Assignment 6: Schoenbrun Reflection Assignment

Describe the steps you would take as a principal to ensure that the curriculum is implemented and assessed at the classroom and school levels so that students learn the intended content.

I am going to reflect on this question as if I were new to the position.

First and foremost I feel it is essential to familiarize yourself with the current curriculum. Basically, I would go through similar steps that we did during our curriculum analysis project but obviously not to the same depth. I would then record areas that I did not understand and seek out the professionals in the district who could explain them to me. I don’t know how you can act as an instructional leader if you are not clear about the curriculum yourself.

Next I would begin by meeting with the subject and grade level team leaders to understand how they view the curriculum and their perspective of how it is being implemented at our school. I would need to listen carefully to their descriptions in order to assess their understanding of the curriculum and recognize if it is aligned with the districts understanding. This is also important because it sheds light on issues that may arise and also allows the principal to gauge where change may need to begin.

The next step would be to speak with the remaining stakeholders; teachers, students, parents, and community members. I feel even 1st graders can give you a good sense of how the curriculum is being implemented if you ask the right questions. From all of this I would need to solidify what I see as the big picture of the school at that moment in time, share and clarify that picture and then begin the work of understanding where we need to start our on-going journey towards continued improvement. This is the part that can get tricky, the principal needs to set a tone of collaboration and not blame. You need to help your faculty see that the next steps are for the good of the whole and will be taken in a spirit of stewardship. Teachers, no matter what, will feel some disequilibrium when anyone talks about assessing their instruction and student performance. I think we need to acknowledge that and understand that in the initial stages we are only setting a tone, it is the act of instituting that changes that will be the true test.

The next step is to gather all of the data that is available and begin to make sense of it. Organizing it in a format that is accessible to everyone and working with the faculty to pull out the important story it tells us about our school. Then we need to collaboratively create a collective vision of what we believe the characteristics of high-quality, rigorous, inquiry-based curriculum is when implemented in the classroom. We need to build consensus during the decision-making process to insure that at least a critical mass of the faculty is bought into the idea of growth. At that point I would work with teachers to create data collection tools such as a school walk thru model. This would help us further identify areas of concern for us and areas of success. You need to celebrate the successes.

From that we can create professional development opportunities that make sense for us. The data may reveal school-wide initiatives such as reading strategies, or it may be content driven, we won’t know until we have taken the steps to self-assess. At this point we need to create a plan for implementation, set measurable goals, understand how to collect reliable data, and institute a cycle of reflective practice. The long range goals could take up to 5 years while some short range goals could take only a quarter.

Once we have a clear road map, knowing that it may take detours, I would need to be in the classrooms observing, helping to instruct, reflecting with teachers, providing authentic valuable feedback, and looking at student work. I would need to support our efforts by supplying the needed resources whether that be PD, time, materials, or continued education. But always understanding that in order to move forward we need to be truthful to the process and honest about how our implementation is working. It is a constant cycle. We would need to collect, organize and analyze data collected from formative and summative assessments to help use evaluate the effectiveness of our interventions and make adjustments to the process as needed.

I don’t feel there is one correct answer to this question because so much depends on the culture of the school at the time that you take on the leadership role. There are also the variables of culture, economic levels, teacher preparation, and federal/state/district mandates which may be in direct conflict with what your school needs. It is an adventure to say the least.

Schoenbrun Reflection 2

As a school administrator and instructional leader, what instructional technology would you expect to see in the written, taught, and tested curriculum of a school or school district striving to meet the needs of 21st century learners?

In the written curriculum I would expect to see curriculum guides that are web based and accessible to teachers on any computer. These guides would include lesson plans that could be adjusted based on the needs of students, assessments, and/or a need to add multi-modalitiy activities. This may include the use of curriculum mapping tools such as Atlas Rubicon. I would also suggest the use of grading programs such as Easy Grade Pro or using information systems such as First Class to help monitor student progress and provide assessment data to drive instructional decisions. Many schools are using information systems such as PCR to also monitor student progress. I would also like to see the inclusion of online resources such as National Council for Teachers of Mathematics webiste to allow teachers to access national standards, researched best practices, and lesson plans that model the best integration of technology.
In the taught curriculum I would expect to see relevant technology specific to different subject areas. For example, the language arts, social studies and science curriculum should include opportunities for students to research using the internet appropriately, the use of tools such as PowerPoint, Digital Storytelling, Photoshop or Web 2.0 tools like Letterpop to produce products from learning opportunities. I would expect to see inclusion of Assistive Technology tools such as a Pen Scanner for reading, Word Q predictive technology for Dyslexic students, or text to speech software. I would recommend that teachers used the NETS-S as a guide and provide opportunites to use collaborative tools such as blogs or Wiki's to "interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a veirtey of digital environments and media." (ISTE NETS-S) I would expect the taught curriculum to include the use of word processing, spreadsheets, and data management tools such as Microsoft Word, EXCEL, and/or ACCESS.
For the tested curriculum, I would demand the use of tools that would help to dissaggregated the assessment data to help identify areas of concern and to drive the development of interventions and instructional initiatives as a catalyst for continual growth and improvement. This could include the use of EXCEL or a web based program that provides a structure for teachers to interact responsibally with data such as the Maryland State Department of Education website for the MSA data. What I would want to see basically is a tool used to help teachers make sense of the data to inform instruction and also to evaluate the assessment tool itself.

What instructional technology would you promote to differentiate instruction for all learners? Consider some of the Web 2.0 tools discussed in Week 3 and some of the tools/ applications suggested in the UDL discussion.

Based on our discussion some of the tools I would promote using are the brainstorming tools that help kids organize thier thinking. This is especially helpful for the visual learners but also the struggling students. These Web 2.0 tools include bubbl.us, mindmeister and kidspiration. I would promote the use of websites such as Windows to the Universe that provides leveled reading activites so all the students can be studying the planets and recieve respectful assignments. Plus, it also includes the readings in Spanish. I would promote the use of Wiki's and Blogs to record information on topics of study such as Egypt, create dialogue between students based on a prompt, to post support materials such as video clips or websites that would support learning, and to display student products. I would promote the use of the National Virtual Manipulatives to support math instruction and provide visual respresentations of math concepts. I would promote the use of Podcasts for teachers to upload instructions or record descriptions of activities or concepts. They can also be used for students to record thier ideas and thoughts that can be included in a digital portfolio. I think using tools such as Flickr and The Library of Congress websites to find visual images can enhance learning and allow more students to become engaged with the topic. I would also highly recommend the use of the UDL Toolkit. I have started to use this tool with my 6th grade math teachers. We are trying to brainstorm ways we can incorporate more multi-modality approaches to the learning into the curriculum for our struggling students. The toolkit has helped to frame our discussions and target our thinking. We have already come up with 3 new approaches using the NVML, purchasing new hands on manipulatives and creating our own neumonics with visual cues attached. I feel that this is an amazing tool.