Reflection+on+EDLD+5333+Assignments

Leadership for Accountability
 When asked to determine areas of strengths and weaknesses as far as state assessments, the answer for the high school where I work did not require research. Every year when we receive scores on the TAKS test, the results are the same. We have high scores in English Language Arts and Social Studies, with Science coming in third and Mathematics coming in last. Paisley, Dean and Miller (2006) write, it is important to prioritize problems and areas of concern and to identify areas of immediate focus before taking action (p. 41). Writing an objective to improve math scores was no problem; our faculty had already discussed that very thing. Coming up with a solution for that objective is a different story, how can we change the way we teach math so the students can be successful on the state assessment? I have participated in many workshops designed to make teaching math easier, but I personally had not taught math for many years. That changed during the school year I was working on this assignment. I was teaching two Algebra 1 classes so the timing was perfect and the plan would be beneficial to me. Although I was stressing over the creation of the staff development to improve math scores, I have facilitated many Technology workshops at our school district so the planning should not have been difficult.Professional development powerful enough to significantly restructure established procedures and instruction requires careful selection and planning (“Professional Development Planning”, n.d., slide 1). I finally settled on the ICE plan, Imagine, be Clear, Estimate, for students to use when working real-life problems. When planning the staff development day I allowed time for the usual off-task discussions that are a part of teachers’ group work. Often times these discussions are the best part of the day because we actually have time to share ideas. Working on the campus action plan was not as hard as designing the staff development, as these are plans that our high school faculty participates in planning every year. We already do the special TAKS tutoring, we have TAKS-plus classes where extra help is given to those who will most likely struggle to pass and we have had the TAKS blitzes. These have all been successful in the past so I included them in the plan. Changing the way teachers see their role in the success of the students of today is going to be the hardest part of these two assignments and I include myself in that statement. According to Fullan, people in organizations will change only if the sought-after reform is meaningful for them and has application for their work (as cited in Huffman & Jacobson, 2003, p. 1). When it comes to teaching Algebra I am having a hard time changing the way I teach because I have been successful in the past. But taking this class, creating the campus action plan, and planning the staff development have made me question whether I am teaching the students to ‘discover’ or just to regurgitate. We have a tendency to get set in our ways very quickly and it is hard to step outside our boxes (classrooms).

 Huffman, J., & Jacobson, A. (2003, Jul-Sep). Perceptions of professional learning communities//. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 6 (3),// 239-250. Paisley, D., Dean, C., & Miller, K. (2006). Selecting the right data. //Principal Leadership;// Oct 2006, (7), 2; 38-42. Professional Development Planning (n.d.). [PowerPoint slides].