Reflections

My eyes have really been opened to the fact that students (as well as teachers) who are behind the times technology wise really fail to meet many standards in our schools. My goals as a technology administrator is to help all students and teachers find comfort with technology and to gain knowledge with updates of programs, databases, educational and recreational technology. Internet and technology safety is another goal as an administrator that I would focus upon. Cyber bulling and other crimes that take place via the Internet run rampant in our society and making sure all stakeholders in our school are aware of the problems that can arise. Protecting a schools stakeholders and the community from Cyber bullying and other problems that arise with cutting edge technology in the classroom has to be a major focus of not only tech professionals, but teachers and students as well.

Looking at Action Research, I have realized that there are many avenues that you can take. Exploring technology and how to use it to improve curriculum is close to my heart because I am always looking at ways to expand our students achievement. I plan to make sure that we utilize this research and use it at our school to make improvements.

Starting my research

The southeastern rural school district serves the children of Houston communities near the Texas Gulf Coast. The area populates African-American, Hispanic, and Caucasian which has a population of almost 70,000.  There are over 7,370 full-time employees in the district, which provides a high quality education to 52,211 students.  The district facilities include 35 elementary schools (grades PK-4), 18 middle and junior schools (grades 5-8), and 5 high schools (9-12), and various alternative schools. The student population is 51% males and 49% females, 81.48% Hispanic, 8.15% White, 6.13% African American and 2.69% Asian.    

The Elementary School (ES) has a current enrollment is 854 students.  The student population consists of 47% girls and 53% boys.  The ethnic characteristics of ES are 10% African American, 73% Hispanic, 14% White, and 3% Asian.  In 2010, about 81% of the students were classified as Economically Disadvantaged based on their eligibility for the National School Lunch Program.  Two classes from ES were chosen as participants in the study about Science differentiated curriculum using technology.

The sample for this study is a convenience sample from a 3^rd and 4^th grade science class of 48 students, containing a group of students from below average skills (inclusion, resource, and ABLE) to above average skills (GT). There are 10 out the 48 students who have Individual Education Plans (IEPs). I felt this was an ample sized group of students that I am able to get data from.  

The baseline will be formed from 2009 CBA and end of year grades, in addition to the 1^st 9 weeks CBA. Teacher and student surveys will be given to gain knowledge of their interest in Science and technology. Students will also be given a pre-test and a posttest to determine the effectiveness of instruction when using an interactive PowerPoint to retain and learn information. Data will be analyzed for the Pretest-Posttest Control Group design using the factorial analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). 

Rubrics will be given to grade projects to determine the quantity and quality of information which indicated their compression and level of engagement. Online tests and probe sheets will be used to determine the level of achievement. Observations will be used to determine level of student engagement while working on any aspect of their projects. Journals will be used to qualitatively determine students’ interaction with the information and comprehension of material represented.

ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT- Process Overview

ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT

PROCESS OVERVIEW

                        1. SETTING THE FOUNDATION – Creating a climate to explore action research issues:

After meeting with the Site Based Decision Making committee, review CBAs, TAKS data, and classroom end of the year assessments we discovered that the students are passing the class objectives in Science but not passing the TAKS objectives. These two are not aligning. Perhaps the teachers may not be following the TEKS and their expectations may be too low.

                        2. ANALYZING DATA – Use a variety of data gathering (e.g., Science scores are low and students are not being successful, how can we differentiate instruction using technology). Likely findings from your searches might include:

There are solutions that ban or punish student use of smart phones on campuses and/or during class time.

There are solutions that use student cell/smart phones to improve campus communication and/or classroom instruction

                       

                        3. DEVELOPING DEEPER UNDERSTANDING – Initial data gathering is likely to lead to additional questions and an effort to dig deeper in understanding the pros and cons and possible consequences of selecting certain solutions.

I plan to interview key teachers and curriculum specialists. In order to gain a deeper understanding I will also so some classroom observations, have focused groups with the Science curriculum committee, documents and questionnaires. We will discuss student needs, computer based instruction and how to integrate technology into the science curriculum.

                        4. ENGAGE IN SELF-REFLECTION – You begin to ask some reflective questions regarding choices and consequences of particular policy solutions. Questions might include:

·        Do you possess the skills and resources needed to conduct a successful action research project that reflects your selected solution?

·          Do teachers know how to differentiate instruction?

·          Do they understand the Science TEKS?
How is a teacher to provide for the varying needs of their students without having to prepare several different lessons, while keeping them motivated and engaged?

·          How can technology be used to differentiate instruction for 3^rd and 4^th grade science students?

·          Will the technology tools I’ve found be beneficial to our students?

·          Can technology be used to simultaneously improve motivation and accelerate student achievement?

·        If you do not have the skills, can you develop those skills?

·        If you do not have the resources needed, can you procure them?

                        5. EXPLORING PROGRAMMATIC PATTERNS – After digging deeper and posing some of the reflective questions, begin to formulate a more definite solution, and begin to consider the programmatic impact of the solutions.

Talk with at length with your site supervisor and other people whose opinion you respect to determine the pros and cons of plausible solutions. What skills and resources do they think are essential to successful project implementation? The more pit-falls you can identify before you implement your solution, the better your project will work.

·        Some possible problems could be not having enough resources (site licenses) for programs.

·        Teacher dissatisfaction and “buy in”

                        6. DETERMINING DIRECTION – You are about ready to launch your action research project but you must be able to answer these questions:

A.           Are you clear on what you are attempting to solve (your research questions)? Yes

B.           Have you adequately addressed the skills and resources questions? Yes

C.     Have you established a collaborative approach to the issue? Yes

C.           Are your timelines realistic? Yes

D.           Do you have a reasonable plan to monitor the project? Yes

E.            Do you have a reasonable plan for determining the level of success – how do you evaluate if the plan is effective? ~

F.            How will you revise and improve the plan based on monitoring and evaluation? Update my plan

                        7. TAKING ACTION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

You may want to organize one or more committees to assist you with your

action research project. You will want to monitor the project (formative evaluation) and prepare a summary report (summative evaluation) of the results of your action research project addressing student achievement on Science Curriculum using technology

                       

                        8. SUSTAIN IMPROVEMENT

Learn to maintain the positive aspects of your action research project. Those things that improved the learning or cultural environment should be appreciated and maintained over time. You would also want to share the results with others on your campus and in your school district your online colleagues. We also suggest that the process you used to gain additional skills and knowledge should be applied to other areas of your personal professional development.

Week 2

These are the topics that I am interested in:

• Using Technology in Math: Differentiating Instruction for 3^rd and 4^th grade students
• Academic Achievement in Distance Learning Versus Face-to-Face Instruction
• Using Technology to Differentiate Instruction in Language Arts and Math

While meeting with my site supervisor we discussed the options that I chose and the benefits that it would have on our campus. As we discussed the options she reminded me that we should look at the needs assessments and what are students are struggling in academically. I stated that they are struggling in Science, especially our ELL students. Overall has a campus, since we only go K-4 our students are not testing on TAKS however we give CBAs and Benchmark test that our students score poorly on.

As a result of our conversion I decided to go with Using Technology in Science to Differentiating Instruction for 3^rd and 4^th grade students.

After analyzing all the assignment this week, I noticed that the key thing about everything was data. They discussed looking at data and analyzing it to benefit the needs of their campus and district. Above all when researching it should be a topic the interests you, you should have a focused outcome and it should benefit the students that you interact with.

How educational leaders might use blogs.....

Education is a reflective practice. Blogs are used to empower powerful conversations and facilitate positive communication.  They can help to deepen your understanding of what you do not know and allows you’re the opportunity to reflect on what you are learning as a leader. The entries should reflect on who you are, and should convey your vulnerability as an individual. It can also be used to stimulate and promote activities and positive learning going on at your campus. As an educational leader you can load videos, audio, and text. This is the time that you should reflect on the emotionally charged and uplifting stories that make students, staff, parents, and makes the community sit up and take notice.

Action Research

   Action research is an interactive inquiry process in which the problem solving actions are balanced in a collaborative context with data-driven collaborative analysis. Or it can be research to ensure potential causes in order to make predictions about personal and organizational change (Wadsworth, 1998). 

    It is a practice methodology intended to combine action and reflection to understand and improve practice. Furthermore, it has been defined as a reflective process that allows for inquiry and discussion as components of the “research.”

    This type of research is very beneficial when looking at practices that need to be improved or reflected upon and an ongoing process. When I think about ways to use Action Research, I think about curriculum teams. During this time teachers look at TAKS information and disaggregate the scores, they discuss TAKS results and implementation of new ways to teach certain curriculum and SEs. In addition, they use this data to help them determine ways to help students improve the low scoring skills. They would come up with timelines and resource individuals within and outside of the school to help with this process. This action calls for hands on and practical measurements. It also includes interactive discussion and ideas should be used and in addition to the opportunity to practice the new teaching methods before fully implementing them.

Wadsworth, Y. (1998). Participatory action research. Action Research International , paper 2. Retrieved January 8, 2009 from http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/gcm/ar/ari/p-ywadsworth98.html