Windows Movie Maker

According to Desktop-Video-Guide (n.d.), Microsoft Movie Maker has drag and drop features to make creating and editing your movie clip much easier. After you’ve imported your video clip to software, you drag and drop it to storyboard. The program will divide longer videos into segments but you can drag as many clips to the storyboard as you’d like. Once you’ve arranged your clips, you can shorten them by using the "start/end trim point" feature. After creating your title page, you can drag and drop it in the desired location on storyboard. You drag and drop audio clips to the space on storyboard where it says "audio/music".  

  

I think this is appropriate for K-12 schools because of the software's compatibility to Windows XP desktops (a popular brand of public school desktops), it's easy access to upgrades, and it's easy maneuvering. In the past, I've always ran to YouTube for "how-to" tips not knowing I was viewing a tutorial podcast. it was so much fun learning the Windows Movie Maker software because I was envisioning my future podcast projects. I will definitely use this software in my future lesson planning to keep my students engaged.

Desktop-Video-Guide (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.desktop-video-guide.com/top-5-free-video-editing-software-review.html

Personal Digital Story

EDLD 5301 Final Reflection

According to Dana (2009), administrative inquiry is the “process of a principal engaging in the systematic, intentional study of his/her own administrative practice and taking action for change based on what he/she learns as a result of the inquiry” (p. 2). This quote set the tone for me for the remainder of the course because Dana’s readings established for me that I am not alien to my own research. I am fortunate to bypass previous research paradigms where practitioners applied findings of others. I must always inquire with open ended questions that could possibly lead me to come up with another wondering at the conclusion of one study. This research paradigm encourages self-reflection that will sharpen my leadership skills to be a visionary educational leader.

The interviews that I viewed of educational leaders gave personal insight to the importance of self -reflection in the inquiry process. It is very important that the purpose of my action research be a topic of my passion. Therefore, it will encourage my daily readings on the topic. I was thoroughly guided by this course to develop the purpose of my action plan, identify its stakeholders, and draft the plan. Drafting my plan with my site mentor allowed to me to see the advantages of open-ended questions for my inquiry process because it leaves room for growth.

Not only did I learn how to draft an action research plan, I learned strategies to support and sustain the plan like Force Field Analysis and Nominal Group Technique. This is another highlight because it’s a wonderful professional activity that breaks the ice and results in resolution.  

Revised Action Research Plan

A classmate suggested that I gradually transition the students to the writing prompt assignments. I should allow them to personalize their blogs and use visual elements to evoke emotions for them to describe. I really appreciate the advice because I do believe it will ease my challenge a bit to keep the students engaged. We will probably plan the first few blogging sessions around the students themselves and incorporate photos (as suggested) to keep them interested. The trick will be to lengthen their responses, which we are still working on. I will revise my action plan with regards to my initial timelines. I will allot more time for preparation of project, development of deeper understanding, and self-reflection since my lesson planning approach has changed. In addition to the shifted timelines of my action plan, I replaced step 10 with the activity to chart benchmark scores due to the conference that I had with my site mentor. 

Action Step(s)	Person(s) Responsible	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
1. Setting the Foundation – Establish 9th grade English as target population of action research.	Safirah Ibenana, site administrators and faculty	10/11	Surveys, discussions	During meetings with administrators and teachers, the issue of student writing has been identified as a major weakness on state standardized exams. STAAR test takers (9th grade) will be the focus since TAKS is phasing out.
2. Analyze previous standardized scores, benchmark scores, and various student writing samples.	Safirah Ibenana	10/11-11/11	Previous test scores and writing samples	I will look at areas of weaknesses identified by the exam. I will address those weaknesses with various writing exercises.
3. Developing deeper understanding – Interview teachers and students about the disinterest in writing.	Safirah Ibenana	10/11-5/12	Surveys, classroom time	I will poll students after research to see if they felt the curriculum addressed their concerns.
4. Ask self-reflective questions	Safirah Ibenana	10/11-5/12	Students’ reasons explaining disinterest	How will I be able to help captivate the attention of students who have been disinterested thus far?
5. Integrate blogging into the journaling and peer revision exercises of curriculum.	Safirah Ibenana, Ivy Perkins	10/11-2/12	Curriculum guidelines, previous lesson plans	Integration will be evaluated by how well the model is received by students and their responsiveness (successful completion of each weblog activity)
6. Activate weblogs for students.	Safirah Ibenana	12/11	Computer lab	Ensure that all weblogs are active through monitoring.
7. Activate RSS feeder for instructor.	Safirah Ibenana	12/11	Instuctor’s desktop	Ensure that we’re continually subscribed to weblogs.
8. Compare/contrast essays from students who blog and students who do not blog.	Safirah Ibenana, Ivy Perkins	12/11-3/12	Students’ work, assessment chart	Using assessment rubric, note growth in writers and determine if blogging was a factor.
9. Exploring Programmatic Patterns – Talk with students’ homeroom teachers and counselors to gather any pertinent information on their backgrounds.	Safirah Ibenana	10/11-2/12	Discussion points	I will monitor writing samples according to writing prompts. Especially the prompts relevant to their lives in order to identify increased engagement.
10. Chart benchmark scores	Safirah Ibenana	1/12 & 3/12	Schoolwide benchmark scores	I will post chart on main hallway for all students to see their benchmark results. Hopefully, target groups will have performed higher on English benchmarks.
11. Write formative and summative evaluations on the impact of blogging on student’s writing samples.	Safirah Ibenana	3/12-4/12	Data and comments from research, writing samples	In order to take action for school improvement, I will share evaluations with administration.
12. Share research’s impact with rest of the grade levels.	Safirah Ibenana	5/12	Data and comments from research, writing samples, and Microsoft Powerpoint	In order to sustain improvement, I can survey faculty on their thoughts of presentation. I can follow up the following school year to see if the model is adopted.