Reflections for EDLD 5301

Groan, moan, whine…RESEARCH? I don’t want to do research! Where am I going to find time for this? Five weeks ago, these were my exact thoughts.  A lot has changed in five weeks.  In these passing weeks I have grown very excited about research…action research that is. 

As I began the journey through this class, I had no clue what action research was. Through reading one of our texts for this course, Dana, N.F. (2009). Leading with Passion and Knowledge: The Principal as Action Researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. I became enlightened on what action research is truly about.  I know that we all have our own definitions for what research is, but through this text I feel I have gained a better understanding of what action research is all about.  Here it is explained best, “Simply stated, practitioner inquiry is defined as systematic, intentional study of one’s own professional practice.  Inquiring professionals seek out change by reflecting on their practice.  They do this by posing questions or “wonderings,” collecting data to gain insights into their wonderings, analyzing the data along with reading relevant literature, making changes in practice based on new understandings developed during inquiry, and sharing findings with others” (Dana & Yendol-Hoppey, 2009, pp. 9).  I have learned that action research is a way to dig deep and find the areas in our schools that need improvement and then we must become personally involved in the improvement process rather than relying on others to change our school. 

Once week three rolled around, I felt nervous and excited all at once.  I began conversing with my principal through email about my ideas.  He told me to choose the plan that I was most passionate about.  Once he told me to do this, most of the nervousness began to disappear because I knew that he would support me in whatever I chose.  I really enjoyed coming up with a plan that would create collaboration between several grade levels in order to support our students’ growth as writers.

Week four was a good week as well.  This week helped me realize that reviewing and revising are important parts of creating a research plan.  The Force Field Analysis, the Delphi Method, and the Nominal Group Technique (Dana et al, 2009, pp. 94-97) were all enlightening as well as encouraging in the fact that I came up with the idea of adding an additional step to my action research plan and because I have already, in some ways, begun using these without even realizing it . The CARE Model (Dana et al, 2009, pp. 97-98) is a great planning tool as well.  This tool made me think of the positives and not just the negatives.  Sometimes when we are looking at an area in which to improve, we often just look at what is wrong with our school, but this tool makes us look into what our school is doing right that we want to make sure we are continuing to do.

The discussion boards have been an interesting part of both courses I have completed.  I sometimes feel that I am the only one that feels like I do about any particular topic.  As I completed and read through the weekly discussions, I realized that we are all in the same boat and that I am on the same page as all of the rest of my classmates.  The discussion boards have helped boost my confidence in that someday I will make a good principal and as for now, a teacher that is looking for ideas to help improve the education for our students.

Blogging is something that is new to me.  I have heard about it for years but never felt that it was something for me, however, through this course, I feel that it is a great tool to share my thoughts and opinions and to simply reflect on the steps I take in becoming a successful leader.  I have even included blogging as one of the steps in my action research plan.  I hope that this tool will become a successful portion of my action research plan in order to create collaboration between writing teachers.  I would love to even use blogging in my classroom.  I want my students to learn new technology skills and what better way to teach new technology skills and have them write all at the same time.  I have also begun to ponder more ways to use blogging in the future.  I am glad I was introduced to this tool.

Overall, I enjoyed and learned a lot in this course.  This course has made me want to become an active part in improving my school.  I want to be able to collaborate with others in order to make us a stronger district, and I want to begin reflecting on anything and everything that I can in order to not only improve myself but my school so that our students can have a learning rich environment.

Week 4 - Updated Action Research Plan

Action Research
Goal: To create writers before 4th grade by involving K-3rd grade teachers in the writing process.
Action Step(s)	Person(s) Responsible	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
1. Meet with necessary administration to discuss, adjust, and finalize the research plan.	Amber Guy Necessary Administration	Mid to late July or early August 2012.	* Writing TEKS * Writing CSCOPE * Book Ideas	Agree on a final plan of action to involve K-3rd grade teachers in the writing process.
2. I will then meet with all K-4th grade teachers that teach writing and we will: * Look at a sample 4th grade STAAR Writing test * Spend a few minutes going through the questions and begin answering them for themselves * Look at the composition topics and take a few moments to write a partial composition * Discuss the editing and revising portion of the test as well as look at the rubric for a 4th grade composition	Necessary Administration K-4 teachers	Start: August 2012 before school year starts End: August 2012 before school year starts	* Copy of STAAR test for all teachers
3. A second meeting will be held with the same teachers to: * Look at the writing TEKS for each grade level and check the alignment across grade levels – look for gaps as well as requirements * Answer survey	Necessary Administration K-4 teachers	Start: August 2012 before school year starts End: August 2012 before school year starts	§ K-4 Writing TEKS § Survey	* Review survey on how they feel their writing practices support 4th grade teachers in the writing process.
4. A third meeting will be held with the same teachers to: * Introduce the research plan * Look at our book for the book study * Look through the CSCOPE writing lessons to see if there are ways that we think this would support our lessons within CSCOPE * Discuss the requirements of the teachers as far as reading the book, posting a response to the chapter on our book study blog page, and posting comments of how they tested the mini lessons in their classrooms and how the writing samples turned out * View blog site * If necessary, set up accounts in order to be able to follow and answer questions and post responses to our blog style book study	Necessary Administration K-4 teachers	Start: August 2012 before school year starts End: August 2012 before school year starts	* Writing TEKS * Writing CSCOPE * Book  for book study * Access to computers view blog and to set up any necessary accounts to be able participate book study	* Check blog to make sure all teachers are participating * Writing samples must be turned in every six weeks
5. Hold a final meeting to discuss the year and what they learned about the writing process and to complete the same survey from above to see if their opinions have changed.	Necessary Administration K-4 teachers	Start/End: End of May 2013	* Survey	Review survey on how they feel their writing practices support 4th grade teachers in the writing process.
6. Conduct an additional survey (possibly just a discussion) to come up with a plan for the following school year of what we would like to do to continue collaboration between grade levels as well as support the idea of creating writers before 4th grade.	Necessary Administration K-4 teachers	Start/End: End of May 2013	* Survey (or board to write down ideas for following year)	Discuss the ideas and come up with a final plan.