Data Action Model - Final Thoughts and The Future

I have learned a lot about myself as an educator over the last twelve weeks as a result of experiencing the Data Action Model process. It challenged me personally and professionally in ways that I couldn't have possibly imagined. Here is a short list of "a-ha" or "light bulb" moments I walked away with:

• Data is not that scary and it is important: 
• I was wholeheartedly terrified of this course in the beginning (Dr. Hansen can attest as much) because as far as I was concerned I had no "conventional" data to share. As an instrumental music teacher, my data looks very different from say a fifth grade classroom teacher's, and that realization alone was utterly vexing to me. However, moving through the Data Action Model showed me that I did and still do have countless worthwhile teacher and student artifacts to collect for analysis. Venables' process now provides me with guidance and a method to the madness. 
• Data is more important to my classroom than I had previously realized; while this isn't an easy admission to make, I feel a weight lifted from my shoulders in putting it here. My classroom holds many opportunities for many types of assessment, and I need to do a better job of administering them and collecting data. I have come to understand through the Data Action Model that to build a case for the learning and instructional gaps that effect the students I teach, I need to cast a wide net. A wide net helps ensure that I will have things to notice and wonder about, things that I need to challenge and change in my classroom. It is only by analyzing many types that one can gain insights and make improvements. 
• PLCs are great:
• Where PLCs are concerned, I was always rather indifferent to their existence and potential usefulness. I looked at building one as being mildly helpful in the long run, but mostly, as just another thing to have to do that would ultimately take up more of my already limited time. I held this silly sentiment until I created a presentation on PLCs for an assignment during Week 8 of this course. I realized quickly while making the presentation ... sort of ashamedly after eight weeks ... that online coursework is at its core one giant PLC. While group work has never been my favorite activity, I have learned to appreciate it far more than ever before during this class. I developed a very strong working and personal relationship with my Data Action Model partner, Judy. I learned a great deal from her and know that I will learn more as the program progresses. 
• My PLC presentation can be viewed below:

• Reflection is important:
• One of the most rewarding aspects of completing my Data Action Plan was amount of reflection -- personal and regarding my students -- that I was required to do because it highlighted just how important it is to do it. More often then not, I don't have or don’t give myself time to sit down and truly consider what is really going on in my classroom, especially since I teach at three schools with three sets of very different students. The copious amount of reflecting during each meeting sometimes felt daunting; however, in the end, the payoff is so glaringly obvious that I appreciate ten fold the opportunities I have been afforded to reconsider events, thoughts, and feelings from a fresh perspective. 

Completing the Data Action Model presentation was a very rewarding process, one that certainly will not end here. This learning experience has already influenced my current and future practice, and that benefits my students tremendously. I am confident that I now have the skills and experience to lead fellow professionals and colleagues in the data driven decision making process. To prove it, view my final Data Action Model presentation embedded below. It can also be viewed on YouTube by visiting this link: https://youtu.be/I2EWsC4nopM 

Data Meeting 5 Reflection

Image credit: geralt, Pixabay

Data Meeting 5 was a breath of fresh air in a lot of ways. It brought the entire Data Action Model  to a close in a very nice, quiet way, for which I am thankful for. It allowed me to the opportunity to work with another classmate, Simone, whom I have come to truly admire throughout the last ten weeks of the semester. I often look at her work and believe it to be a model quality.

I found the task of giving feedback to be wonderfully thought provoking. During a preliminary meeting held on Thursday afternoon via a phone call, Simone and I agreed to come prepared to Data Meeting 5 with our feedback already composed. A Google Drive Folder was set up for us to share important documents that the other would need to view during the feedback process. It was really interesting for me to delve into a totally new set of Data Meeting assignments for a different partner as I had been fully immersed in all music content information for the last eight weeks. I enjoyed the challenge of looking at Simone's assignments for her High School French classroom. I was able to wrap my head around her instructional tactics and methods pretty seamlessly, and even found myself trying to become one of her "students," reminiscing upon the days of old when I was a Spanish Language student in High School. While I was no means an expert in her content area, I did feel that I was capable of giving productive feedback to Simone that can ultimately lead to overall improvement and growth for her as a practitioner.

I found the task of receiving feedback to be scary at first, as I thought that perhaps I had made a few missteps somewhere in my Action Plan Tracking Sheet. I was presently surprised -- and relieved -- to find that Simone had given my Data Action Plan two thumbs up. It made me feel really good that someone else that wasn't intimately familiar with my work for eight weeks could find value in the hard work that I had done. I found that Simone offered me feedback that I could reflect on and learn from. I was able to talk to her candidly about my classroom, describing the atmosphere, and she was there to give me a fresh set of eyes with which to identify areas of both strength and weakness.

In conclusion, I believe wholeheartedly that flipping the switch and getting people out of their comfort zone -- i.e., totally changing my expectations for Data Meeting 5 -- can be scary but also very empowering. Forward-moving feedback is the way to go. Luckily, both Simone and I came into this experience with a positive mindset, an openness, and an intention to help the other grow. With that as the foundation for the meeting, we did just that.

Data Meeting 4 Reflection

Please my video blog (Vlog) below for my reflection on Data Meeting 4.

Data Meeting 3 Reflection

I decided to create an Emaze presentation this week for my Data Meeting 3 Reflection.

Please view my creation embedded below:

Data Meeting 2 Reflection

Check out my Data Meeting 2 Reflection Vlog!

I used Photo Booth on my MacBook Pro to create the video, which I uploaded to my YouTube Channel. 

Data Meeting 1 Reflection

Preparation for Data Meeting 1

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.During Week 2, Judy and I agreed to hold three Google Hangout meetings per week:

• Preliminary Meetings:  Wednesday, 4:30pm
• Secondary Meetings:     Friday, 4:30pm
• Main/Data Meetings:    Sunday, 2:00pm

Adhering to a consistent meeting schedule that calls for collaboration and check-ins with one another before attending a main event like a data meeting ended up being a real benefit to our team. Judy and I met with one another on Wednesday and Friday to come up with a list of items we would both need to collect beforehand in order to be fully prepared to participate in Data Meeting 1 on Sunday. We agreed to come prepared to share individually collected macrodata (demographic and pre-test scores) as well as individually created notice/wonder statements. 

As the team leader and consolidator for Data Meeting 1, I created a formal Meeting Minutes Google Doc after our secondary meeting. The purpose of the document is to organize agenda topics as well as create a place for taking detailed notes and recording actionable items for completion before the end of the week. Overall, this document proved to be extremely helpful for Judy and I once the meeting was underway. 

Data Meeting 1

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Data Meeting 1 started off with an moderately annoying technology hiccup: neither one of us could get the audio components of our Google Hangout to work. There was some type of speaker/microphone malfunction on both ends; quick troubleshooting via Google Help, etc. did not pan out, so we ended up just using our cell phones on speaker mode to make up for where technology had let us down. 

Once we sorted out this minor communication barrier, Judy presented her collection of macrodata first, formatted in tables, and I reacted to it along the way. Judy pre-tested 51 third graders using a county provided composition assessment that has both a written and performance component. Students were expected to compose and notate a 4-measure melody in 4/4 time with at least three different pitches and rhythmic values. As she spoke, I took notes in our "Meeting Minutes" document as well as chimed in with thoughts, reactions, and questions regularly. We concluded her portion of the meeting by summarizing her available macrodata and notice/wonder statements. This discussion led to the formulation of her exploratory questions set. The review of Judy's information took roughly an hour to complete. 

Next, I presented my collection of macrodata in the same fashion as Judy, sharing my demographic and pre-test tables followed by notice/wonder statements. I pre-tested 34 beginning orchestra students using a county provided scale assessment that is performance based. Students were expected to play a D Major pentatonic scale using their bows. Now, since students are just beginning and have only played for a few weeks, it was to be expected that scores would be low as the class has not yet learned how to master the criterions on the rubric. Judy took notes, etc. while I spoke and helped me as I did her in creating exploratory questions from the notice/wonder statements in the end.

Preparation for Data Meeting 2 and Closing Actionable Items

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Judy and I finished the agenda by looking over the third step in the process--decide who will bring what to Data Meeting 2. 

Judy decided to collect the following teacher and student artifacts as well as data reports:

Lesson plans/activities 

Scanned copies of student pre-tests 

Data comparison charts 

Additional data analysis

Ashley decided to collect the following teacher and student artifacts as well as data reports:

Lesson plans/activities 

Overview of instrumental and vocal/general curriculum as it applies to assessment

Data comparison charts 

Additional data analysis

To bring the meeting to closure, the following actionable items were reviewed and discussed by Judy and I as needing to be completed on or before Tuesday, October 4, 2016:

1. Remove student names from data tables on submitted assignments to keep privacy intact and avoid entanglements with nondisclosure agreement
2. As consolidator, create and submit a Google Slides presentation that serves as our Data Meeting 1 Summary 
• Judy collaborated with me on this deliverable on Monday evening 
3. Complete Exploratory Question assignment
4. Complete Blog Reflection

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To view our finalized Data Meeting 1 Minutes, please click here. 

To view a digital presentation that summarizes Data Meeting 1, please click here. 

Welcome to my EDTC 615 Blog!

I have never created a Blog before, and this is my first time attempting to play around with Blogger ... So far, so good!

I wanted to try my had at adding some media to my first post, mainly to determine the ease of use. 

Blogger makes it extremely easy to add pictures as it connects to Google accounts. I found this picture of my Father's dog Max. He is a 7 year old Pit Bull. 

This particular picture is of Max trying to catch falling flower petals in the backyard.

It is one of my favorite pictures of him because it shows his spirit!