599- Week 3

This week I attended my monthly ITL meeting. The purpose this month was to complete a facilitator boot camp. One of the things that came up during this professional development was a discussion of how to handle change. Again I am reminded of the Change Game! The reality of next year really hit me. I realized that my school is getting a new principal, a new secretary, and losing all of the out of the classroom support positions. It's time for me to work with the rest of my support team to come up with provisions for when we each return to the classroom next year. It deeply saddens me to imagine how our wonderful little school is going to function.

I am thankful for the experience of this MEIT program! I'm building my resume with useful skills that will hopefully open the door to new opportunities. For now, with all that I've learned over the past couple of years, I am able use these skills to help the staff and students in my school to become more technologically literate.

599- Week 2

I am appreciating this culminating experience more and more everyday. I've spent time this week really adding needed tidbits to my project. I am beginning to put together the tutorials and surveys that will be used. I am creating the surveys using Google Forms, which I have only played with in a previous class. I was quickly reminded of the ease of Google Forms. I am interested to see how the staff at my school respond to the use of this online survey. I am anticipating reluctance, but I am prepared to monitor the results and send gentle reminders as needed.
I am concerned, though, that with all of the unrest in our district, teachers are beginning to see less importance in the success of my efforts. It doesn't help my cause that my new principal, unlike the one who just retired, has absolutely no interest in technology nor my efforts to improve it's use in our school. She hasn't stopped me from doing anything, but her lack of concern is slowly allowing for other staff to be less motivated. I am getting daily reminders of the Change Game from last class!

599-Week 1

This week I have spent time focussing on refining the SMART goals for my final project proposal. Meeting with Louis really clarified this process for me. I realized that I had the wrong idea about how to write SMART goals. Initially, I was under the impression that I had to write a goal that was specific, another that was measurable, and so on. I now inderstand that each goal should include all SMART aspects. Although it was a "duh" moment for me, I am glad to know that my goals will be easier to fix than I had imagined. Using my revised SMART goals, I have been adding needed details to my plan. Louis drew some comparisons to the Change Game that we played last class. Considering what I learned during that process, I have decided to use Google Forms to survey the staff at my school to give them input into my project. This will help to ensure that the changes that are made will be meaningful and useful to them. I have already gotten key people to agree that the change I am proposing in a necessary one.