Reflection on Week 4

I discussed my Action Research Plan with my mentor and we both like the way it is, so, I haven't changed anything from my original posting.  However, I know that once I actually get in to implementing the plan that new challenges will arise and I will have to re-adjust my plan.  I really learned a lot from reading the Harris text and think the Delphi Method of research will be the most useful technique for me to use.  I am also going to be using the Nominal Group Technique because I think it is important in any research plan to include those who are most directly related to the research you are conducting, in this case, the teachers.  I really feel that their opinions and thoughts will be what makes my research a success.  I work with a fantastic group of teachers and I am so excited to see what we can achieve through my research action plan.

Draft of my Action Research Plan

Here is the action research plan I have chosen to complete.  I am going to try find what best motivates students to learn and if completing homework helps students to be more successful.

OUTCOMES	ACTIVITIES	RESOURCES/ RESEARCH TOOLS NEEDED	RESPONSIBILITY TO ADDRESS ACTIVITIES	TIME LINE	Benchmarks/ ASSESSMENT	Revisions to SIP/PIP based on monitoring and assessments
To see the different ways teachers motivate students	7/8 Staff Questionnaire	Computer, paper	Mine; core teachers	May or Over the summer
To see how students interpret the ways teachers/parents/self motivate them	7/8th Grade Student Questionnaire	Computer, paper, staff questionnaires	Mine;students	August/September after summer break
To see how parents motivate their child / to see how parents interpret ways teachers motivate their child	Parent Questionnaire	Computer, paper, staff questionnaires	Mine; parents	August/September after break
To see the percentage of students turning in assignments	Teachers give me percentages	Grade Books	6/7/8 Grade Teachers	August/September/October
To help teachers try different methods of motivating students to complete homework	Conduct a meeting with fellow teachers to offer ideas collected through staff questionnaires / percentage data	PowerPoint / Graphs	Mine	August maybe as part of a staff development
To see percentage of students who are passing Benchmarks	Collect Benchmark Data	Printouts of Test scores	Principals or Department Heads	October	October District Curriculum Based Assessment - CBA
To see what teachers think about homework completion versus Test success	Conduct interviews with Core teachers to show data of percentage of hw turned in and success on the test	Printouts of homework percentages and test score; I will use a PowerPoint and graphs	Mine; core techers	October
To see what students think about homework completion versus Test success and if there is a correlation.	Conduct interviews with a focus group of students who did and did not turn in homework to show data of percentage of hw turned in and success on the test.	Printouts of homework percentages and test score; I will use a PowerPoint and graphs	Mine	October	To see what teachers think about homework completion versus Test success	Conduct interviews with Core teachers to show data of percentage of hw turned in and success on the test
To see what parents think about homework completion versus Test success	Conduct interviews with parents to show data of percentage of hw turned in and success on the test	Printouts of homework percentages and test score; I will use a PowerPoint and graphs	Mine	October
To see if thoughts have changed about homework completion and test success	7/8th Grade Staff, students, parents	I will resend questionnaires to see if thoughts have changed about motivation for completing homework and if they believe they had a relationship to good test scores.	Mine	November
To see how students are doing on tests given by the teacher	7/8 Teachers and Students	I will ask teachers to get me their percentage of passing rates on tests they give to students in their class throughout the 9 weeks.	Mine/Teachers	August – October	Chapter / Unit Tests

What I Learned in Week 2

I really learned a lot through week 2 and have gotten extremely motivated to begin working on my action research plan.  I never realized all the different areas that could have issues arise in the school system and how they all relate to one another.  Sitting down and having to really reflect on my school environment and changes that needed to be made helped me realize that I need to do more reflecting of my own classroom.  I tweak my lessons plans from year to year to try to improve student successes for that particular lesson, but I don’t know that I always look at the big picture until testing comes up.  I also worry only about my classroom and helping kids be successful in my room, I don’t worry about the rest of the school.  This week has helped me realize that I need to start thinking about the students as a whole child, instead of just in my classroom.  If we can help students achieve success across the board, then we are reaching our goal.  Constant research and action plans should be developed and implemented year long.

How Blogging Can be Useful

Blogs can be an extremely useful tool to not only document and reflect on research you are conducting, but also to get ideas from others who are doing the same.  Blogging is comparative to online journaling and can effective when laying out your plan of action to foresee where problems might arise.  It also allows for you to come back and reflect after a time period when you have implemented changes to your campus.  Posting online also opens up your thoughts and ideas to the entire world and allows for more points of views to give advice on different topics.  It allows you to interact with people, whom you have never met, yet, may have been through similar experiences and help you develop changes that would be beneficial to your school and leadership skills.  Reflection is a critical took in education and blogging is a way get many different perspectives.

Action Research and How to Use It

Reading through the Dana text, Leading with Passion and Knowledge, I have learned about a new way to analyze and reflect on educational situations:  action research.  Action research is the process to analyze schools through the eyes of those involved in the day-to-day procedures, essentially, the administrators and teachers.  This new type of research differs from the traditional in that it involves bringing in an outsider to help fix problems in the school.  She describes “research” as a word with “baggage [and is associated with] long hours in the library,’ and ‘crunching numbers” (Dana, 2009, p. 6).  Dana suggests using the word inquiry instead because it does not carry as many negative connotations.

Action research can be used in different settings within a campus.  It can be teacher-student orientated or administration-teacher orientated.  Teachers can use action research to find what motivates students to learn and how to develop strategies to include some of those ideas.  They can use research to find out how to build more positive relationships among students to prevent bullying or student's relationships with teachers.  Administrators can use research to determine what strengths and/or weaknesses exist within their campus and the steps necessary to make changes.  In other words, action research helps leaders take a look at their own leadership skills and how they can help their learners grow using action research.

Reference List
Dana, N. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: The Principal as action researcher. Thousand Oak, CA: Corwin Press