I've been working on my portfolio some over the past few days and hope I have everything together. The presentation will have to be done at school, since I don't have internet at home right now and I need to insert some images of the websites and links, etc. I hope I'm including everything I need to within the porfolio: planning tools, printouts of webpages, notes for the grant, the completed grant, a unit outline, etc.
I may do a trial run of my presentation to my intern tomorrow. She's been very interested in the project and has been helpful in finding other grant sources for other projects, so I think she'll be a good objective sounding board.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Logic Model
I found the logic model to be very helpful in distilling down the important points of what a library's mission should be. Throughout this process, I kept seeing applications for it in unit planning and use with students in their own writing or planning science projects. It's a neat way to look at the key components without the clutter that some graphic organizers can get into with kids (ex. webs can get out of control and wander from the main topics).
I'm still working on my logic model worksheet, but hope to have that sent to the group tomorrow. We currently don't have internet at the house, between holidays and weather, we can't seem to get the technician to come out. So, I'm doing everything either at the public library or school, and we haven't had school yet this week, so it's made life a bit interesting. I'm going to try to copy Kelly's model worksheet to my flash drive so that I can work on it at home and then email it in the morning, but I need to do that since my time is running out on this session at the public library.
I'm still working on my logic model worksheet, but hope to have that sent to the group tomorrow. We currently don't have internet at the house, between holidays and weather, we can't seem to get the technician to come out. So, I'm doing everything either at the public library or school, and we haven't had school yet this week, so it's made life a bit interesting. I'm going to try to copy Kelly's model worksheet to my flash drive so that I can work on it at home and then email it in the morning, but I need to do that since my time is running out on this session at the public library.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Meeting Frustration
Nancy and I met today online for our meeting for the LES collaboration. Nancy was there at 4:00, as we had planned, and I arrived a bit late due to a traffic accident that had traffic stopped both ways for a while. By 4:35, neither of the other two group members had shown up and neither had posted their schedules on the discussion board, as we had discussed in our last meeting, so Nancy and I decided to leave the chat room as she had class and I have another meeting tonight. I posted my schedule and answered some of Nancy's questions about hers, but we have seen very little interaction from the others on the discussion board during the week and feel as if this project is an aside or afterthought for them, rather than a focus. They seem to be logging in before they get to class and have not been very good about letting us know if they're going to be late. I hope that we can work through this, and that they are not equally frustrated with us or our actions. I wonder if some of the issue is that they do not feel comfortable with the technology and are putting off logging in until they are there to do it with a community.
I am going to post a preliminary schedule on the discussion board tomorrow to help Nancy get a better idea of what a master schedule can look like, since she's not had much experience in scheduling since she has not been responsible for that in student teaching or internship experiences. I hope to see some interaction from the others on the discussion board or via email.
Where do we go from here? I wonder if other groups are feeling a similar frustration.
I am going to post a preliminary schedule on the discussion board tomorrow to help Nancy get a better idea of what a master schedule can look like, since she's not had much experience in scheduling since she has not been responsible for that in student teaching or internship experiences. I hope to see some interaction from the others on the discussion board or via email.
Where do we go from here? I wonder if other groups are feeling a similar frustration.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Change Game
I had this saved in Word, but I forgot to post it earlier.
The change game was an interesting one and one that I would like to play again on a Saturday morning. Evenings aren't the best time for me to focus on something that involves strategy, so I may check it out again on a weekend when I have a morning free. I've noticed the same pattern with my planning time at school; last year it was in the morning and I was much more productive than I am now that my planning is in the afternoon. This is probably something that I should keep in mind when I have a job as a media coordinator: mornings are the best time for me to do the detailed work, such as grant writing and cataloging and afternoons are more the time for collaboration with other teachers. I know that with flexible scheduling this won't always be possible, but I do know that getting to school before the expected time will allow me time that is quiet to do the work that I need to concentrate on most.
Learning the ins and outs of who's connected to whom was tricky for me; I had a tough time remembering all the names and what their story was. I kind of wish that there had been a short story to tell more about the characters prior to playing the game. I tend to remember information such as that much more when I have time to process it and have more of the back story. I suppose this was set up the way it was to both facilitate the playing of the game and to simulate the feeling of accepting a new position and having to learn the ins and outs of the relationships within the building.
I did enjoy playing the game with people I hadn't gotten to know very well. It gave me a chance to have some conversations with people and find out their stories. I've found that in education, especially, the relationships are important and networking is key. In some other careers, you can spend all day behind a desk, take a scheduled lunch break, and go home without having to have a real conversation. But in education, it's all about relationships... with faculty, administration, students, and parents. The better you are at building those relationships, the more enjoyable the job seems to be. This is key in the life of a media coordinator, where you are the hub of the school and a resource to so many people.
The change game was an interesting one and one that I would like to play again on a Saturday morning. Evenings aren't the best time for me to focus on something that involves strategy, so I may check it out again on a weekend when I have a morning free. I've noticed the same pattern with my planning time at school; last year it was in the morning and I was much more productive than I am now that my planning is in the afternoon. This is probably something that I should keep in mind when I have a job as a media coordinator: mornings are the best time for me to do the detailed work, such as grant writing and cataloging and afternoons are more the time for collaboration with other teachers. I know that with flexible scheduling this won't always be possible, but I do know that getting to school before the expected time will allow me time that is quiet to do the work that I need to concentrate on most.
Learning the ins and outs of who's connected to whom was tricky for me; I had a tough time remembering all the names and what their story was. I kind of wish that there had been a short story to tell more about the characters prior to playing the game. I tend to remember information such as that much more when I have time to process it and have more of the back story. I suppose this was set up the way it was to both facilitate the playing of the game and to simulate the feeling of accepting a new position and having to learn the ins and outs of the relationships within the building.
I did enjoy playing the game with people I hadn't gotten to know very well. It gave me a chance to have some conversations with people and find out their stories. I've found that in education, especially, the relationships are important and networking is key. In some other careers, you can spend all day behind a desk, take a scheduled lunch break, and go home without having to have a real conversation. But in education, it's all about relationships... with faculty, administration, students, and parents. The better you are at building those relationships, the more enjoyable the job seems to be. This is key in the life of a media coordinator, where you are the hub of the school and a resource to so many people.
LSA Collaboration II
So far we're a few weeks into attempting this project. I'm getting more and more frustrated, because despite my efforts and Nancy's, it seems like the LSA students either don't understand the intent of the project, or it isn't a priority for them. We continue to ask for data from the environmental scan with little feedback and have yet to see the schedule that the school currently uses, despite a promise two weeks ago for that to be emailed.
I want to believe that it is a matter of them not understanding the project, but I've seen little participation on the discussion board thus far and have been disappointed with our Monday meetings. I believe that this collaboration could have merit, if all parties were on the same page and equally invested, but I'm not sure if that's going to happen. I've posted questions on the discussion board for all and have discussed with Nancy how we might pull more information out of the LSA students. We're going to look up some information on the middle school to see what we can come up with that might help facilitate making a schedule. Hopefully, we'll get into a good rhythm and be able to complete this project as planned. If not, I suppose this is an excellent experience in communicating with others who have different goals than myself.
I want to believe that it is a matter of them not understanding the project, but I've seen little participation on the discussion board thus far and have been disappointed with our Monday meetings. I believe that this collaboration could have merit, if all parties were on the same page and equally invested, but I'm not sure if that's going to happen. I've posted questions on the discussion board for all and have discussed with Nancy how we might pull more information out of the LSA students. We're going to look up some information on the middle school to see what we can come up with that might help facilitate making a schedule. Hopefully, we'll get into a good rhythm and be able to complete this project as planned. If not, I suppose this is an excellent experience in communicating with others who have different goals than myself.
Monday, September 29, 2008
LSA collaboration immediate thoughts
So, I think this LSA collaboration will be interesting, to say the least. I don't feel like we accomplished much more than getting meeting times together, methods of communication (discussion board and AETZ meetings weekly), and introductions, but I guess that's a start. It was a bit frustrating not to actually get into the project, as the LSA students were asked to log out 20 minutes early to discuss other things with their class, but I guess we'll get those details ironed out over the next few weeks.
I also found it frustrating that they didn't have mics and one didn't have a working laptop. I know that those are tech issues, but it's difficult sometimes to read people just through text. I hope that when we meet again on Monday of next week that they'll have mics so that we can really chat.
More to come later, I'm sure.
I also found it frustrating that they didn't have mics and one didn't have a working laptop. I know that those are tech issues, but it's difficult sometimes to read people just through text. I hope that when we meet again on Monday of next week that they'll have mics so that we can really chat.
More to come later, I'm sure.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Overwhelmed
I know that I can handle the coursework required by my two classes this semester, but right now I'm a bit overwhelmed with the rest of life in addition to that. My group of students this year is more demanding than ever, I'm having to learn a whole new process for referring students to the EC program and we've got several who need to be referred with multiple pages of paperwork and many hours involved there, and I have parents who genuinely don't know how to parent and come to me for advice, even though I don't have kids of my own. I had an 1 1/2 hours of planning yesterday and spent it all communicating with parents and not one bit grading or planning. Add to this that we're in the last month of finishing up our house (which we're painting, installing flooring, and installing trim upstairs) and the constant communication involved with that, and I'm totally overwhelmed. I'm not even a full marking period into the semester, and I'm already finding myself wishing for an inclement weather day so that I can catch my breath. Maybe I'll just take a mental health day...
I'm still working on my unit plan, which needs to be completed tonight, so hopefully I'll get that done before 5:00. I hope I'm putting together what's expected, but I suppose if I'm not, I'll have a chance to correct it. Now that we're not doing the Action Learning project, I'm not sure what I need to be posting here in the blog. Maybe this will be the forum for reflection on our project with the principalship group.
I'm still working on my unit plan, which needs to be completed tonight, so hopefully I'll get that done before 5:00. I hope I'm putting together what's expected, but I suppose if I'm not, I'll have a chance to correct it. Now that we're not doing the Action Learning project, I'm not sure what I need to be posting here in the blog. Maybe this will be the forum for reflection on our project with the principalship group.
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