08/25/04 Comfort Zone

Well, I've arrived at the new home--Montgomery County IU. It is definitely different from what I have been accustomed to. I've learned some things. First, the teachers who work in the Non Public School Services division are truly team oriented and very open to new arrivals. Second, these teachers really live a different life from teachers who work in school districts. They service three to six schools per week, moving between the various schools--some of which can be 40 minutes apart. They see students in small groups of 4 to 6 for approximately 30 minutes. Generally they only see each set of students once a week. Some teachers only have dial-up access available to them. Some teachers work with students under the staircases because there isn't any room available at the school, some have rooms, some drive/work out of mobile classrooms, and other work out of trailers. This division employs speech specialists, guidance counselors, psychologists, reading specialists, elementary reading and math teachers, and instructional technology specialist (me).

So, what is my role? I will be providing remedial math services to two non public schools, two days each week. I will be providing instructional technology services three days a week. While I understand my role in providing remedial math services, the instructional technology role is not as concrete. The vision....... The director knows that she wants her teachers to integrate technology into their own learning and that of the students in meaningful ways. She doesn't however know exactly what that "looks like." At first that made me nervous. After all, many times a supervisor says they don't know exactly how they want to structure a job and that you should "carve" your own path only to be disappointed because what you've designed isn't what they expected. I felt this way--still do at times. However, after talking with other workers in similiar new postions, I've learned that this supervisor really wants you to "carve" your path--work your way through it. If this holds true, I will very much enjoy designing instructional technology services to meet their needs.

I had mixed feelings about the remedial math portion of my job. I wasn't sure how it would work to be split between two different roles. After my first week, I'm glad that I will be doing the math remediation. I think it will be very beneficial to take on the same role that the teachers I will service have. I will be able to develop services for them through my experience of "living" what they live. I'm thinking that I should probably switch and teach remedial reading next year.

Action research. I haven't had any real time to spend with teachers to discuss what problems they encounter or their technology concerns. Since action research is "I" centered, it would make sense for me to do something related to math. I have been thinking about the type of action research I'd like to do. A current list of ideas:

How can technology be utilized to support remedial math instruction
How can integrated technology lessons be developed in such a way as to support 30 minute time blocks once per week
How can one computer, a 30 minute time block, and 5 students be used in remedial math instruction?
How can professional development be provided to dispersed itinerant teachers?
How can handhelds be used by remedial math students?
Remedial math and the usage of audio recordings to provided practice and basic skill acquisition
- (not fully developed yet) thinking of using the ipods with their audio capabilities for things like basic math facts rhymes, vocabulary, something like that. These could be left with the classroom teachers for use throughout the week with the student(s)

I'll explore reading ideas in my next journal. Wow! It's good to finally have a home again!