Vita development

Well, this process was a little more difficult than I thought it would be. It was difficult deciding what to keep and what to trash (and since I haven't had anything published since my patriotic essay, "What the Bicentennial Means to Me" in 1976, I am feeling a bit inadequate!). So, here is the first of what I'm sure there will be many- I look forward to hearing your feedback. :)

Laura Jowell Gilcrease

605 Thormeyer Road, Seguin, TX  78155

(W) (512)398-0322; (H) (512)557-4459

laurie_gilcrease@yahoo.com

Education/Certification

M.Ed.                                                 Education Administration, Texas State University,

                                                            San Marcos, TX 2008

BA                                                       History, Southwest Texas State University,

                                                            San Marcos, TX 1991

Superintendent Certificate             Texas (in progress)

Principal Certificate                         Texas

Teacher Certificate                           Secondary Social Studies Composite (6-12), Texas

                                                            Secondary English Language Arts (6-12), Texas

                                                            Secondary History (6-12), Texas

                                                            Secondary English (6-12), Texas

Administrative and Leadership Experience

Assistant Principal, Lockhart High School,

Lockhart Independent School District,

Lockhart, TX, 2009 – present

• TAKS coordinator for campus of 900+ students along with the discipline management campus which included scheduling of test administrator training, scheduling of facilities, placement of students and faculty, coordinating meals for extended testers, and accounting for all testing material at all times.
• Lead administrator for Science, English, and Special Education departments. Responsibilities included administrating ARDS, evaluating and providing guidance for teachers and programs using the district’s evaluation instrument, informal walkthroughs, and conferences. Recommended, planned and scheduled professional development for staff.
• Shared responsibilities of students’ graduation plan with paired counselor which included course selection, personal conferences, guidance on secondary testing, arranging extended school days and tutoring, Saturday School TAKS tutoring, and arranging transportation and childcare for those students who required it.
• Lead administrator for extracurricular activities which included drill team, cheerleaders, and custodians. Responsibilities included calendar scheduling, assigning custodians for certain activities and school areas, development of cheerleader/drill team constitution and enforcement of rules and regulations, and oversee tryouts for both cheer and drill teams.

Assistant Principal, Gonzales High School,

Gonzales Independent School District,

Gonzales, TX, 2008-2009

• 9th and 10^th grade Assistant Principal in charge of discipline management and attendance monitoring for 600+ students.
• Evaluated and provided guidance for a variety of teachers throughout the school using the state developed PDAS system.
• Establish criteria and schedule after school TAKS tutorial for students in need.
• Monitor attendance, mail warning letters, and file on students who are truant from school. Form committee to discuss students with attendance issues and whether or not credit will be denied for lack of attendance.
• Administrator on duty for all extracurricular activities, overseeing cheerleader/dance squads.
• Coordinating with counselor on course schedules and student schedules.

Teacher /Social Studies Department Chair,

Navarro High School, Seguin, TX 2003-2008

·        Classroom teacher for Government, Economics, Sociology, Psychology, and Senior TAKS courses.  Lesson planning, field trip coordinator, develop curriculum for seniors who have failed on the ELA and Social Studies 11^th grade TAKS tests.  Initiated the Sociology and Psychology courses at the high school- class participation went from 9 students in the first year to over 50 for the third year. (Course is only opened to juniors and seniors- total school population of entire school at 437)

• Participated in full inclusion for special education students.  Teamed with teachers across the curriculum as a mentor for entire school inclusion program initiated in the 2006-2007 school year.
• Social Studies Department Head- coordination of department meetings, professional development, and vertical alignment of curriculum.
• Lead class sponsor- planning and organization of fundraisers, Junior/Senior Prom, and parent volunteers.
• Site-base committee- worked on campus improvement plans, re-evaluation of school-wide discipline program.
• Superintendent’s Advisory Council- representative for the high school on this committee that meets monthly to discuss the needs of Navarro ISD.  Also dealt with calendar planning, third-party insurance administrators, and other services for the district.
• UIL Coach for Current Events and Social Studies- coaching teams on their respective events, helped in the organization of the district UIL meet- proctoring events, entering of contestants, entering of results.
• Wrote and published tri-weekly newsletter for the high school.  The Panther Press was mailed out with every 3-week grade report, 9-week report cards, and posted on the high school website.
• Webmaster- responsible for updating, design and posting of the high school website.  In addition to the school website, trained and helped teachers create and update their personal pages to serve as an additional tool in communication with parents and the community.
• Assist cheerleading coach with summer camp duties.
• 8^th grade Spring Break Trip Coordinator- planning of the annual trip to Washington D.C. for all 8^th graders interested in going.  Worked with tour company to schedule all stops on trip, with personal scheduling of White House tours, laying of wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and Congress.

Teacher,

Navarro Junior High School, Seguin, TX 2001-2003

• Classroom teacher for 8^th grade ELA and U.S. History.  Lesson planning, field trip coordinator, and lead teacher on student support meetings.
• Textbook adoption committee- Social Studies.
• UIL Oral Reading coach.
• Site-Based committee member.
• 8^th grade Washington DC trip coordinator

Coach,

Navarro High School, Seguin, TX 2003-2008

• Parent Volunteer Liaison for Athletic department- planned and scheduled volunteers for the volleyball and basketball tournaments as well as concession stand duty and the Panther Relays. (through present)
• Digital Statistics manager for volleyball and the girls’ and boys’ basketball team.  Used Digital Scouting program to enter statistics and print appropriate reports for coaches as well as sending in statistics to the local news outlets, San Antonio paper, and state coaching associations. (through present)
• Development and placement of off-season training program for all of girls athletics.
• Freshman Volleyball- schedule bus transportation for all squads, assist in practices, bookkeeper/timer for junior high games, coordinate Parent’s Night and presentations.
• Assistant Varsity Basketball- assist with junior high practices, equipment orders, design of uniforms, bookkeeper/timer for junior high games, coordinate Parent’s Night and presentations.
• Head Girls Track- organized practice, scheduling of meets, placement of event coaches and of athletes in events.  Oversee high school and junior high girls track program.  Develop conditioning program for athletes and their different events.
• Scout teams that might be played during post-season play- record statistics from games and prepare reports for head coach and athletes.

Coach,

Navarro Junior High School, Seguin, TX 2001-2003

• 7^th & 8^th grade girls coach responsible for scheduling of transportation, collaborate with head coach to develop competitive junior high program to compliment successful high school program.

• Bookkeeper/timer for high school games.

Professional Development

Lone Star Legal Conference- Region XIII

ILD Training/Certification                                                

PDAS Training/Certification                                                        

GT/ Government AP Conference- Texas Lutheran University

History Alive! Level 1 training

TCEA Conference and workshops on Adobe Photoshop

Honors and Awards

• Teacher of the Year- Navarro High School                                              2006-2007
• Teacher of the Year- Navarro Junior High School                                  2002-2003
• District Champion track team (4 years)                                                    2004-2005

(Highest number of athletes to Regional Track Meet &

to State Track meet in Navarro history)

• Assistant in VB program- 10 year district champions                           2003-2006

Regional quarterfinalists; Regional finalist

• Assistant in BB program- 3 year district champions                              2003-2006

Regional quarterfinalists; Regional finalist

Community Involvement

Member-Friedens United Church of Christ

Sunday school Teacher-Friedens United Church of Christ

Theta Psi House Director- Zeta Tau Alpha Housing Corporation

Board member- Navarro Educational Foundation

Member- Mid-Texas Symphony League

Professional Affiliations

Texas Association of Secondary School Principals

Texas Girls’ Coaches Association

References

References will be included on the following page, if requested.

Wiki Page set up

Setting up a Wiki page was so much easier than I thought it would be. I watched a short video on YouTube and hoped that the actual process would be as easy as it seemed in the video.

There wasn’t a link to any Wiki information from the class website, so I wasn’t sure what kind of page I needed to set up. Did the program already have a group page that I would need an invitation to join or should I start up my own? Would I do a free page or upgrade to the $50 page? I decided that I would start with a free page and then upgrade if needed.

After watching the short video, I feel that this type of tool will be invaluable when working on group projects with other members of my cohort. The time you save in not having to email back and forth and then go to another page to edit will be very beneficial for people with hectic schedules. This can also allow us to work simultaneously on a paper or project, getting immediate feedback. This would make projects truly more collaborative in nature. In addition, this can be a great tool to introduce to the teachers on my campus to work on collaborative lesson plans and school improvement projects.

What do you know about Action Research?

Action research is a useful tool that can be used in many different situations and at many different levels. I believe that it is always wise to do a “triage” survey of the campus or district to see what is the most pressing need or the target to focus on first prior to developing an action research plan.

Action research concentrates on areas where you as the educator, or team of educators, look at areas that you have some direct influence over- not abstract concepts but more of the areas that affect the day to day processes and culture/climate of a campus. It is best done in a collaborative manner with many of the stakeholders participating in the process. By involving the stakeholders of a school in the process, everyone can take ownership of the plan that is developed thereby insuring a greater level of success. 

In his article, “When teachers are researchers, teaching improves”, Watts stated that action research is based on the following assumptions that teachers and principal work best on problems that they have identified for themselves and are more effective when encouraged to examine and assess their own work and then consider ways of working on the problem.(Journal of Staff Development, 1985, p.118) It is important when developing an action research plan that needs are assessed and proper collection and analysis of data are conducted in order to make an informed decision. A decision that is made today should not be laying the groundwork of the problems of tomorrow.

Action research can be a useful tool when looking at policies, procedures and practices on your campus. You can address a declining climate, attendance issues, procedures that do not seem to be serving your campus as well as they could be, just to name a few.

Educational Leaders use of blogs

Educational Leaders use of Blogs

Blogs are a great way to tap into 21^st century technology to communicate with staff, students, parents, and the community. Blogging can be used to spread information on upcoming events or unexpected occurrences (i.e. bad weather days, school closing, and crisis information), conduct an on-line book study, or share good news of the happenings on your campus. Through the blog, you could also keep up with those who are accessing the information and invite others to leave comments or give suggestions.

First Post

The journey has begun. My first official post on my first official blog- here's hoping to a successful experience for my writing and those who read it!