Revised Idea for Action Research

After speaking with my campus site supervisor, head principal, and assistant principal over technology initiative,  we have determined that Flipped Classroom implementation poses major challenges with action research on my campus due to socioeconomic background of many students. We are still going to implement it within the freshman science classrooms, but to a lower degree to account for issues of technology available outside of the classroom and because implementing Flipped classrooms throughout campus would not be best for the entire campus.

On the other hand, there is a real lack of support and training for teachers to develop technological confidence. As a result, most technology usage on campus is by the teacher via PowerPoint, document cameras, and projectors.

I will be targeting all teachers on campus, but primarily focusing on core subject area teachers. All teachers are expected to be proficient in basic technological usages which are critical to data tracking, communication, and resource banks. Each teacher will also be required to select at least one program of which will be utilized to enhance learning through student use. Examples for student use are StudyIsland, Evernote, Twitter, or Glogster.

All teachers will be included due to the campus-wide initiative to drive student used technology for learning. Teachers will be surveyed at the beginning of the year using a Likert scale system regarding proficiency and comfort level with 8 software programs which are considered to be base competency, support for technology, comfort level for implementing student used technology, and access to hardware. They will also be given a menu of student utilized programs, including a brief description of each, to choose the top 2 which they have interest. The choices will be used to set up professional development and mentoring schedule.

At the end of the school year, we will survey teachers again regarding core competency programs, comfort level of student used technology, access to hardware, and support for technology. The goal is to have more teachers being fluent with technology programs and confident in implementing technology usage for students.

1st Idea for Action Research

The purpose is to determine if technology will increase student engagement and learning.

After meeting the campus principal I’m interested in using the Study Island program as possibly a method of Flipped classroom. She described Flipped classroom as where students take notes and get basic instruction on their own before units to introduce themselves to topics. Then during instructional time, teachers are able to spend more time on clarifying, discussing, and applying concepts. Study island provides a summary and information where students can take notes and quiz themselves on understanding. Then in class we can spend more time doing labs or practicing STAAR questions.

Both students and teachers will benefit from the action research study. I plan first to teach students how to process information using Mind Map to take notes. Many students are only accustomed to copying information from PowerPoint and not having to decipher information on their own. The note passages in Study Island are more rigorous than copying from PowerPoint. So students will also benefit from having to process the more advanced reading. STAAR requires them to be able to decipher information from more difficult readings than they have been exposed to in class. Students also will benefit from the ability to know their weaknesses from the beginning of the topic,   have time and ability to go over the information again. Instead of only quizzing students after all learning has occurred, Study Island allows students to retake quizzes with different questions over the same standards.

Teachers benefit from the action research study by allowing them to use technology to track student success. Having Flipped classroom allows more time to revisit and concepts that majority of students missed. Also for my campus, teaching students how to process information using Mind Maps will increase student autonomy. Many students feel that they cannot do if the teacher does not explain everything. Giving them the skills to process on their own from the beginning of the year should promote accountability on their own.

Blogs for Leaders

Blogs are a great tool for expressing ideas and getting feedback from others. People blog about their everyday lives, travel experiences, relationships, and families. Why not blog for education?

Educational leaders can use blogs in a number of ways. Blogs can connect leaders around the globe. International networking allows for leaders to use each other as a sounding board for ideas. Often bouncing ideas off others gives us more clarity and insight.

Blogs can also be used to track research and learning experiences. I will be using this blog frequently during my journey to achieve a Master's degree. As I implement my action research and embark on an 18 month internship, I plan to share my experiences and would like you to give me feedback.

Reflection is key to development. Often we reflect silently. Blogging is a way to share reflections with others and to get feedback on ideas. I welcome your responses and ask that you help me with my leadership journey.

Leadership blogging is a great way to share ideas, reflect on experiences, and track learning.

Action WHAT?

The educational world is full of new buzz words and phrases. Often it is just a new look on an old practice. The new buzz…. ACTION RESEARCH.  My first response was “Action WHAT?”

After a little practical research about action research, I’ve come to the realization that action research is a process done to improve practices of teachers and leaders. Action research isn’t just limited to the educational world. It is a practice that all professionals could use as a method of reflection and development of best practices.

So what is action research? According to Dana (2009), action research is the process of reflecting on your own practices, posing questions based on reflection, researching and implementing change, then collecting data and analyzing effects of change. True action research would continue this process over and over.

In reality, action research is a process that we often do without being told to do so. For instance, in college I struggled to understand Calculus 2. After doing poorly on the first quiz, I quickly realized that my current method of note-taking and sparse practicing of concepts was not successful. I then decided to actively seek help and joined a study group to practice problems and use as a sounding board to clarify my thought process. The next quiz grade improved drastically. As a result, I sought out study groups in more classes.

What does Calculus have to do with action research? I followed the same steps as Elliot describes (as cited in Dana, 2009)

            (1) Identified an area of growth – my study habits.

            (2) Formulated strategy or action to resolve problem – maybe join a study group, take better notes, and practice more.

            (3) Implement strategy and evaluate effectiveness – joined group and evaluated next quiz grades.

            (4) Clarify situation and identify new areas of improvement- realized that study groups could be applied in other classes for increased learning.

Action research is a tool to enhance growth of educational leaders and even students. It follows a natural flow of analysis and reflection of what we do in our classrooms and schools. The more we reflect and act, the more likely we are to have continued growth.