Standard One

My first order of business on my internship was to lead the 7th grade math
team planning meeting for the upcoming six weeks. The first thing I did
before beginning to talk about the new material was to review ACP scores to
figure out what needed to be spiraled back in this six weeks as we prepared
for the STAAR. I was shocked to find out that a lot of teachers do not want to
look at data carefully. Some teachers if allowed would make blind decisions
as it relates to the classroom. I now have a better understanding of the
importance of looking at the data to make educated decisions.

I also spent some time working on my project which will look at the benefits
of a recently purchased clicker system called All in Learning. My project will
focus on whether or not the system improves 1) Student Achievement on
test and 2) Student engagement in the classroom. I was happy to find a lot of
solid research on clicker technology and I spent some time reading articles. I
also spent a few hours dividing into the All in Learning system so that I can
make sure I can access all of its futures comfortably during my experiment. I
place these things in standard 1 because they all have to do with instruction.

I began this week by collecting data for my project which will look in

the effects of All in Learning on student engagement and student

achievement. I spent time collecting data on test that where conducted

before we received the All in Learning system. I chose to put these hours in

Standard 1 because as an instructional leader I would have to analyze data

in order to make instructional decisions. One thing that I got out of collecting

my data was the number of ways I can spin my data to have a particular

outlook that I am looking for. There are so many ways to look at a piece of

data and depending on the situation or the people you are talking to would

depend on how you interpret the data. For example, if I was talking to a new

teacher I would probably have a very positive outlook on the data in order to

provide support that a new teacher may need. On the other hand, if I was
speaking to a veteran teacher I may have a more negative outlook at the

data in order to challenge the veteran teacher to perform even higher.

I also was able to observe many classrooms this week. These

observations fall under standard 1 because it deals with the principal being

the instructional leader of the campus. One of the things I am nervous about

with becoming an administrator is that I will have to evaluate content that I

have never taught before, however, after doing these observations I have

notice that I will know good teaching when I see no matter what content is

being taught. I looked for student engagement, high order thinking

questions, and knowledge of the content as I observed this week.

1/30/17 -2/3/17: This week I continued to work on my project. I collected some history on

clickers and looked at some research previously done on clickers in the classroom in order to

improve student achievement and engagement. What I learned from this research is that both

student achievement and engagement increase with clicker technology. All in Learning has not

done any research based off their system alone. They only have surveys completed which is the

information I got from a conversation with one of their representatives. I placed the hours in

standard 1 because All in Learning is used for instructional purposes.

I was able to meet with Dr. Wright to discuss some materials that I should review for my

internship. I now understand that being a part of administration means that you must be a

lifelong learner. I have to constantly evolve myself and challenge myself to stay ahead of things

that are happening in education. I placed this hour under instructional leaderships

2/6/17 2/10/17: This week I spent a lot of time working on my project. I was able

to get the literature review and the methodology done. I chose to place these hours in standard
one which is instructional leadership because that is what All in Learning is mostly about. My

methodology is going to be very simple, I want to use my control group which is my Pre-AP

class because they have never interacted with All in Learning. I plan to implement the system

and use it over the next few weeks to see if it improves their student achievement and student

engagement.

2/20/2017: Today I attended a professional development on student

engagement. What I learned from this professional development is that

motivation and student engagement go hand-in-hand. Often teachers claim

that the students are not motivated, however, students more than likely are

just not engaged. As a principal, I would use this training to benefit my

campuss level of engagement in the classroom. I would share the strategies

I learned from the training with my teachers to boost student achievement. I

placed the hours in standard 1 because student engagement is an

instructional practice.

2/23/2017: I presented a professional development on unpacking TEKs. I

learned that in order to have teachers to pay attention to the information you

are presenting you have to present something new to them. If you present

something that they are ready know or think they already know you will lose

them during the presentation. I did not spend time reviewing things the math

team already new. Instead, I simply went over the new information and how

it connects to what the team already knows and does. I place the hours in

standard 1 because unpacking TEKs is an instructional practice.