Week 3 Action Research Course

This has been a very busy week researching. I have again gained so much in this week. I am getting very pumped about my research project. This week, week 3, I have created an action research plan.

My goals and objectives are:
To implement Professional Learning Communities at my campus for the first time.
To grow professional as individuals and as a campus.
Increase testing scores.

Activities:
Research other schools that use PLCs.
Decide how my campus can utilize these findings.
Create a small PLC formed from volunteers for the first year.

Resouces/Research needed:
Computer and In-person research for other PLCs.
Interviews from other schools with PLCs to determine what they deem are their strengths and weaknesses.

Timeline:
1 school year - voluntary PLC
2nd school year - pending success of voluntary PLC, create PLCs campus wide

Persons responsible for Implementation:
L.Welborn and principal
Volunteers for first PLC

Process for Monitoring Achievement:
My principal will be the guide for the 1st PLC. We will discuss our findings and wonderings with him.

Assessment Instruments to Evaluate Effectiveness:
My principal will assess the success of the voluntary PLC and make necessary changes to implement campus wide.
Visibly see teachers constantly evolving their teaching strategies to demonstrate best practices.
Test data - local benchmarks and state tests.

Research Class Week 2

This has been a very busy week in this course. I have been reading and analyzing the Dana textbook for most of the week, as well as trying to decide on 3 potential ideas for my action research project. My site supervisor and I came to a consensus on one reserach idea towards the end of the week. I have also been going to my 30 hours of G/T training this week through my district. I started the week out fairly stressed, but it turns out the G/T training was beneficial to my research project and I was able to bounce ideas off of other people from my district and campus. Veteran teachers especially were able to help me refine my ideas. Also this week I was able to read everyone else's ideas for research projects on the discussion board. That really helped kick start my thinking for my research project idea. I had an idea of what I wanted to do, but the discussion board and brainstorming with my site supervisior really inspired me this week.
Until next time...

How Educational Leaders Can Use Blogs:

Action Based Research suggests that you question your practices as an educational leader. How better to question and reflect on your practices than to write about it. A blog is basically an online, public journal. Not only can the educational leader reflect themselves as in the sense of a traditional journal, but they can invite other educational leaders to reflect and offer suggestions thus encouraging best practices.

What I have Learned About Action Research:

Action research is not at all what I expected entering my new Master's course. My preconcieved notions included a dark room with old musty books and spider webs in the corners. What a surprise I got when I started delving into this topic. Action research is a new spin on research. Instead of the typical imagery that pops into ones mind, it is actually research that makes sense. Hallelujah! Action research requires eduators to think and question their actions. This helps develop a sense of ownership and increased knowledge. You are learning things that are applicable to your situation. I am going to use action research this year in creating a professional learning community (PLC) at my campus. I, along with many other teachers, feel like we are islands unto ourselves. We are not sharing our ideas and best practices with each other and growing together as a team. We noticed that this year with us not working together our TAKS scores have suffered. My campus has had a reputation for working as a team in the past, but the last few years that has gone by the wayside. This year was a wake-up call to our staff and I feel that we are ripe to begin some changes. One such change I believe would tremendously benefit my campus is having PLC's. I think if we begin small and have staff volunteer to begin a PLC instead of forcing the change, others will see how beneficial it is. I am creating a PLC with two other teachers on staff for this next year. We want to use action research to show how PLC's can be used most effectively, how other schools have used it in the past, and how we can use our PLC to benefit our classrooms and our campus. This will give us a guide as to how to construct our PLC. I think once others see the support system we have created with each other and how we are growing professional and how our students are benefiting they will be encouraged to join a PLC.