My Final Thoughts on My Action Research Class...

As I reflect back on the highlights of this course, I would have to honestly write that I learned so much from this course in 4 weeks.  The first hurdle I faced was understanding, what is action research?  I was under the impression this class was going to be more like clinical or university research.  It was great to understand the fundamental difference between the two types of research.  The foundation for action research is what Kettering refers to as the welcoming attitude toward and actively seeking change. “Essential research is nothing but a state of mind… a friendly, welcoming, attitude toward change…going out to look for change instead of waiting for it to come” (Kettering, in Boyd, 1961).   Nancy Dana Fichman uses principal insights to help define administrative inquiry; Mike DeLucas, Principal, Williston High School says, “Principal inquiry is a process that allows me to do three things.  I need and like to do but rarely make time for-be a reflective practitioner, work with a true professional learning community, and model instructional leadership.” (p.8)   One also realizes through this whole process, principals are conducting their own personal professional development that is ultimately more practical for them.  Administrative inquiry helps guide a principal on how to lead using reflection and ultimately making changes that accomplish the vision originally set for their own school’s success.  These quotes are so powerful because they define how I want to be as a leader.  My current job as an instructional coach already empowers me to lead teachers toward change and uncomfortable situations where teachers need support.  I feel the world in education is rapidly changing.   Principals will have to continue researching the best ways to accommodate the changes happening in our world.  I also feel the video that showed the interview with Dr. Kirk Lewis, Superintendent form Pasadena ISD, summarized some of the important points to remember about action research.  Dr. Lewis states action research needs to be centered on something that is practical to you.  A question you should ask is: What do you need to know or find out to apply it to student learning in your environment?  Dr. Lewis reminds us of three things we need to remember to achieve the best results out of your action research project:

• You need to be interested in the research
• You need to be focused on the outcome
• Students on your campus need to benefit from the practical research

Another area I totally agree with is according to Roland Barth (1981):  Nothing with in a school has more impact upon students in terms of skill development, self-confidence, or classroom behavior than the personal and professional growth for their teachers.  When teachers examine, question, reflect on their ideas and develop new practices they lead towards their ideals, students are alive.  When teachers stop growing so do their students. (p. 145)  I agree with the Dana text when she describes one of the best indicators of instructional leadership is the presence of an ongoing school-based staff development program and a school climate in which that program can flourish… (p.32).   My district is trying to have more job embedded professional development relevant to the teachers needs at the present time.   My job as instructional coach is to directly work with the principal and teachers at my two campuses to meet the needs of the teachers to ultimately improve instructions to raise student achievement.   As a principal on a campus it will even be more necessary for the teachers to realize you are there as a leader to help them grow.  When I become a principal I will strive to constantly encourage my teachers to keep learning and exploring new things that will not only help them understand changes but also help our students learn more.

I would have to also reflect on how this course directed you toward a clear and concise way to implement a plan to make your “wonderings” and research plan happen.  The template adapted from the book Examining What We Do To Improve our Schools 8 Steps From Analysis to Action focused my attention toward developing and implementing a manageable task in trying to develop my action research plan.  I feel without this template my thoughts would not have been as detailed as they needed to be.  Creating the blog was also an area I had not had very much experience in doing.  It was a stressful moment but now I look back and feel proud I was able to work through it and I learn more about an information tool that enables one to communicate with others worldwide.

The other part in this course that has impacted me to be a better leader was the reference to how important the reflection process is as a principal or leader in education.  I feel we get so busy we forget to stop and evaluate the big picture or the big projects we are working on.  The reflection process helped me understand that journaling or summarizing your thoughts can sometimes save you steps and stop you from going in a direction that will not get you the results you wanted from the beginning.  Collaboration and sharing is also a part of the reflection process.  We as leaders have to know how to communicate our thoughts and findings in ways that will empower other people to jump aboard with us and not only grow ourselves but also grow teachers and students at our school.  We also want everyone at our school to feel they are part of this process. If a leader can make this happen, they truly will have accomplished great things.

Fichman, Nancy Dana (2009). Leading With Passion and Knowledge: The Principal as Action Researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Harris, S., Edmonson, S., and Combs, J. (2010). Examining What We Do To Improve Our Schools: 8 Steps From Analysis to Action. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education, Inc.

Wow What A Relief!!!!

It was a lot harder than I originally thought to chart the path and make sure all the details were covered to start implementing my action research plan.  It will be interesting to see how this all turns out.  It will also be great for my campus to see and experience differentiation instruction in action.

Hear is how some of my thoughts came together for this project...
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Let’s face it, motivating Jr. High Students to finish their class assignments is a tormenting task for many teachers.  My experience has been this task becomes even more difficult in the mathematics classroom because a majority of the students feel they do not like math and are intimidated with math problems. This is where my questions and research could help the teacher find out if using some elements of differentiated instruction would help motivate their students to finish class work. Students finishing their work would provide more practice which in the end would help their grades.  These thoughts led to the overarching question: Would the elements of student choice and differentiated tiered assignments motivate our 6^th graders in Academic Math to finish class assignments in a timely manner?

Other questions to consider that will help ensure the overarching question is implemented:

• Do the teachers understand some of the elements of differentiation that the school will be focusing on?
• How often will the teachers use differentiated instruction during a 6-week period?
• What type of assignments will we target to provide more student choice?
• Do the teachers understand tiered assignments?
• Who will support the teachers in 6^th grade if they have questions?
• What resources have the district provided under the differentiation umbrella to help the teachers understand differentiated instruction?
• What type of data collecting strategies will this project use?
• How will teachers track student assignments for completion in a timely manner?
• Did students completing more assignments directly impact their grades each 6 weeks?

Success in this project will help show different ways students were more motivated and less intimidated to finish math class assignments.  Differentiation is a district and campus initiative this year.  Our campus will be following a district initiative in a controlled environment that will give us valuable information to share with the rest of the campus.  In the end, my hope is teachers find another way to motivate our students and raise students’ understandings of mathematics.

My research plan

Goal: Have 6th grade academic math teachers successfully learn and apply 2 elements of differentiated instruction: student choice and tiered assignments to improve 6th grade students' confidence and motivation level to finish class assignments in a timely manner. Building student motivation to finish assignments will ultimately lead to more practice and a deeper understanding of mathematical concepts which in the long run will improve student achievement.
Action Steps (s):		Person (s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Train teachers on 2 key elements of differentiated instruction. (Choice and tiered assignments)		Instructional Coach: Kim Yorloff Asst. Principal: Mike Barstow	Start: Sept. 2011 End:  May. 2012	District Training Modules on Differentiation Lesson Plans Differentiation Templates	Feedback from teachers Lesson Plans in KMAC Feedback from Asst. Principal over the math dept.
Use 1st 6 weeks grades and feedback from teachers to gather data on the number of times students were late on assignments or not motivated to finish assignments		3 Academic 6th grade teachers Kim Yorloff	Start: Oct. 2011 Surveys need to take about 10 minutes to complete End. Nov. 2011	Survey Monkey (Copy of Survey)	Report card for 1st 6 weeks Feedback from teachers survey
Use Student survey to find motivational and confidence level of students in 6th grade academic math before differentiation strategies were implemented		6th grade Academic students Kim Yorloff	Start: Oct. End: Nov. 2011	Survey Monkey (Copy of Survey)	Feedback from Student Survey in note form and graph
Provide differentiated instruction using choice and tiered assignments. Model and Co-teach differentiated lessons. Encourage teachers to use mini-lessons for whole group instruction.		3 Academic 6th grade teachers Kim Yorloff	Start: Oct. 2011 End: March 2012	Lesson Plans Field Notes Math Wiki Interview teachers	Lesson Plans in KMAC Feedback from teachers Report cards for 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th 6 weeks
Observe students during a differentiated lesson with student choice or tiered assignments every 6-week period		3 Academic 6th grade teachers Kim Yorloff	Start: Oct. 2011 End: March 2012	Checkpoint list for teachers	Student Work Field Notes from classroom observations
Compare grades and completion level of assignments to other instruction where differentiation was not used.		3 Academic 6th grade teachers Kim Yorloff	Start: Oct. 2011 End: March 2012	Online Grade Book Interview teachers	Feedback from teachers
Interview teachers and students individually at least once a semester		3 Academic 6th grade teachers Kim Yorloff	Start: Oct. 2011 End. March 2012	Notes, data, grade book, Student work	Field Notes Post finding on Wiki
Survey teachers at the end of the study		Kim Yorloff	Start: April 2012 Surverys need to take 10 minutes to completeEnd: April 2012	Survey Monkey	Survey summary in notes and report
Survey students at the end of the study		6th grade academic students Kim Yorloff	Start: April 2012 Surverys need to take 10 minutes to complete End. April 2012	Survey Monkey	Compare results from the 1st survey with students Survey summary in notes, report, and graph form
Reflection and Report Summary		Kim Yorloff	Start: April 2012 End:  May 2012	Notes, data, lesson plans, student work, interviews	Complete report and update principal and teachers on the findings Write summary letter to post on "Math Wiki"

Format based on Tool 7.1 from the book: Examining what we do to improve our schools: 8 steps from analysis to action by Sandra Harris, Stacey Edmonson, and Julie Combs, (Eye on Education, 2010).

Week 2: Things Are Beginning to Look Less Foggy....

I started this journey thinking research, how boring and when will I use it as a principal.  However, I realized and  clearly understand the difference between traditional research and action research.  This was further cleared up in my brain this week by studying Chapter 2 and reading about the 9 areas of passion that may stem your 1st wonderings.   It was like a fog was cleared out of my brain.  I realized how I have been involved in many action research projects over the years.  I also realized how I will definitely continue to use action research as an instructional coach on my campuses and as a future principal.  I believe the process of action research is needed to bring about change.  Leaders have to use this process to formulate the "wonderings in their brain".  "The groundwork for this journey is what Kettering refers to as the welcoming attitude toward and active seeking of change. Essentially research is nothing but a state of mind,... a friendly, welcoming attitude toward change,... going out to look for change instead of waiting for it to come." (Kettering, in Boyd, 1961)  This thought was researched along time ago but it stands true today.  Reading through the 9 areas of passions to stem wonderings such powerful thoughts begin to emerge.  I like the fact about taking time to truly understand the difference between management and leadership.  I also want to remember as a  principal you have to clearly take time to balance the 2 areas.  It opened my eyes on the examples chapter 2 gave on what started out as "wonderings" molded into action research projects that took on a new form that clearly ended up making a huge difference for teachers and students.