Standard 4.1
For this narrative the artifact I have chosen is the SWOT analysis from the school improvement course. This analysis was put together by the school principal and myself. I had to sit down with my principal to talk about the state of our school in regards to technology and our curriculum. Some of the conditions we examined were access, shared vision, planning, equitable access, skilled personnel, ongoing professional development, technical support, and ongoing curriculum framework. We had to take every aspect of our school into consideration and be honest about its current state. For this narrative we will focus on the condition of equitable access. Throughout the analysis, we were guided by a few questions to help gain a full understanding. At Moody High School, we found that our strengths were that our system purchased 300 laptops for our school that would be put into carts with two carts per hallway. This would allow students at our school to have access when they may not have it at home. In addition to the laptops, students could participant in online courses called Access that allowed them to learn at their own pace. From the analysis we also learned that there were some obstacles to overcome. Even though our laptop carts were purchased, it was only at a 2:1 initiative which at the time still had not arrived. This would still create a lack of access, because of the out of date computer labs that were in the school. Out of the two labs, only a quarter of those computers in the lab actually worked. This analysis opened up the eyes of our administration just by asking and answering the tough questions from the analysis.
From the analysis my principal and I were able to come up with a few ways to bridge this divide that we had in the access of our technologies. Through the analysis, not only were the strengths and weaknesses highlighted, but also opportunities to address certain problems. Some of the corrections to solve the problem were to update existing technologies, which was already being done through the purchase of the laptop carts. Next we would provide more technology best practices such as student-centered and inquiry-based learning. We would also provide professional development to our teachers to help provide this student centered and inquiry based learning. Students were provided an even broader base of learning through offering more online courses and dual enrollment courses through APEX and ACCESS. With this opportunity, we could have created more inequality unless we were able to find funding for economically challenged students. Through our professional development sessions each week, my principal and I created tools to help our faculty achieve equitable access to digital tools and resources to help our students become better digital citizens.
This artifact was really informative for my principal and me. We had to sit back and be realistic about the state of our school’s digital equitable access to technology. I learned as a regular staff member that there is a lot more to running a school than one may think. There are a great deal of fiscal choices that have to be made in hopes of benefitting our students positively. Technology can be a great tool but can be very costly for school and system to maintain or sustain. The cost can be the difficult choice that principals will have to deal with. Added to this learning experience was the fact that even with laptops at school and access to digital tools that digital equity was still a problem for many students at Moody High School because of the low socio economic status of our students. If I had to change one thing about this analysis, I would have liked to sit down with the system superintendent. Involving her would have added more incite to the analysis and the feasibility of funding such projects. Since its creation, the analysis has had huge impact on school improvement. With this information we were able to set goals for our teachers and school to impact student achievement. With professional development we are improving teaching strategies with technology and in the end impacting student learning. The Creation of the SWOT analysis was beneficial to our school and our system. This can be assessed through school and teacher observations as well as student learning. Lesson plans can be used to show inquiry based learning for our students as well effective teacher strategies with technology.
From the analysis my principal and I were able to come up with a few ways to bridge this divide that we had in the access of our technologies. Through the analysis, not only were the strengths and weaknesses highlighted, but also opportunities to address certain problems. Some of the corrections to solve the problem were to update existing technologies, which was already being done through the purchase of the laptop carts. Next we would provide more technology best practices such as student-centered and inquiry-based learning. We would also provide professional development to our teachers to help provide this student centered and inquiry based learning. Students were provided an even broader base of learning through offering more online courses and dual enrollment courses through APEX and ACCESS. With this opportunity, we could have created more inequality unless we were able to find funding for economically challenged students. Through our professional development sessions each week, my principal and I created tools to help our faculty achieve equitable access to digital tools and resources to help our students become better digital citizens.
This artifact was really informative for my principal and me. We had to sit back and be realistic about the state of our school’s digital equitable access to technology. I learned as a regular staff member that there is a lot more to running a school than one may think. There are a great deal of fiscal choices that have to be made in hopes of benefitting our students positively. Technology can be a great tool but can be very costly for school and system to maintain or sustain. The cost can be the difficult choice that principals will have to deal with. Added to this learning experience was the fact that even with laptops at school and access to digital tools that digital equity was still a problem for many students at Moody High School because of the low socio economic status of our students. If I had to change one thing about this analysis, I would have liked to sit down with the system superintendent. Involving her would have added more incite to the analysis and the feasibility of funding such projects. Since its creation, the analysis has had huge impact on school improvement. With this information we were able to set goals for our teachers and school to impact student achievement. With professional development we are improving teaching strategies with technology and in the end impacting student learning. The Creation of the SWOT analysis was beneficial to our school and our system. This can be assessed through school and teacher observations as well as student learning. Lesson plans can be used to show inquiry based learning for our students as well effective teacher strategies with technology.
swot_plan.docx | |
File Size: | 32 kb |
File Type: | docx |