Terrilyn Ladd

Activity: Assume the Role of AT Department Leader (August 2012- present)

End of the Year Summary for 2013-2014 School Year (C. k.)
I have been functioning in the role of lead teacher for the Assistive Technology (AT)
Department since August of 2012. The 2013-14 school year was my second year in the lead
teacher role full time. Below is a summary of some of my duties that I performed well and some
things that I did not do so well.
What went well?
Some of the things that I did well throughout the school year included:
1. Data management system: I was able to successfully keep track of the AT referrals that
came into our AT office. All referrals that were received in our office were entered into a
digital data management system and a notebook (as backup). I was able to assign the
evaluations, trainings, and support visits to the AT teachers in an equitable manner.

2. Schedules: I was able to develop school zone assignments for the AT teachers. Each AT
teacher was assigned a certain number of elementary, middle and high schools. The
schools were generally in the same vicinity. The AT teachers were able to maintain their
own schedules as long as they were able to complete their directed tasks for the week. I
was able to view and monitor schedules of AT team through online calendar.

3. Attendance: I was able to spend more time in the office to complete lead teacher tasks
this year as compared to years past. This was the second year that I have functioned as
the full-time lead teacher. Previously, my time was split between the schools in which I
served and the AT Department. I was able to attend most IEP meetings to which I was
invited and presented AT evaluation results in a report.

4. Support: I was able to provide more support visits to system-wide classrooms and
teachers in general. I travelled to classrooms where teachers had difficulty operating
standard classroom technology. I was able to train the teacher on the technology use and
help to integrate the technology into the classroom.

Some of the things that I did not do as well on throughout the year included:
1. Providing timely feedback: Teachers have asked me questions about technology,
procedures and equipment. My first response, if I could not answer the question right
away, would be that I would check on the concern and respond at a later time.
Sometimes, I would get distracted by other projects or tasks that I had to complete for my
supervisor. It may be a week before I answered the question posed to me. I am always
apologetic and I do not intentionally take a long time to respond. I get called away and
sometimes forget to respond as I am changing tasks.

2. Grants: I was not successful this year on securing grant funds. Writing grants takes a lot
of time because of the research and proposals that need to be written. Some people write
grants for a living and are always busy. It is difficult for me to assess, train and deliver
equipment yet still have the type of time that the grant research and submission takes. I
have attended some grant writing seminars this year but I have been unable to write any
successful grants at this time.

3. Time management: There is nothing for me to say here other than I have not been as
successful as I need to be with managing my time. My good intentions to have all my
tasks completed at the end of the day have gone unfulfilled. I literally work from the time
I get to work until I go home but I still have some tasks left over.


What would I do differently next year?

I would focus improving the major issues that I had this school year. One of them is the
rate at which I provide feedback. It is easy for me to track my appointments because I use
a digital calendar/appointment book. However, it is difficult for me to keep track of all of
the questions people ask me and I need to respond. My intention is to begin the school
year with type of data management system for questions I receive. It will more than likely
be a hard copy because it is easier to maneuver.

I will spend more time researching grants and submitting proposals for grant funds. I
have been charged with securing additional funds because the department budgets have
been cut so severely. I plan to attend more grant writing seminars that focus more on the
strategies to use to guarantee grant funding.

I will have to improve with my time management. Perhaps I can utilize a strategy that we
talked about in Dr. Freemans class. We talked about doing a task-basket analysis. You
look at each of your tasks and prioritize them by importance and place similar tasks in a
basket together. As you complete tasks, you move them to a completed task basket.
Every task has to be addressed at some point. My concern is that I do not want to waste
valuable time making lists of tasks to complete instead of actually completing the tasks
on the lists.