Week+4+Journal

Week 4: Professional Development Journal

This was a strange week, as I was sick and spent time away from school recuperating. During this time, I met some interesting people who helped me learn a lot about myself. While I didn't have access to the internet until this weekend, I still made some realizations that were important to the program.

While home sick, I ran into a few people, including two gentlemen by the names of Kenny and James. Both of these individuals were instrumental in helping me realize a possible direction for this program. In talking to Kenny, he seemed to understand the importance of this grant, and encouraged me when I shared the following idea (brainstorm) with him.

The idea that I had about this program involved getting Diane involved in the grant, in order to start with students in her alternative school to test the technology integration and constructive methodologies. Diane works with at-risk students in a stand alone "alternative school" setting. At this time, the school day for these students is structured and learning opportunities are structured. It was my thought that we take this program and use it as a test for student achievement through this program. By tracking the changes in student achievement and discipline of students in the alternative school, it could prove how valuable this 21st century model would be to the rest of the student body.

In order to implement this plan, I think James and Kenny will prove to be important people to work with in order to achieve student learning and engagement in course content. Equally as important, is to help the teachers and administrators understand why it is important to start with this group of students, perhaps even getting them netbooks in order to get online collaboration options and digital textbook downloads. If we can prove the effectiveness of the program, it will be virtually impossible for the district to deny the impact of the program.