Reflection on Changes to Professional Vita:

I was impressed with the wide variety of experiences of my cohort members. The professional vita activity was fairly easy for me, because I already had a vita from my doctoral coursework last year.  I simply updated it and formatted it to match the example in the textbook. Based upon reviewing other cohort members’ vitas, however, I was confused as to whether or not to add “references” to my vita.  I interpreted the textbook to say that we were not supposed to include the references, unless specifically asked for.  Therefore, I chose not to add references to my vita.  I asked this question of Dr. Benevidez during the weekly web conference, and he said not to put a reference section, so I left it out.  The only change I made to my vita was a recent notification that I was going to be the Featured Educator for December, 2010, on the Mimio website, so I added that to the “Honors, Recognition, and Scholarship” section.  My revised vita can be found on my wiki at:  http://brenda-lu-academic-partnership.wikispaces.com/

Reflection on Changes to Intern Plan:

Based on comments from Dr. Creel, I made the following changes to my Intern Plan:

·         Activity 1B:  I added that I would investigate anecdotally at least the degree to which the respective statements reflect the respective superintendent philosophies, board involvement in day-to-day operations, and long-term success of the respective districts.

·         Activity 3C:  I added specific persons in the interview process:  superintendent, board president, and Federal Programs Director

Another change that was made was in Activity 2B.  I found out that our district does not have a strategic plan; therefore, I am going to use the district’s improvement plan in lieu of a strategic plan for this activity.

Finally, in Activity 15B, I substituted a district “change in early reading screening” for the Uniform Grading Policy change.  It was decided that the UGP would not be changed; rather, we would do a better job of enforcing it.

I e-mailed my plan to my superintendent, and he approved it.   The revised Intern Plan is posted on my wiki at:  http://brenda-lu-academic-partnership.wikispaces.com/

Internship Plan

My Internship Plan is ready for review  (Click here).

Interview with Dr. Rodney Cavness, Port Neches-Groves ISD Superintendent

The leadership interview with my superintendent was extremely valuable for two reasons. First, it gave me a profile of successful superintendent leadership qualities. Second, it gave me valuable insight into our newly-hired superintendent and his leadership philosophy. The interview was held in his office and lasted approximately 45 minutes.  It was a relaxed interview and his genuine interest in sharing his leadership perspective and his passion for leading was apparent.

The following acrostic was gleaned from the interview, and serves as the focus of this reflection. The acrostic depicts characteristics of successful superintendent leadership resulting from my interview with the superintendent of Port Neches-Groves ISD, Dr. Rodney Cavness.

Sometimes a very lonely job

Under stress

Positive impact on students, teachers, community

Effective communicator

Requires knowledge

Inspire/influence others

Needs to be a visionary

Tough decisions/tough leader

Ethical

Never lose focus of kids

Decisive

Extreme motivator

Needs to be a good listener

Talk to the stakeholders

Click here for a continuation of the interview.

Brenda Duhon - Professional Vita

My vita is available in two formats:  PDF or Word.  Please offer any comments and/or suggestions for improvement.

Transfer Theory

Madeline Hunter's statement that "transfer theory is the heart and soul of all learning" is, in my opinion, a powerful statement. The goal of being able to transfer knowledge to new learning with little conscious thought applies to all of us...at all ages.  As I reflect upon Transfer Theory in my own position as the district testing coordinator, one example quickly comes to mind.  TEA and Pearson Access have developed a "Texas Assessment Management System Practice Center" that provides district testing coordinators hands-on practice for all aspects of the online management of Texas testing.  The objective, of course, is that once we are comfortable with managing the online practice center, we will be able to successfully transfer this learning to the "live" management system without all the questions and problems inherent in a new online delivery system.  I guess it is TEA and Pearson's idea of "teaching old dogs new tricks".

How Can Educational Leaders Use Blogs?

Blogging in education continues to evolve and expand, but one thing is for sure….blogging is an excellent tool educational leaders can use to communicate with their constituents.   Administrators can use a blog to share district or campus happenings, programs, and thoughts on topics of interest to parents, teachers, and the community.   Administrators and teachers can use blogs to continuously seek and share learning and then act on what they learn…through professional learning communities.  Blogging used as a tool in a professional learning community can be a powerful approach to staff development.

Action Research

After spending the past three years completing research for my doctoral dissertation, action research is a welcome change for me!  Action research allows educators to address concerns and issues they deal with in the “real” school setting.  It allows for inquiry and discussion, often collaboratively, with the intent to inform and change one’s educational practices in the future. According to Watts (1985), action research is based on the assumption that teachers and principals work best on problems they have identified for themselves, become more effective when encouraged to examine and assess their own work and then consider ways of working differently, and help each other by working collaboratively (p. 118). Watts also suggests that working with colleagues helps teachers and principals in their professional development.  Action research typically takes place within a teacher or administrator’s environment…with the students and at the school in which the teacher and/or administrator works. Action research is consistent with trying to find ways of improving…it is about how we change our instruction to impact our students. Action research can involve a single teacher, a group of teachers working collaboratively, or a team of teachers and others (including administrators) on a school or district issue.  Action research is a powerful tool for expanding our existing knowledge!  One of my areas of responsibility at Port Neches-Groves ISD is instructional technology.  As we implement a 1:1 laptop program this year, action research is critical in refining the initiative into one that best meets the needs of students, teachers, parents, the district, and the community.

Watts, H. (1985). When teachers are researchers, teaching improves. Journal of Staff Development, 6(2), 118-127.