Since this is my second Masters program from the UofI, this is the second evaluation class that I have taken.  EdPsy398_OL has been a very practical class.  Instead of reading a book in a 4 week class and trying to do an evaluation from journal articles, we were given opportunities to actually try out what we were learning!  A "hands-on" learning class - just what we were taught to do in our own classrooms.

Observations:
    During the first part of the class, we conducted two observations.  The first was of a fellow teacher.  I enjoyed getting the chance to watch someone else work.  I had not done any observing in about eight years.  Observing can be an enjoyable experience.   I was able to observe and get new ideas for teaching science.  As the building technology coordinator, I was able to see how the computers were being used in the rooms - or rather not being used.  I collected information that I can use to better help my co-teachers use computers.  As far as evaluation goes, I learned that it is important to use some sort of recording device as it was hard for me to pay attention and to take notes.  After the initial observation, I used a small tape recorder.
    The second observation was conducted while I was teaching.  I am accustom to observing myself to make improvements for my next class, but I had never used a tape player to record everything that is happening.  I was very pleased with the outcome.  I was not only able to give more thought to my teaching, but because I used a tape record, I was able to hear some of the engaged (and not so engaged) conversations going on when I wasn't close to the particular group.  Keeping closer track to my observations with a field notes taken from tape player, forced me to be able to make more permanent changes in my methods and on my Rock WebQuest web site for the next year, rather than just the next class.
    Constant self observation and the observation of others is important for teachers to use to make self improvements.  I have appreciated EdPsy398_OL giving me the opportunity to practice that and for teaching me to take good field notes.

Interviews:
    I was glad to be able to conduct two interviews in my own district before conducting the InTech2000 interviews.  I learned a lot from my mistakes and could make corrections for the Bloomington evaluation.  There were two main points that I gained from the practice interviews.  First, I learned the importance of reviewing the prepared questions ahead of time.  Just because I wrote questions, did not mean that I could remember everything.  By reviewing the questions, I might have discovered important questions that I had previously left off of the list.  I also felt that having had reviewed the questions for the first interview, I would have felt more at ease more quickly.  Second, the importance of preparing questions a head of time was verified by the group interview.  Once a month, the six fourth grade teachers meet for grade level meetings.  This year the meetings have been a waste of time.  The administration did not give us topics to discuss.  When I prepared the questions ahead of time, we had plenty to discuss.  We had a very productive meeting, and we all walked away with ideas to use in our classrooms.  In the future, maybe we can take turns writing discussion questions in preparation of agendaless meetings.

InTech2000 Evaluation:
    When I first learned that I would be working in a group to evaluate another school district without being there first hand, I was apprehensive.  In the past group work had not been a very good experience for me.  Besides having to work in a group, we were scattered across the state and would not be meeting in person.   I also could not believe that it would be possible for so many groups to contact the same InTech participants via email and get a response good enough to use for an evaluation.  Now, I believe that the InTech Evaluation was a very worthwhile experience for several reasons.
    First, I actually enjoyed working in my group.  It was great getting together on a weekly basis to discuss more than just our assignments.  Not meeting in person was not a problem.  Having a similar interest in science helped us to be able to compare our first few assignments even though two of us teach fourth grade while the other two are high school science teachers.  Our group also worked very well together.  Everyone contributed to each assignment and did part of the InTech evaluation.  I think the biggest obstacle that we hit was getting used to the idea that the four of us have different writing styles.
    Second, I was very pleased with our experience with the InTech participants.  Since we were not meeting face to face.  I thought we might have trouble hearing back from all of them.  That was not the case.  They were all very willing to respond.  One of my contacts responded immediately both times that I contacted her.  Another was very pleasant when I emailed a second time to ask her to respond.  She told me that she had responded to another teammate.  I had not realized that I had initially contacted the same participant as the teammate.
    Another area which pleased me was analyzing and summarizing our data.  The process made us look at the information very closely to get a good feel for how the InTech program was working.  The actual practice I gained will help me to look at data I plan to collect from the teachers in my building about the use (or lack of use) of technology in their rooms.  The brainstorming my group went through will help me to make decisions on how to make improvements and suggestions for my teachers.
    Finally it was interesting being able to look at a large school district's technology program and hopefully find was to make improvements for my own smaller district.  I had been concerned because Bloomington had not provided the InTech experience to everyone.  After Mr. Peterson was contacted, we learned that other teachers also have access to  better technology.  I really liked the idea of InTech participants becoming mentors for future teachers wanting to become more involved.  Getting more teachers involved and having them become mentors would be a good goal for my district.

Summing It Up:
    Because of the "hand-on" approach, I feel that I will be able to apply evaluation to my everyday teaching better than I had in the past.  I also feel that I will be able to apply some of the techniques that we experienced with the InTech2000 evaluation as part of my district's technology committee.
 
 

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