The three most important things that I learned in the course were to create a collaborative environment, to dwell in the uncomfortable, and to use visuals to better understand the data. The collaborative environment for examination of data is something that makes sense, but having it spelled out in the course reinforced the importance of collaboration between teachers. A collaborative environment allows teachers to share their findings and to discuss their methods. Collaboration also allows for teachers to gain ideas from others. Dwelling in the uncomfortable was also a good point because it encourages teachers to get to the heart of the problem regardless of how uncomfortable that conversation is. The course allowed me to see that the well-being of students is more important than not ruffling feathers among teachers. Finally, I learned the importance of using visuals to help understand what the data is saying. The course helped me to understand that seeing the data in a visual format can often shed light on issues that were not readily apparent otherwise.
The field experience that I found the most valuable was the data overview. I found that following the process of creating a data overview from start to finish gave me a better understanding of the process. It also allowed me the chance to closely examine the data at my school.
In my school I plan to continue implementing the principles that I learned in the data analysis and school improvement course by remaining a member of the data team and sharing the data process with other members of the team. I will help to build a collaborative environment among data team members, and I will spread the steps and principles in the using data process.
The main challenges that I anticipate encountering will be in some of the steps that I mentioned above as the valuable lessons that I learned. I work in a data team with several teachers who are very comfortable with things the way they are and who prefer to not be uncomfortable. They would like to do things the way they have always been done without accepting the idea that their practices may not be as effective as they could be. My challenges will be to convince these teachers to enter the realm of the uncomfortable in our data team discussions and then to change their practices in order to be more effective and to affect change in instruction in order to help our students succeed.
The field experience that I found the most valuable was the data overview. I found that following the process of creating a data overview from start to finish gave me a better understanding of the process. It also allowed me the chance to closely examine the data at my school.
In my school I plan to continue implementing the principles that I learned in the data analysis and school improvement course by remaining a member of the data team and sharing the data process with other members of the team. I will help to build a collaborative environment among data team members, and I will spread the steps and principles in the using data process.
The main challenges that I anticipate encountering will be in some of the steps that I mentioned above as the valuable lessons that I learned. I work in a data team with several teachers who are very comfortable with things the way they are and who prefer to not be uncomfortable. They would like to do things the way they have always been done without accepting the idea that their practices may not be as effective as they could be. My challenges will be to convince these teachers to enter the realm of the uncomfortable in our data team discussions and then to change their practices in order to be more effective and to affect change in instruction in order to help our students succeed.