Action Research Plan

Here are the steps in my action research plan:

What parts of the math curriculum do we need to spend more focus on after giving the district wide assessment in grades K-2?

Setting the Foundation- I plan to meet with my assistant principal to discuss what we will be looking at in the data. Will it be patterns or specific objectives that we will be looking at? The issues that we find we will discuss with the classroom teachers, and see what it is that we can improve on. Analyzing Data-First we will look at the exam, and see what questions were missed the most in each grade level. After that we will also look to see if we can find any patterns in the data. Is it just a tough question for the kids, or is it something they just did not learn? Then we will see what specifically we can improve on teaching wise. Is it something that is not being taught enough, or do change how we teach it. This is something we will discuss with the classroom teachers. Developing Understanding- This is where we will look deeper into the data. Since this is a first year test there will be additional questions. So not only will the data be hard to use against previous years, but it will be hard to compare to other assessments. This is a completely different test, so is it the test that is the problem, or the student not meeting the objective. Engaging in Self Reflection- What is it that we are looking to get out of this assessment? Are we looking for things that are not being done, or is it much bigger than that. We talk about teaching to mastery in our school but is it taking place regularly? We need to take a look at that and see what we can do to be better across the board. Exploring Programmatic Patterns- What we are looking for are the objectives being taught and mastered? Since it’s a first year test it will be difficult to see if it’s the student or the test. Sometimes a test can have a very confusing question, and we will have to look to other schools to see what it is that their students had trouble with also. Determining Direction- This is where we will see if the objectives are being met. We will also see if our students are ready to move forward and on to the next objective. We will sit down and see how the kids did, and then we will go back and look at the results. We should have this done in the next 6 to 8 weeks. After we sit down and talk about the results we will then meet with the teachers, and talk to other schools before we can fully know the results of the assessment. Taking Action- After we meet and discuss the results we will sit down with each grade level. See what they think will help in the learning process, and ask for feedback moving forward. What is it that we can change to help these kids successful? We then will be able to find out what it is that we can do moving forward with our students. Sustaining improvement-I hope during this time we will be able to look back at the positive strides we made and make progress going forward. We want to see what we are doing well, and fine tune it. Then we need to see what we have to change going forward. During this process we want to make sure we look at the big picture, and make sure our kids are getting all the resources that they need to be successful.

Week 2 blog fun

This was a fun week of getting to understand action research a little more. We were able to learn a little more about the parts that go into how we do action research. I also got to spend a little time with my site supervisor and we were able to chat about all kinds of things. It was nice to sit down with him and pick his brain about our upcoming action research project. Looking forward to week three, and what it has in store.

Educational leaders

Educational leaders can use blogs in many ways. In my opinion the main way they can use blogs is to get extra information out there for all parents, and members of the community. In the technology age we are this is just another way to be in touch with the community.

My first blog!

What I have learned about action research is that there are a lot of different ways that you can use action research. It can be used in all aspects of education.It can be used in classroom research, or it can be used in continuous improvement plans.There are so many different directions you can go with action research.You can sit down individually and look at yourself, or you can look at a group of different things and reflect upon them.I nave been a teacher and coach for sixteen years, and I use action research at the end of each sport season. It is a good way to look back on the season, and see what it is that worked well, and what we should change for next year. It gives you the opportunity to reflect on every aspect of what it is you do as an administrator. In my case when I am coaching this gives me a chance to go back and look at everything. Sometimes as coaches we look back to soon after a season ends and we rush to judgement. This is a wonderful tool to discover, and I look forward to implementing it in all aspects of my teaching. This is something that I feel would be extremely helpful to all people in the education field.