5.1 Needs Assessment
Candidates conduct needs assessments to determine school-wide, faculty, grade-level, and subject area strengths and weaknesses to inform the content and delivery of technology-based professional learning programs. (PSC 5.1/ISTE 4a)
Artifact
My SWOT Analysis was conducted as part of my studies to help me identify strengths and weaknesses within our school and helped me learn to apply strategies to help identify, learn, and improve instruction within my classroom and within our school. I conducted the SWOT Analysis individually and used it as part of my needs assessment for the Current Reality project.
Standard 5.1 Diversity, Cultural Understanding & Global Awareness – has candidates’ model and facilitate the use of digital tools and resources to support diverse student needs, enhance cultural understanding, and increase global awareness. This artifact demonstrates my ability to conduct a needs assessment to determine school-wide, faculty, grade level, and subject area strengths and weaknesses. The SWOT Analysis is developed around the ISTE’s Eight Essential Conditions, which is the national standard for instructional technology implementation. This artifact helped me reflect on and decompose areas of strength and weakness in the various segments that comprise my school. By using instruments like ISTE’s Eight Essential Conditions and Jim Knight’s Impact Cycle, I am prepared to identify, improve, and inform others on research-based best practices that I have used in my classroom and beyond.
What I learned by creating this artifact is I strengthened the ability to move out of my comfort zone. I have become aware not only of areas of strength within my classroom and school, but also areas I need to improve on personally to be an effective digital leader. Having completed this artifact, the research surrounding it, and reflecting on the data it dealt with has helped me gain confidence in my own practice, which a leader must have if they expect to be able to assist and facilitate that same sort of change in others. One of the most humbling things I have discovered about myself during the career change is that just being creative and good at technology isn’t enough. Teachers require a very diverse skill set to be effective. Digital leaders need to be even more than teachers if they want to be the best. I like that by researching, analyzing, and synthesizing much of what I learned to create artifacts like the SWOT Analysis, I now know that I can lead, and I have the work to prove that. It isn’t just rhetoric, there are artifacts that provide proof.
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This artifact was developed to improve my school. By being humble and reflecting on the conclusions that I have drawn, my school and various sub-areas of my school would benefit by making needed changes. The SWOT Analysis could be assessed in several ways. I know that much of the change and improvement that would be affected by such an analysis would translate into improvements in state and national mandated assessments; however, you could also assess its effectiveness through surveys and evaluation instruments that are already a part of our system.
References
Knight, J. (2017). The impact cycle: What instructional coaches should do to foster powerful improvements in teaching. Corwin.
Sheninger, E. (2019). Digital Leadership: Changing Paradigms for Changing Times: Digital Leadership: Changing Paradigms for Changing Times (Second ed.). Corwin.
Standard 5.1 Diversity, Cultural Understanding & Global Awareness – has candidates’ model and facilitate the use of digital tools and resources to support diverse student needs, enhance cultural understanding, and increase global awareness. This artifact demonstrates my ability to conduct a needs assessment to determine school-wide, faculty, grade level, and subject area strengths and weaknesses. The SWOT Analysis is developed around the ISTE’s Eight Essential Conditions, which is the national standard for instructional technology implementation. This artifact helped me reflect on and decompose areas of strength and weakness in the various segments that comprise my school. By using instruments like ISTE’s Eight Essential Conditions and Jim Knight’s Impact Cycle, I am prepared to identify, improve, and inform others on research-based best practices that I have used in my classroom and beyond.
What I learned by creating this artifact is I strengthened the ability to move out of my comfort zone. I have become aware not only of areas of strength within my classroom and school, but also areas I need to improve on personally to be an effective digital leader. Having completed this artifact, the research surrounding it, and reflecting on the data it dealt with has helped me gain confidence in my own practice, which a leader must have if they expect to be able to assist and facilitate that same sort of change in others. One of the most humbling things I have discovered about myself during the career change is that just being creative and good at technology isn’t enough. Teachers require a very diverse skill set to be effective. Digital leaders need to be even more than teachers if they want to be the best. I like that by researching, analyzing, and synthesizing much of what I learned to create artifacts like the SWOT Analysis, I now know that I can lead, and I have the work to prove that. It isn’t just rhetoric, there are artifacts that provide proof.
.
This artifact was developed to improve my school. By being humble and reflecting on the conclusions that I have drawn, my school and various sub-areas of my school would benefit by making needed changes. The SWOT Analysis could be assessed in several ways. I know that much of the change and improvement that would be affected by such an analysis would translate into improvements in state and national mandated assessments; however, you could also assess its effectiveness through surveys and evaluation instruments that are already a part of our system.
References
Knight, J. (2017). The impact cycle: What instructional coaches should do to foster powerful improvements in teaching. Corwin.
Sheninger, E. (2019). Digital Leadership: Changing Paradigms for Changing Times: Digital Leadership: Changing Paradigms for Changing Times (Second ed.). Corwin.
