Action Research - Revision

After input from my supervisor I am adding in a student component to my Action Research Plan.   I plan on surveying students to gather their feedback on the role technology plays in learning in the classroom.  I am excited to see their opinions on the topic and hope that I can use this information when working with teachers in the future.   Here is my Revised Action Research Plan please feel free to take a look and provide any insight!

Thinking it Through

As I read through the assigned texts and start thinking about the classrooms I am to work with next year I am getting a bit nervous.   There are several unknowns at this point:

1. The impact of the budget rollercoaster on the campus.  When I left campus we had cut down to 3 teams at each grade level and every teacher would be teaching more students.  Since then more money has become available but no word on what impact that has on the number of teachers on campus.
2. Schedule - a variation of block scheduling was proposed at the end of last year to try to make the best use of the staff we have.  The master schedule was still a work in progress when I left for the summer and word was there was resistance at the district level for approving the proposed schedule.
3. New grading policy - Standards Based Grading - the campus is moving towards standards based grading and this is not an item that has the full buy-in of the staff.  With the transition away from traditional grading comes a lot of preparation to build assignments that meets with the philosophy of standards based grading.

And now I come along and will ask that they use technology in ways they have not done before and add to the stress level that is already high.  

I have worked hard this past year to lay a foundation for what is to come.  I have tried to recognize teachers who use technology in meaningful ways.  I have baked cupcakes and provided chocolate for teachers willing to learn something new.   I began teaching a series of week-long technology "camps" for students to remind the teachers that I am first and foremost a teacher.   I have tried to convince teachers that above all else I am on their side and I can be trusted.   Now to see if that will pay off in the coming year as I push a little harder for teachers to reach a step outside their comfort zone and move towards the land that the digital natives are living in.  Wish me luck!

I welcome feedback on ways to work with the teachers or on any part of my action research plan!
Action Research Plan

Developing an Action Research Plan

This week I have been thinking through how to put my action research plan into action.   I have chosen a grade level that traditionally has been the most challenging to work with.  It should be a fun year.  My action research plan is my job, or at least what I want my job to be:  Work closely with teachers and students to ensure technology is being used in the best possible ways to enhance the teaching and challenge the students.  So often other parts of my job take me away from that focus.   Laptops have to be fixed, networks crash, light bulbs burn out, paperwork has to be done, the  benchmark scanner/printer needs help. I now have an excuse to let those items linger from time to time in order to work with teachers and to be in the classrooms.

I have also been looking for ways to get into classrooms that are non-threatening.  I don't want to evaluate anyone and I don't want to intrude on a classroom.  Teachers feel so much pressure from all directions and the last thing I want to do is to add stress.   I know that incorporating technology is what is best for students and instead of a gotcha I can blame my presence on Lamar -  "It's for my graduate classes."

I'm posting my initial plans for my action research plan if anyone wants to read it and give feedback.   Input is always welcome!
Action Research Plan

Reflections on Action Research

I did not know what to expect when I entered this course, and in reality I was scared to death of it.  Let's face it, it's been a few years since I was a student and had to officially research anything.   Reading through the second chapter of the Dana (2009) text I am realizing that action research really is nothing to be scared of and I would love to work on a campus that embraces this philosophy of school improvement and professional development.  I found myself wanting to know the results of several of the "wonderings" mentioned throughout the chapter and was inspired by some of the solutions presented.  
I have chosen the topic of technology integration and LoTi levels for my own investigation and I am excited to start planning on how to conduct the research.   I have already talked with my librarian to partner with me as well as the Director of Instructional Technology to gather support for my project.  My summer has just gotten a bit busier in preparation to role out the plan in August, but it is a preparation to which I am looking forward.
As I move through my educational career, I want to remember the imporatance of being reflective and focusing on how to identify what is working on my campus and what can be improved.  I want to demonstrate what a life-long learner looks like and follow my "wonderings" whenever possible.

Dana, N. F. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: the principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Corwin Press, a Joint Publication with the American Association of School Administrators.

Education Leaders and Blogging

Blogs are an easy way to get a message out for even those without any web programming knowledge.  Educational leaders can use blogs in a variety of ways including:

• Reflections on their own learning on educational topics.
• Keep track of different projects on campus.
• Keep their school community informed about events on and around campus.
• A way to connect with other professionals in the educational field.

The possibilities are numerous and can really be customized to fit the needs of the blogger.  

Action Research

What is action research?  I have come to find out that I have been participating in action research for a number of years now in my district, only with different names.  Under Baldrige we called it Plan-Do-Study-Act, where we looked at our systems, made a plan to improve them, studied the results and then took action based on those results.  As a teacher I have been involved in Appraisal by Collaboration where I would pose a question each year and then study that question by gathering qualitative and quantitative data to see what, if any, impact my action made.  Both of these system as examples of action research and have helped me understand the process. 

As a teacher I want to continually improve how I do my job to benefit the teachers and students I work with.  Action research will allow me to do just that by reflecting on my own practices and situations to seek out ways to improve areas of weakness.    Once I have determined an area of need, the next step would be to pose an open-ended question that I would investigate over a certain period of time.   I would then gather data about the question and find literature to support my learning more about the topic.  Once all the pieces of information were considered,  I would then determine action steps to begin taking with the goal of improving the identified area and monitor the results throughout the time period.     

This process can be an important part of professional development by giving me an active part in stretching my knowledge about the situations I am in and actively trying new things within the educational system. 

Reflections on EDLD 5306

This was my first graduate level course and my first online course to participate in as a student.  My true goal coming into this course was to find out if I could manage taking an online course to begin earning my master’s degree while juggling the rest of my life.  I also wanted to see if taking graduate classes would help me improve at my job.  After ten years in instructional technology I wanted to learn more and be challenged in my understanding about technology in school.  This course did challenge me and my knowledge of technology.  The focus on the national standards, copy right issues, and ethical concerns were topics that I had not had much exposure to on a formal level but needed to know more about in order to be able to speak to them at the campus level.   I also learned that I am able to complete course work and still keep my sanity.

As the face of technology on my campus I found the information presented in the class was very useful to what I do every day on campus.   The opportunity to examine the newly adopted Technology Application TEKS for 6-8 grade, as well as the national technology plan, has given me an outline for what I need to do next year to get the campus ready to implement these TEKS into the core curriculum areas.  I also found the readings and discussions on the digital-age issues to be very eye-opening and plan to have the campus technology team look at those topics and make plans to address them on campus.   I was challenged to check into how we are teaching students to be safe online as well as how we are teaching them to be digitally literate.  Overall I felt like all of the class content could be applied to my job and found it very helpful.  

I really feel like I have achieved most if not all of the outcomes so far.   I still have questions about the internship experience and feel like that was a tacked on part of the assignment of week 5.   I would have like there to be a little more explanation to the process as well as clear instructions on what paperwork would be required for the process.  I am hoping that when we get assigned the internship supervisor that those questions will be answered with a little more clarity and focus. The web conferences did help in answering some of those questions, but I found them to be awkward at times when the audio had issues or the conversation was dominated by questions that might have been better dealt with in a one-to-one situation.  I do plan to use the week before the second class to read the field experience manual and get a little more information.

I was successful in completing the assignments on time each week.   Week one was overwhelming when I opened up the assignment document and saw it was 33 pages long.    I seriously considered dropping the course and walking away from graduate school after the first 2 days of trying to tackle the information.  Attending the web conference that week helped ease my fear as Ms. Cummings did her best to reassure all of us that this week was tough and that she was there to help us be successful.  I was also able to contact the class assistant and receive clarification on anything I had questions about.  Once I learned to pace myself throughout the week the work seemed manageable until week 5, when the directions seemed to be harder to follow.  Finding people who had already completed some of the assignments and seeing how they tackled the work helped tremendously as well.  After finishing the last week’s worth of work, I have a feeling of great accomplishment at completing my first graduate class.

I have learned that I am able to take graduate classes, work full time and be a mom without wanting to hurt too many people.  I appreciated the course work as it made me think about technology in schools from a different point of view.   I discovered that although I have been pushing the use of web 2.0 technologies, I have missed some of the basics in ensuring that students know how to find information and test it validity online as well as how to be safe.  I have had my passion for using technology in schools renewed as I thought more about the way 21^st century students learn and interact with their environment.  I am very fortunate to work in the district that I do and have the opportunity to help teachers understand best practices when integrating technology and not leave them feeling abandoned to figure this out by themselves.  This course gave me a stronger background to work with those teachers and I look forward to applying this information in the coming school year.