Action Research Plan

Action Research Plan:

SETTING THE FOUNDATION – Creating a climate to explore action research issues:
Through collaboration and discussions with key stakeholders, we have discovered a need to examine our extra-curricular activities. Our campus strives to ensure all students feel a sense of belonging. It has been discussed that students who are more involved feel better about themselves. We are interested in examining how to improve campus morale as well as student achievement.

2. ANALYZING DATA – I will use a variety of data including interviews with staff, students, and administration. I will also use data from student lists. This will show me how many students are involved in one or more activities and those who are not involved. Report card data will also show if there is any connection between student achievement and involvement. I will also. Electronic searches on extra-curricular involvement will likely yield prior inquiries in similar areas.

3. DEVELOPING DEEPER UNDERSTANDING – I believe that after my initial interviews and data collection I will begin to create more questions. I may come across some negative aspects to extra-curricular activities. I also hope to find more insight into possible solutions. I think that it is critical to examine other aspects within my inquiry in order to better develop a bigger picture of what I am examining. I will interview key stakeholders to get their insights on extra-curricular activities. I will also ensure that I am actively listening throughout the school day even so that I can gather data when I am not actively seeking data.

4. ENGAGE IN SELF-REFLECTION – Possible Reflective Questions Regarding my Action Research:

Can I get teachers to be more excited about extra-curricular activities so that I can in turn get more student involvement?
Can I get parents to see the value of extra-curricular activities?
Do I have everything I need to be successful and reach a solution?
Will students actually buy in to the idea of being more involved?
How can I show students that being involved in your school is fun?


5. EXPLORING PROGRAMMATIC PATTERNS – I will discuss with my site supervisor all of my findings. I will approach her with my ideas for possible solutions. I will also present my findings to various staff in hopes that they can help me troubleshoot any potential problems. I will discuss with these people the pro’s and con’s of my plan and ask for any suggestions that they think may help my plan be as successful as possible.

6. DETERMINING DIRECTION –
I am attempting to get students more involved in extra-curricular activities and assess if their involvement has a positive effect on morale and improves student achievement. I have involved students, staff, and administration. I am working collaboratively to improve our school climate and student morale. I am seeking input from many stakeholders in hopes that I am getting a well rounded view of my inquiry. I have established a timeline in which I can get most of the work completed in the first semester. I am doing this so that I can implement a change and evaluate the success of my plan in hopes that it can be initiated from the start of the next school year. I will be constantly monitoring the project. I am involved in sponsoring many extra-curricular activities and this is something that is very important to me. Weekly I will examine my data and findings so that I can be constantly reflecting and looking for more information. I plan to evaluate my successes in two ways. First, I want to look at actual numbers. I want to see if more students are in fact involved in school activities. Second, I want to discuss with various stakeholders their perceived change in the morale of students. This will be difficult to measure but I think easy to feel if it is a success. I can constantly make changes to my plan based on feedback. I can change my plan of getting students more involved to include many various strategies for advertising information. I can work collaboratively with more sponsors if they wish to get more involved. Because I have no concrete solution, but rather an evolving solution, it will be easier for me to adapt based on the needs of my campus.


7. TAKING ACTION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

I hope to organize a small committee of teachers that will help me get students more involved. These teachers will work with me to plan various ways to increase student activity. They will provide additional support for students who are involved in the plan.

8. SUSTAIN IMPROVEMENT
I hope to improve the culture of my campus through involvement in student activities. As we get new students each year it will be important that we continue to show the kids how being involved can improve their overall enjoyment of school. I will share my results with other campuses in my district as well as other colleagues online. I will work to keep this project ongoing in my school.

Week 2 Reflections

I think what I learned the most about this week was how many areas of research exist. As I went through the 9 wandering of school leaders I realized how vast action research can be. I realized that you could take a really big topic and pluck one small area and generate a lot of questions. I think we often hear reallybroad things such as: How can we improve our TAKS scores? or How can we creat a safer school? This week I realized that it is important to find an area within the broad spectrum to narrow in on for action research. I also found that as I explored areas of potential action reasearch for myself I wanted to stay as far awayfrom testing and scores as possible! I wanted to look at climate, culture, staff, etc... I wanted to relate to the people aspect of education instead of the paper and number aspect. Ultimately, I decided that I really wanted to look at extra-curricular activities. I think that art, band, sports, etc are so important to a school and often do not get valued as much as they should. Students need these activities for several reasons. First, it provides a break from the core subject, and also it facilitates thinking in a different way. So much concentration goes into sight reading a new piece of music and lots of recall goes into running a play in a basketball game. I also think that students who are involved in activities feel more connected to their scohol. It creates a sense of pride and belonging which I think creates a more clear mind for academic learning. I think this week offered new insight for me on not only my desired action inquiry, but other areas that I had not thought of previously.

Making Blogs Useful

I think blogs are a great tool for educators to share their thoughts. I enjoy the lack of formality that a blog possesses. It allows for thoughts to flow freely. I think that blogs can be a great reflective tool. I can look back several months and see how my thinking has changed and what I have learned in that time. Blogs also allow you to follow someones story and possible connect their ideas to your school. I worry that if administrators blogs are read by someone, mainly a parent, who disagrees with their thoughts, it could create a little bit of conflict.

Action Inquiry in Action

I think that action research is a breath of fresh air. When I hear the work research I often cringe like I'm sure many others do. I think of note cards, citations, and double spaced papers. So often we read books and articles, we listen to speakers, and attend seminars. How often do we use our own experiences to learn? Our buildings are filled with teachers, students, and staff that we can learn from daily. I learned that it is very important to set time for action inquiry just like you set time for every other task as an administrator. Action research is a very practical form of administrator professional growth. It allows a principal to reflect on his/her own practices and helps create a better understanding of the school. My favorite thing about action research is that, by nature, it is interactive and direct. It is not full of long words and meaningless statistics. It relates directly to the staff, students, and teachers of that school, at that time. It is ongoing and constantly evolving. Another key aspect of action inquiry is modeling. Principals always ask their teachers to model for the students. Action research gives principals the opportunity to model for their staff and students. This allows the principal to lead by example and show their school that you are never finished learning. I think that I could use action research to help grow and connect to my campus. I can take concerns about my campus learn ways in which I can help facilitate change to lead a greater degree of student learning.