Action Research Week 5

New Learning:
The word “Action Research” was alien to me. I had never heard the word before even though I have been in the education field for so many years. I gained lot of insight into the real meaning of “Action Research”. For me it was like a “Pandora Box” which was opened to me to discover variety of treasures. I learnt that Action Research is a way of learning more from practice by questioning, listening, watching, acting, analyzing and reflecting. That to me was pretty interesting and intense.

Specific area to learn more and build knowledge

I would like to learn more about conducting “Action Research “by looking at some of the Action Research done by other people and gain more knowledge by learning the different components of the research which includes surveys, collection of data, reading resources etc. I will be learning as my research progresses. As far as the theoretical part is concerned, I understand well but when it comes to practicality, I need to see how it goes as far as making necessary adjustments and changes are required.

Applied Knowledge:
I plan to use it for solving big challenges or problems for the improvement of my school. I will use action research as a tool to untangle the web of demands and take charge as a leader. I will collect data to gain insights and to analyze with reading relevant literature, making changes based on new understandings. I look forward to apply that learning to my research and see how our students can benefit out of it and how we as educators can be equipped with necessary tools to impact success.

Examining the Work : Sustaining Improvement - Week 4

Strategies for Sustaining Improvement: 

This week focused on different strategies for sustaining improvement - Force Field Analysis, the Delphi method, Nominal group technique and the CARE model. I also had another meeting with my two site supervisors to see if I needed to make any changes to my Action Research Draft. According to them it looked fine and no changes were required at this point but that does not guarantee that there will be no change in the coming weeks or months in my Action Research as we move forward with this. I learnt a lot in this past few weeks and I will continue to learn as I move forward in my journey for learning.

Challenges in Implementing my Action Research - Week 4

Specific challenges that I foresee in implementing my Action Research and how do I plan to address those challenges:

Time factor: Time factor will be the biggest challenge whether it comes to meeting with the administration, teachers or mentors. The best way to overcome this challenge is to be flexible and keep at it even if it means to send few friendly reminders to keep up with the time-line.

Acceptability:The other factor that I see as a challenge is acceptability of my research by my peers and how much are they willing to learn, change and accept the new innovative ideas formulated by this research. So I need to convince every-one of the new strategies and stay focused on the outcome that can impact student success.

Lack of Support: Sometimes lack of support can really discourage a person in their journey of making new discoveries. So I will continue to build a rapport and work on earning the required support even if it seems challenging.

Cooperation: Lack of co-operation can be little stressful. Action research needs lot of people working together and co-operating with each other. It also requires agreeing on new ideas and new study. Lack of co-operation can cause little tension especially when you have time-line in place. The bottom line is to make it work.

Action Research Project Process Overview - Week 3

Action Research Draft
Describe the problem and area of focus.	Boys struggling at Elementary School in academics. The focus will be First grade. Data will be collected and analyzed to create a plan.
Define the factors involved in your area of focus	Factors involved in my area of focus: 1.     Student’s socio- economic status 2.    Student’s psychological background 3.    Student’s home life. 4.    Students behavior referrals. 5.    Benchmarks 6.    Attendance
Develop research questions.	Am I able to control all the factors involved in my area of focus to persuade student’s ability to change and be successful.
Describe the intervention/innovation to be implemented	The implementation of comprehensive, research based strategies which can help increase success rate among academically struggling boys.
Develop a timeline for implementation.	February, 2012 Analyze Data. Share results with staff members through PLC, newsletter, blogging and email.  Implement effective strategies and share reading materials.
Describe stakeholders.	Stakeholders include: Myself as well as the other First grade teachers, other staff members, parents, and Administrative personnel.
Develop a list of resources to implement the plan.	Involve all teachers when creating teaching strategies that promotes student achievement, reward system to promote positive student reinforcement, parental involvement, social skill lessons, professional development, reading resources.
Describe the data to be collected.	I will collect consistent data showing student improvement ( benchmarks, behavior referral, Attendance)
Develop a data collection plan.	Keep track of benchmark scores, behavior referrals, attendance, and parental involvement. It could be done through surveys.
Develop an analysis plan.	Data will be collected and analyzed and comparisons will be made throughout the research.
Carry out the plan and Report the results	Results of the plan will be reported to all stakeholders through the implementation of emails, grade level meetings, blogging etc.

Action Research - Week 3

The purpose of my Action Research plan is to find out the reasons why boys are struggling in elementary classrooms, by looking at important factors like socio-economic status, scores, attendance, behavior issues and other background information.

My Action Research will be focusing on the following:

1.  How can the struggling boys benefit from this research?

2.  How can the teacher change her instructional style to create interest? 

3.  How can we as educators respond to their needs in new and productive ways?

4.  What different strategies can be used to turn underachievers into successful learners?

5. How to reconnect boys to learning and believing in being a competent learner?

6. How differentiation in instruction can impact student learning?

Action Research Part 2

                   The Action Research Cycle of Innovation: 

Action Research is a way of learning more from practice by questioning, listening, watching, acting, analyzing, and reflecting. Action research can be done in a formal way with results which can be shared across contexts or it can be conducted informally as a way of learning from and improving one's practice. When conducted formally, action research can provide new understandings of relationships that can become the basis of further study. When carried out informally, action research can become a habit of mind, a process of progressive problem solving that leads to a form of adaptive expertise.

                  

                       

Purpose and Significance of My Action Research:

The purpose of my research would be to find out what causes the boys to struggle in school and be underachievers. I will be using data to conduct my research .I will be brainstorming lot of questions and putting them in practice to see how it can impact student learning. For instance, Will boys benefit from differentiation in instruction?  What changes need to be made in instructional strategies to benefit the underachieving boys to be more successful? What caused them to be underachievers?  How the teachers should make changes to their style of instruction to impact student learning. The significance of my research would be to provide tools for teachers to benefit them and encourage student learning. The main reason for my Action research would be to impact student success by using the practical approach and to completely focus on the outcome of the research to benefit teachers, students, administrators and in other words, our school as a whole.

Blogs are a great way to share your thoughts

Analysis of How Educational Leaders Might Use Blogs

Blogs can be used as tools for educational leaders to communicate effectively with the faculty and the community. It is a great way to present one’s opinions to the rest of the world and share ideas, insights and issues where people can comment, share and contribute to your posts. It also gives the educational leaders an opportunity to reflect on their own practice.

Action Research

What is Action Research ?

Administrative inquiry is one tool that can be used by principals to untangle the intricate web of demands in which they become entangled each day, take charge of their own professional development, and become the “head learner” of their school. It refers to the process of a principal engaging in systematic, intentional study of his/her own administrative practice and taking action for change based on what he/she learns as a result of the inquiry. Whether one is studying to be a school administrator or is a veteran administrator with years of experience but faced with new educational challenges every day, administrator inquiry becomes a powerful vehicle for learning and school improvement. The topic being researched aligns in some fashion with the shared vision of the campus or district as the vision articulates the goals for the organization, critical knowledge prerequisite to undertaking improvement efforts. A hallmark of action research is that it does not just consist of performing literary research when looking for answers, but also of adding something new to the existing literature, going beyond what is known or adding information or perspectives unique to a specific campus or situation that is not a part of the body of existing research. Action research often results from the process of administrator inquiry, the ongoing process of an educational practitioner wanting to improve themselves and their school. The action research is the inquiry performed by practitioners, often by a principal or leadership team on the inside involved in the operation of the school and holding a vested interest in the improvement of the school. As Dana stated “Administrator inquiry refers to the process of a principal engaging in systematic, intentional study of one’s own administrative practice" Action research allows the application of a case study approach to answer key questions or wondering, encountered in the everyday learning situations in a school or district.

How do I plan to use it?

Action research is a professional behavior exhibited by actively involved and concerned principals.It's a powerful vehicle for learning and school improvement. I plan to use it as an administrator for solving big challenges or problems for the improvement of my school. Administrators are faced with never ending demands from a large and diverse number of people coupled with various issues that need attention on daily basis. I will use action research as a tool to untangle the web of demands and take charge as a leader. It is a great way to collect data to gain insights and to analyze with reading relevant literature, making changes based on new understandings. It provides effective principal professional development within the guidelines and focuses on student achievement, supports reflective practice and provides opportunities to work, discuss and solve problems with peers.I would strive to continue to learn as an administrator and share my learning with my team to focus our attention on how to eradicate the problems disrupting learning in our school and try to be a problem solver rather than reacting strongly towards it. As Steve Belmarsh quotes: "No one will ever see me quit, because I simply won't. If I start something, I will finish it and do it well."