Action Research Plan Update

I have been holding weekly meetings for teacher staff and administrative collaboration. In the meetings we share curriculum and instructional ideas as well as integrate Smart Board technology. We have not gotten to the point in the year where we are sharing enrichment activities and classroom management ideas. We will be there very soon. We are currently identifying and discussing student failure, prevention strategies and integrating activities between grade levels. The assessment part of this activity has not been implemented yet; each team/department will develop a plan for documenting the activities staff will be engaged in during the school-based professional development and staff collaboration. Then the information will be collected by administrators weekly. The current topic at hand is keeping parents updated on classroom news via class website and increase involvement in the current parent committee. This will increase positive communication opportunities with our student’s families and caregivers.

Now looking at the plan again I realize that I do need to contact a few fellow staff members and the administrative team to help with the continuation of my plan. We are heading in the right direction and need to keep the momentum going in order to be successful. My goal is for each and every teacher to function as an integral member of the school instructional team and make a highly significant contribution to the educational program through positive communication and idea sharing. The outcome will be a more positive working environment for the staff and students, trust among staff, students, and parents, as well as a bank of homogenous ideas for all to use.

Reflection on Reseach for Teachers

The wonderings and questions part of this class was the best part. I was able to really dig into serious issues in education and I was able to look at what others thought were serious to them. At first I wanted to research the process and effects of strengthening teacher evaluation. There is a need for a more complete teacher evaluation to evaluate teachers more fairly and accurately. Principals need to go beyond the surface with observations and need to know what goes on behind the scenes.  Principals and teachers will benefit from a better evaluation process. I know some teachers hang their career on every word, suggestions, criticism that their principal or appraiser makes. It’s difficult to understand how an evaluator can give a rating based on one hour in your classroom. It seems superficial and a more comprehensive evaluation will really create a complete picture of the teacher and his or her accomplishments for the year. I also wanted to look into parent involvement in elementary schools. How does parent involvement affect student achievement? What are the best ways for parents to get involved with their child’s education? How can a school create a partnership around student learning? The results will positively affect the student directly as well as the parents. Due to the increase of parent involvement in elementary schools, the teachers, principals, and schools will see greater results. Targeted parent involvement to solve a particular problem such as poor attendance or behavior can also be beneficial.

After some discussion with my supervisor we decided as our first endeavor together, I will research the topic of school culture. School Culture - In what ways can our school develop a collaborative culture characterized by teachers from different grade levels communicating, understanding, and sharing expectations for all of our students? Teaching staff may not have a clear understanding of the expectations of students in consecutive grade levels. Cultivating a culture on campus where teachers can collaborate collectively about student progress and achievement is the goal. This research will mainly pertain to the faculty and staff in my elementary school which is Pre-Kindergarten through Second Grade. There are eight kindergarten teachers, eight first grade teachers, and seven second grade teachers. I will be teaching first grade so I will mainly be working with the kindergarten, first grade, and second grade teachers when discussing student expectations, successes, and low achievers. We will be working together to ensure that each level of students are prepared to be successful in the next year/grade. I will be new to this school so at first, I will be observing their methods of collaborating. Then I will suggest new and improved methods and strategies of communication throughout the grade levels. I hope to implement a new technique or protocol for meeting and discussing student issues. In the end, I hope to help create more open communication for all teachers and staff to improve the overall education of the students at our school.

Although there will be some resistance to this new plan, my supervisor made it clear that she would be supportive. Some drawbacks to this plan are the interactions within the groups can be unproductive. The ability to manage all groups and ensure an effective discussion on school and student learning will be difficult.  This plan is time consuming. There will be meetings outside of the working hours, how will the teachers be compensated, or will they voluntarily stay after hours? To prevent any negative attitudes towards this plan, I have to stress the importance of our jobs. This will create shared vision and outcome for all students, an open, trusting, caring culture, and shared leadership that develops responsibility in all members of the community, that helps people respect the need for operating for the common good and that both challenges and supports people through the change process. This is time to work together to support change and learning and increase collegiality with communication procedures to allow for knowledgeable participation, conflict resolution, valuing difference, and cross-gender, cross-cultural, cross-generational dialogue. Authentic partnerships will be created that expand the network and increase everyone's opportunities to learn. We will be able to discuss classroom and school environments where all "care about each other and help each other learn", effective teaching and learning strategies that motivate students, that addresses a variety of learning styles and that helps to promote life-long processes, skills, attitudes and knowledge of learning,  and finally assessment procedures that continuously measure students' ability to use knowledge in a variety of contexts, using a variety of assessment methods and a variety of assessors, including student self-assessment.

I have high hopes for this research project and I am incredibly excited but nervous. I will be a new teacher on campus and to the district. I hope I will have the support the staff expressed at the time of hire. This class opened my eyes to the possibilities of action rather than following and complaining.

Developing My Action Research Plan

School Culture

In what ways can our school develop a collaborative culture characterized by teachers from different grade levels communicating, understanding, and sharing expectations for all of our students? Teaching staff may not have a clear understanding of the expectations of students in consecutive grade levels. Cultivating a culture on campus where teachers can collaborate collectively about student progress and achievement is the goal.

Setting the Foundation – A learning organization has a common purpose and focus, a commitment to a clear vision, and collaboration on the issues regarding improvement. Collaboration represents a systematic process in which teachers, support staff, and administrators work interdependently in order to impact their classroom or school practice in ways that lead to better results for their students, team and school.

Analyzing Data – There will be three focused collections of data that include student assessment measures and scores, teacher interviews as well as administrative interviews, and a collection of student work and artifacts.

Developing Deeper Understanding – The instructional team will work as an effective professional learning community grounded by a culture of best practices.

Engaging in Self-Reflection – Some reflective questions to ask are: Do I possess the skills needed to conduct a successful action research project that reflects my selected solution? What are some ways to enhance the quality of my action research project? How will this action research project affect the teaching and leading at my school?

Exploring Programmatic Patterns – Ensuring all teaching staff and students get the resources they need to be successful.

Determining Direction – First the administrative staff will need to determine set priorities and standards of gathering information. Then the administrative staff will need to gather resources and accommodate for the teaching staff. As a whole, set an agenda for the school year on topics that will be discussed throughout the collaboration meetings, urgent and necessary issues.

Taking Action for School Improvement – Organizing committees or groups is vital; the enrichment team, specialists, etc. Monitoring improvement actions, do any of the activities need to be altered? Have any of the timelines, resources, or persons responsible changed?

Sustaining Improvement – Use of the CARE Model (concerns, affirmations, recommendations, and evaluation) will help examine and improve this project throughout the years.

The Passions That Drive Your Journey, Common Action Research Topics in School Settings

1.    Staff development – How does the process of peer coaching help veteran, mid-career, and new teachers continue to learn and grow, and what role can the principal play in facilitating this process? This is extremely important because teacher should not be content with what they know or what they learned 5, 10, or 15 years ago. Education is an ever growing and evolving profession and in order to be the best for the students, teachers need to be updated and refreshed on the methods and strategies.

2.    Curriculum development – How can principals use learning communities as a tool for teachers and principals in the transformation of the writing curriculum at this school? Writing seems like a daunting task for the fourth grade teachers. If the students were better prepared and versed in the writing process and standards, this task would become more of an enrichment task rather then and intervention task. It is important to discuss issues like this in vertical teams and implement a solution for future benefits.

3.    Individual teacher(s) – What types of support help new teachers succeed? Studies have shown that new teachers usually leave education within the first five years in the classroom. It seems that new teacher get support for their first two years and after that they are left to fend for themselves. So there needs to be a consistent flow of support beyond the first five year and reanalyze the support given and verify if it what is needed.

4.    Individual student(s) – What happens to struggling readers in the school after the leave intervention programs? This seemed to be a problem at my current school. Students who were succeeding in kindergarten and first grade were not in fourth and fifth grade. What was happening? This would entail lots of research within the neighborhood, parents, and friends that students interacted with. As well as the bridge grades of second and third grade, examine the rigor in the classrooms and the methods of intervention.

5.    School culture/community – What role does a weekly school wide meeting play in creating a caring school culture? I find this method of support deeply impacts new teachers to stay committed to teaching. Visitors can feel the culture of a school by walking in through the building and watching the interactions of all students and adults. The students respond to the positive interactions between the staff and faculty. This is what creates a wonderful learning and caring environment.  

6.    Leadership – How can a principal build a cohesive and spirited team as well as promote teacher leadership within the school? This is an extension of the school culture. The principal needs to have the trust and support of all teachers and staff. It is also the principal’s job to create the inviting working environment and create that connection between administration and staff as well as staff and staff.

7.    Management – How can we all work together to make lunch time a cooperative and pleasant time for everyone? I find this is often a problem or was a problem for many elementary schools. Watching students at lunch is often an indicator of whether the school management is conducted poorly or proper and fitting. Students at lunch are a reflection of the school and the staff. The behavior at lunch is also an indicator of how the rest of the day may go. That is usually the most difficult as a teacher to redirect and force back on track.  

8.    School performance – In what ways will implementing the continuous improvement model help increase student achievement? I often see most staff is concerned with improving only the bottom quartile students. In which case, will not improve the school’s ratings. We as teachers need to understand and be reminded that we are here to grow all students even the high achieving ones.  RTI is crucial for the struggling students but sad to say that most of the higher level students are missed and not pushed to improve. 

9.   Social justice or equity issues – What can we do to help close the achievement gap and improve our practice for students in poverty? These students lack background knowledge and resources. When they enter school, they are already three steps behind the average student. To advance these students to be on grade level is an overwhelming task for teachers. In what ways can we better advance these children and what resources do we need to do so? What outside factors are impacting these students and how can parents play a role in their education?

Educational Leaders and Blogs

Educational leaders can use blogs as parts of their communication methods with their Professional Learning Communities or Critical Friends Group or overall informal method of communication with their staff.

Action Research, Administrator Inquiry

Administrator inquiry is the process of a principal engaging in a study of her own administrative practices and taking action based on the findings of the inquiry. Inquiring professionals seek out changes and reflect on their practice by posing questions, collecting and analyzing data along with readings relevant literature, making changes in practice due to new understandings researched and sharing the results with others.

Action research starts with the practitioner as the storyteller and all research comes from the inside. Data and findings come straight from the ones who work in the trenches. The questions are developed by the principal themselves; the one who will implement the findings in order to change and improve the school. 

As a result of action research, the principal grows professionally and with the support of leadership team, they are engaging in literature discussions and applying it to their own practices. The principal is the “head learner”, therefore is a role model to staff and students. This process also discovers new practices that can succeed at the school. 

Time for reflection is an important aspect of action research because it enables leaders to make informed administrative decisions and to feel better about the important decisions they make on a day to day basis. One way to incorporate administrative inquiry into your daily life is to make inquiry a part of something you are already doing such as evaluating annual reports.