Monthly+Internship+Reflection+-+October+2010

For this month, my site mentor and myself chose to focus on the Technology Facilitator Leadership standards that focused more on the things that I could do within my classroom. Standards TF-III.A, TF-III.D, TF-V.B, TF-VI.E, TF-VIII.E were used to help me focus on creating strategies within my classroom that would improve how I taught, how I monitored my students and how I managed my time. When I looked at the objective, I felt that the activities that I developed from these standards would be something that I could do throughout the school year and not just for a short period of time.  Within my classroom I decided that in my teaching style I would try to to limit my lecture time so that that I could eliminate the students from getting disinterested in the topic I was covering and allow them more practical application time on the computer. This was part of a strategy that I came up with in a meeting with my supervisor to transition to a more project-based atmosphere. This school year was the second year that we were using an online grading system called Gradespeed. I decided that I could use Standard TF-V.B and along with Gradespeed develop an activity that could help me use more features of Gradespeed that I didn't use in the previous school year. Within Gradespeed, I found that I could access a chart that gives a breakdown of the range of grades within a class as well as for a particular assignment. I felt that throughout the school year I would use Gradespeed and analyze on a weekly basis, how well my students were learning the concepts. If I saw that majority of the class had difficulty in a certain area, I would review the topic. It Gradespeed showed me that it was just a few students, I would try to arrange a time when I could meet with the student to find out what the issue was. Another year long strategy that I was able to develop was from standard TF-VI.E, from this standard I felt that I could maximize the amount of time that students could have access to the lab by opening if for use during the mornings before school started as well as during lunch. This allowed those students who had limited computer access time to complete assignments or conduct research. It also gave me time to meet with those students who were struggling in my class. On the teacher side of things, Standards TF-I.B and TF-VIII.E where my main focal points. From TF-I.B, I decided that I would allot one of my planning periods a week to helping the staff at my school with any technology related issue that they may have. For this month I was called upon to troubleshoot computers, install software and give my insight about a particular program. I feel that this month provided me with a clear understanding of what I was required to do in regards to satisfying my internship requirements. Looking over the standards I felt that I had a clearer understanding of how I could use my background and the knowledge that I have acquired to affect change on my campus. Some of the standards that I targeted this month were started last month, but I began to see the positive changes that were taking place withing my classroom. In the discussions that I've had with my site mentor we addressed those changes and we also talked about how we can continue the process that has be started.


 * Standards Met: ** TF – I. B, TF - II.B, TF -II.D, TF - III.A, TF - III.D, TF - V.B, TF - VI.E, TF - VIII.E