Sunday, December 9, 2012

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

5 comments:

  1. You might want to survey the teachers anonymously to understand why they are not surportive. I know at times I am more forthright when I'm not in a room with other teachers and a principal. Surveymonkey.com is great.

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  2. That's a good idea, Jason. I had thought about doing actual interviews for follow-up questions, etc., and I would get answers since I am "one of them", but I believe I can do the same thing with Surveymonkey.com. Thanks!

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  3. I think we're all supposed to include our method of dissemination in these plans. I didn't last week and had to go back and fix it.

    Also, I'm not clear as I read your plan as to whether you are trying to get the teachers to go along with a particular curriculum or if you are trying to get them to help write a new one. That is a clarification you might consider.

    Beyond that, this is one of the best plans I've seen. You have a lot of detail and have considered almost every angle! Nice work!

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  4. Actually, the plan is both. I have already started receiving some input, anfd the major complaint is the plan used now was made with no real input from the teachers who are expected to implement it. But thanks for the suggestion - I can see I need to clean it up a bit.

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  5. Unfortunately, it seems that depending on the grade level that U.S. History is being taught, is quite influential on the amount of time and activity that is actually spent on the content. From the elementary level when the foundation is being set, often times Social Studies is adjoined with another content area (Science/Social Studies) and therefore not given enough attention. Whether a teacher is departmentalized, self-contained or teaching a state assessment core curriculum are also significant factors. Most likely if it’s the latter, then not much time is given to U.S. History. It will most likely have to be implemented through cross-curriculum projects. Possibly looking at various ways to incorporate it into various subjects could also be studied.

    Teachers also need to be more creative when teaching history and incorporate real-world situations and use a hands-on learning approach. Often times, the students are quite bored with the subject.

    ReplyDelete