www.slideshare.net/aeverton78/s-ta-r-presentation-2">S ta r presentation 2

TX LRPT Teaching and Learning opinion

Texas Long Range Plan for Technology - My Opinion of Teaching and Learning

Texas began a long journey in 2006 as our state set out to integrate technology into
our educational system; and here we are, approaching the half-way mark to our
destination of 2020. The high
expectations for technology to be seamlessly incorporated into the lives of our
students continues to be a goal campuses, districts, and our state will strive
to achieve.
The
idea of teaching and learning seems so black and white. Teachers should teach, or give information to
the students, while students should learn, or receive information that is given
to them. However, the advances of
technology and the overwhelming amount of instantaneous information that is
available changes the roles of both the student and the teachers. The pros of access and use of technology include
keeping the students fully engaged, leveling the playing field for all students
[from different demographics and locations], preparing students for
post-secondary opportunities, and meeting the needs of each individual student
(“Vision 2020, Long-Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020,” 2006). In addition to providing the students with
new and improved opportunities, the integration of technologies into the
classroom can “transform the teaching process by allowing for greater levels of
interest, inquiry, analysis, collaboration, creativity and content production (“Vision
2020, Long-Range Plan for Technology, 2006-2020,” 2006).
With
the benefits so blatant, one might assume that the integration should be
naturally occurring in our schools today.
It is not! The need for
professional development, constant upgrading and/or repair of equipment, and
time for the teachers to redesign the teaching of their curriculum seem like
obstacles too big to overcome. So,
although as educators we are aware that integration of technology needs to
occur, the lack of adequate support leads a large percentage of my colleagues
to continue to teach as they always have.

Received 39 parent reactions.....

Google Docs makes it so easy for you to view the answers to your survey. I have received 39 responses thus far. The responses show that most of our parents are pleased with the new program. Parents with children who have not received award parties seem just as content as those that have received the award party. Across the board, parents answered "I don't know enough about the program." We will use this information to adjust how we can better inform the parents that their child has earned a reward. Plans to send the survey out a second time are in the works. We are using their timely (or untimely) responses as a gage for parent interaction with email information as well as for my action research. In the first three days since the email we received 39 responses.

Survey is out -

I'm so excited, kind of like a kid in a candy store. My parent survey went out via email and paper form to all parents today. I am anxiously awaiting their responses. I will keep you posted. Below are a couple of things I learned about trying to get information out to parents. 1. Not as easy as it appears 2. If you plan to send your google doc home in paper form it will require some cutting and pasting 3. Someone will always critize 4. It is time consuming attempting to get it right.

My first survey is in the works!

My action research project consists of gathering data from parents, teachers/staff, and students. I am currently working on the survey that will go out to parents in at the end of this week. Google Docs is a relatively easy survey tool to use once you spend time just playing around with it. Using a google doc, I was able to get very detailed information from the parents while also providing them with a small portion of information about our new discipline program. If you would like to try the survey that is okay just choose randomly and type "XXX" into the paragraph answer boxes so that I will know to throw out your survey before I compile the "real data". The way you answer the last question is important as your answer will direct you to a (different) page of questions that is more appropriate for your response. Try my survey three times if you would like. Thanks for your feedback and email me if you have problems creating your own google doc.