Updated Action Research Plan

Here is my updated Action Research Plan, based on changed from meeting with my site supervisor and feedback from postings on my blog...........

Action Research Project
Goal: To get U.S. History teachers to become more supportive of the district-mandated curriculum.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
1. Discuss Action Research topics with site supervisor.	Myself and Allison Lewallen (Site Supervisor / Assistant Principal)	12/3/12 – 12/7/12	* TEKS   * District Curriculum Plan   * Internship Plan	Discussed and created Action Research topic and wonderings
2. Compare District Curriculum with TEKS, as well as with other districts’ curriculum	Myself and Allison Lewallen (Site Supervisor / Assistant Principal)	12/10/12 – 1/18/13	* TEKS * District Curriculum * District CBA’s * Other school district curriculum	Narrow data down to a list of potential problems with current curriculum
3. Meet with US History teacher and Assistant Principals from the district high schools, as well as the district Curriculum Coordinator. Give anonymous surveys from US History teachers	Myself	1/21/13 – 2/22/13	* Data formulated from step 2.	Discuss concerns and problems teachers have noted with the curriculum, and discuss development of program with the Curriculum Coordinator
4. Determine plan for the creation or modification of the US History curriculum supported by teachers in the district	Myself and Allison Lewallen (Site Supervisor / Assistant Principal)	2/25/13 – 4/26/13	* Research on creating curriculum plans with teacher support	Meetings with selected administrators and teachers to come up with ideas for a new curriculum
5. Create or modify the US History curriculum	Myself, Allison Lewallen (Site Supervisor / Assistant Principal), Helen Drab (District Social Studies Curriculum Head), various US History teachers from around the district	4/29/13 – 8/9/13	* Data collected  from previous step   * TEKS	Examine plan to determine if it follows the TEKS as well as answers the concerns of the teachers
6. Evaluate results of data analysis.	Myself and Allison Lewallen (Site Supervisor / Assistant Principal)	8/26/13 – 12/20/13	* Lesson plans of teachers   * Interviews with US History  teachers throughout district	Receive feedback from teachers

I forgot to post my actual plan. Here it is...........

Action Research Project
Goal: To get U.S. History teachers to become more supportive of the district-mandated curriculum.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
1. Discuss Action Research topics with site supervisor.	Myself and Allison Lewallewn (Site Supervisor / Assistant Principal)	12/3/12 – 12/7/12	* TEKS   * District Curriculum Plan   * Internship Plan	Discussed and created Action Research topic and wonderings
2. Compare District Curriculum with TEKS, as well as with other districts’ curriculum	Myself and Allison Lewallewn (Site Supervisor / Assistant Principal)	12/10/12 – 1/18/13	* TEKS * District Curriculum * District CBA’s * Other school district curriculum	Narrow data down to a list of potential problems with current curriculum
3. Meet with US History teacher and Assistant Principals from the district high schools, as well as the district Curriculum Coordinator	Myself	1/21/13 – 2/22/13	* Data formulated from step 2.	Discuss concerns and problems teachers have noted with the curriculum, and discuss development of program with the Curriculum Coordinator
4. Determine plan for the creation of the US History curriculum supported by teachers in the district	Myself and Allison Lewallewn (Site Supervisor / Assistant Principal)	2/25/13 – 4/26/13	* Research on creating curriculum plans with teacher support	Meetings with selected administrators and teachers to come up with ideas for a new curriculum
5. Create the US History curriculum	Myself, Allison Lewallewn (Site Supervisor / Assistant Principal), Helen Drab (District Social Studies Curriculum Head), various US History teachers from around the district	4/29/13 – 8/9/13	* Data collected  from previous step   * TEKS	Examine plan to determine if it follows the TEKS as well as answers the concerns of the teachers
6. Evaluate results of data analysis.	Myself and Allison Lewallewn (Site Supervisor / Assistant Principal)	8/26/13 – 12/20/13	* Lesson plans of teachers   * Interviews with US History  teachers throughout district	Receive feedback from teachers

So this week I spent alot of time with my site supervisor, going over possible topics and ideas to advance them. After a quite a bit of time, and alot more emails, we cam up with this:

How can I get the U.S. History teachers to become more supportive of the district-mandated curriculum? Is it possible to give more flexibility to the teachers, while still allowing for the large amount of TEKS to be covered in the limited time available?

After discussing the topics of interest for my Action Research plan, my site supervisor and I came to the conclusion that the most pressing issue was the problem teachers were having implementing the district-mandated U.S. History curriculum. With the introduction of the STAAR testing program mandated by the state, our district put in place a curriculum that was intended to cover all of the TEKS by the time students were to take the STAAR test. However, there has been significant resistance, and in some cases hostility, to the plan. Teachers argue the pacing of the curriculum is unrealistic, the sections, or bundles, are disjointed and in some cases not organized chronologically, and that in the district-wide tests used to gather data on students’ progress, questions are not aligned with the TEKS. We decided that we needed to create a plan which would allow the development of a curriculum that not only covered the information needed for successful learning by the student, but took into consideration the concerns of the teachers who would be presenting the information.

 

I am sure I am going to ruffle some feathers with this one, but it is something I take seriously, and, I feel, an idea that has real potential to not only help the students, but the teachers as well.

Tempus Fugit

Reflection is something you do when you have time to look back and think about things you have learned, and perhaps determining actions to take based on that reflection. This has been an exceptionally busy week for me, however. Between practices, games, and a tournament that took me out of town for 3 days, time for reflection has been practically non-existent.

However, I did manage to find time to work on my assignments while I was gone. And after watching the videos, I think what I found most interesting was the emphasis on reviewing previous research. If I had tought this through I would have probably come to the same conclusion myself. After all, I do the same thing when it comes to teaching and coaching. I am constantly looking for better strategies for teaching and coaching, to make my students more successful. It only makes sensethat this same paradigm would be used by mid and upper management in education as well.

 

Action Research

What have I learned about action research? How might I use it?

Action research was for me a new term, but once I began learning what it entailed, I began to understand I had been doing this for much of my career. Even before I got into teaching, it was always important for me to be heard in my jobs, to be able to express my concerns. Also, when in leadership positions, I also felt it was important for the people working for me to have some say in what was going on. Many times, as they worked their positions, they would get ideas for improvement, both for themselves and for the jobs they did, so I always listened.
 
Traditional research, while utilizing much of the same methods, in my opinion is no longer the best was in the education field. Administrators and teachers have no say in the data collected, and are basically told what the findings are, and how things are to be implemented. I have often wondered how a person who has never taught a high school US history to a class made up predominately of children born to illegal immigrants can tell a teacher how to do it. To me, that is the problem with the traditional methods. Those people who actually do the job have no say in how they are supposed to do the job.
 
Now that I actually have a name for it, I plan to use action research even more than I have done in the past. It is most importantly collaborative, so that everyone has a part and stake in the outcome. It allows a principal to become aware of those things needed to improve, both in him/herself and the school, and when practiced, both by principals and teachers, creates the best possible environment for the education of students.

How educational leaders might use blogs

Blogs can be an extremely powerful tool for educational leaders. For instance, blogs can be used to share ideas between colleagues and teachers. Projects could be created, with different ideas posted on these blogs, with the information stored for easy recall. They can also be used as a storehouse for ideas that an educational leader might want to investigate, and easily keep track of data by appending the information in the comments under each distinct idea. It can be used as a diary as well, with information placed into the blog for safekeeping, and used to dessiminate information to others havig the same or similar problems.