Web Conferences

In my current grad school class, we have the opportunity to participate in a weekly web conference.  I have found the majority of these conferences very beneficial and have enjoyed the opportunity to learn from my professors and my peers.  I really enjoyed the web conference on the 18th of March and found the information that was presented very helpful.  I was not able to participate in nearly as many of the conferences as I usually do because of when they were scheduled.  I look forward to participating in web conferences in the future and I can definitely see how some of the kids at my school would really enjoy participating in a similar activity. This summer my district is putting on a technology conference which I plan to attend in order to get some new ideas on how to effectively incorporate technology into my classroom and my school.

Action Research Plan Modifications

After meeting with my supervisor this week, we decided to move forward with my proposed plan.  We changed the start date for the tutoring sessions and reduced the amount of sessions per week from three to two.  I will be preparing the parent survey and will be scheduling the parent meeting for sometime in late November or early December.  I will also begin my research on the past academic success for this specific group of students.

Action Research Plan

SCHOOL VISION: Every child will achieve a minimum of one year’s growth.

GOAL:  All students transitioning from the elementary bilingual program into the middle school ESL program will pass the 6^th grade Reading STAAR exam and all core classes.  This will be facilitated through the use of mandatory tutorial sessions, increased parent involvement and reflection on the current ESL support system.

OUTCOMES	ACTIVITIES	RESOURCES/ RESEARCH TOOLS NEEDED	RESPONSIBILITY TO ADDRESS ACTIVITIES	TIME LINE	Benchmarks/ ASSESSMENT	Revisions to SIP/PIP based on monitoring and assessments
100% passing rate for all students transitioning from the elementary bilingual program into the middle school ESL program.	Mandatory tutorial sessions for 30 minutes, 3 times per week.	The fifth grade TAKS scores of the students involved in the study.   Advisory period will be used for tutoring.  This will eliminate the need for transportation. Released TAKS and STARR samples will be used to teach and practice effective strategies.	I will be responsible for the implementation of this tutorial program.	Starting Date:  Monday 11/7/2011 Ending Date:  Monday 4/2/2012	Reading STAAR Exam 2012	Common assessments will be conducted every two to three weeks.  The data will be reviewed and tutorials will be revised to focus on the student’s greatest areas of need.
All students transitioning from the elementary bilingual program into the middle school ESL program will pass their core classes and will achieve a minimum of at least one year’s growth.	Review and assess the current ESL support system. Review and evaluate the current ESL co-teach classrooms. Mandatory tutorial sessions for 30 minutes, 3 times per week.	Access for observation and collection of data will need to be approved by my administrator and the students and teachers included in the project.	It will be my responsibility to collect and evaluate the student’s grades.	Data will be collected from the end of the first six week period and will continue through the final six week period. The student’s six weeks grades will be recorded and evaluated at the end of each six week period.	Six week grades. A common assessment was given to each of the students at the beginning of the year.  The same assessment will be given at the end of the year and the results will be evaluated to see if the students achieved at least one year’s growth.	Information will be provided to the teachers at the end of each six week period.  Collaboration will take place to discuss effective strategies and techniques.  New ideas will be implemented and evaluated throughout the year.
Ensure parent involvement for the students transitioning from the elementary bilingual program into the middle school ESL program.	Hold a parent meeting to discuss the importance of parent involvement and their request their help in signing their child’s agenda and reading log on a weekly basis.	Parent survey to distinguish meeting time and initial parent involvement. Student agendas and reading logs.	It will be my responsibility to implement the parent meeting.  It will be the parent’s responsibility to commit to supporting their child.	The parent meeting will be held in late November.  The students reading logs and agendas will be checked every Monday.	Student reading logs and agendas will be reviewed for parent signatures on a weekly basis.	Initial parent involvement will be documented and assessed.  After the parent meeting, parent involvement will be monitored on a weekly basis and contact with the parents will continue on an as need basis.

Revised Action Research Project

Based on the lectures, readings, and the meeting with my site supervisor this week, I have made the decision to work on a different action research project during my internship.  My action research project will focus on the positive effects that a weekly program will have on the behaviors and academic success of a specific group of sixth grade "at risk"males.  Research will be performed to gain a better understanding of these student's past educational experiences, and a program will be developed which will focus on respect, education, attitude and leadership skills.  I plan to evaluate this program based on the positive impact that it has on these student's attendance records, office referrals, grades and STAAR results. 

Blogs and Educaitonal Leaders

Ways that educational leaders could utilize blogs:
1.  They could use it as a place where teachers could post useful lessons or resources for other teachers.
2.  They could use it as a question and answer forum.  (Teachers, Parents, Students etc.)
3.  They could use it to gather information for an action research project.

Action Research

Action research is a process that can be very rewarding and beneficial if conducted properly.  I have learned that it is an ongoing process that is grounded in inquiry and kept in motion by the implementation of new strategies and the process of reflection.  One area at my school that I believe could benefit from the use of action research deals with the transition of fifth grade students into middle school.  Although this transition is difficult for all students, there are certain sub-populations that seem to be affected to an even greater extent.  One area that I would like to research is the amount of time at the beginning of the school year that sixth grade teachers have to spend on teaching information that is outside of their curriculum.  I think that it would be beneficial to compare this amount of time to the time spent by the fifth, seventh and eighth grade teachers on the same tasks.  I would also like to research the challenges faced by the students that are moving from the elementary bilingual programs into the standard English classrooms at the middle school level.  I believe there are many stakeholders that could be involved in this research project and that there are many strategies that could be implemented to assure an easier transition for the students.  Action research would allow me the opportunity to gather important data, collaborate with school and district stakeholders, implement a variety of new strategies and reflect on their effectiveness over a period of time.  This is an area that needs attention and one that would benefit from the action research cycle.