Week 5: Course Reflection

                This course was truly one of the most helpful and insightful college courses I have ever taken. I really enjoyed learning about action research. The class was a challenge and pushed me out of my box, which is always good. I learned so much and I am very thankful for the last five weeks. Dr. Abshire was wonderful and I look forward to having her again. The material I learned in this course will be helpful throughout my career in education.

             The concept of action research was an eye-opening experience for me. I have shared it with many of my colleagues and I’m a huge believer that we all need to pursue this type of constant learning to make our schools better. Reflection is necessary to be a great leader. So many staff development hours are spent hearing about how others do things when each school has its own unique group of students with unique circumstances. Learning from and within ourselves will have a much greater impact on our school communities.

           I am excited about my blog! I have and will continue to enjoy following and reading other student’s blogs. It will be such a great community of learners to be a part of! I need to be better about journaling and documenting as I move towards a career in administration. My blog is the perfect place to do just that. I have struggled a little with the technology end of it but I’m learning quickly! The more practice, the better I will get. I am thankful for this requirement in our course because it is going to be life-changing for me and very beneficial to my career!

             I have thoroughly enjoyed the textbooks! I can’t remember actually enjoying and looking forward to reading a college textbook. But these have been so interesting and full of great information. It is so nice to read information you feel is relevant and can be applied to your daily life. These have become a staple in my educational library and I will continue to refer to them as I progress through my action research and educational career.

            The assignments in this course were at times challenging for me. I felt frustrated and confused the first three weeks but everything fell into place. As I read discussion and blog posts I realized most of us were in the same boat. I understand now why Dr. Abshire encouraged us to print off and read the five weeks of assignments. Once I did that, it all made sense. The assignments and readings were structured so well and resulted in me learning a lot!

            The web conferences were very helpful!!! I enjoyed them each week and especially appreciated Dr. Abshire’s good humor and smile. I always logged off with a sense of assurance that I was capable of this work. She was encouraging and our classmates were always helpful. It was amazing to me what I learned on the web conferences and what I would have missed out on if I had not attended.

            There are many people, especially my site supervisor/principal, who are anxiously awaiting the results of my action research. It gives me purpose and forces me to take this on with passion. I know, if I do this thing right, I could give our students a great opportunity to be more successful than they are right now. What a fabulous inspiration that is to me! I want to conduct my research in a way that will give a clear and accurate answer to my wondering. Because everyone is wondering!

Week 4 Reflection

I really enjoyed reading about the different strategies for sustaining improvement this week. I enjoyed learning about the CARE model and thinking about sustaining the things that are working in our system as we work towards change.

My meeting with my site supervisor went well and I made only a few necessary adjustments to my action research plan. I intend to create my surveys online and use our school messenger system for communication with parents. My site supervisor is very excited about and supportive of my research.

I am anxious to get started but a little concerned how I will balance work, school, home, and my research. I plan to schedule necessary research activities on my calendar. I will also ask my site supervisor to hold me accountable. I have enjoyed reading other's blogs this week and I sincerely wish everyone the best!

Revised Action Research Plan, Week 4

Action Research Plan
Goal: How has the removal of an extended academic learning tutorial period affected our students’ achievement?
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Randomly select sample of students (25 from each grade level). Sample must come from bottom 75% of each grade level.	Kate Baca Counselors	March 19/March 30	Grade reports	N/A
Gather first semester grades for each grade level from last school year and this school year. Grades are from core classes only of the sample group.	Kate Baca Counselors	March 19/March 30	Grade reports	N/A
Gather benchmark scores from last school year and this school year. These would be from core classes only of the sample group.	Kate Baca Counselors Ruth Ann Vessels	March 19/March 30	Benchmark scores	N/A
Compare students’ grades and benchmark scores from last school year to this school year.	Kate Baca	March 30/April 30	Grade reports and benchmark scores	Evaluate how the grades compare. If grades are lower this year for a majority of the students, this could be an affect of the lack of extended academic learning time.
Interview two teachers, per core subject, per grade level.	Laurie Higgins Delight Taylor Patty Harshey Rachel Collins Douglas Hes Charlie Garza Gail George Rodney Allen	March 30/May 31	Prepare questions and use the same questions, in the same order, for each interview.	Evaluate the responses as they relate to the affects of a shortened academic learning period this school year.
Interview all five administrators at Hereford High School.	Richard Sauceda Ruth Ann Vessles Pete Rodriguez Rene Cano Perla Perez	March 30/June 15	Prepare questions and use the same questions, in the same order, for each interview.	Evaluate the responses as they relate to the affects of a shortened academic learning period this school year.
Survey students, teachers, and parents.	Sample group of students and their parents. All teachers at HHS.	March 19/May 15	Online surveys, accompanied by letters explaining my action research. Use school messenger and accentives.	Evaluate the responses as they relate to the affects of a shortened academic learning period this school year.
Literature review	Kate Baca	March 19/throughout action research	Internet, Lamar library, journals	Evaluate the literature and how it relates to my results of the data collection and the results from the interviews and surveys.
Evaluation of all data to determine affect(s), if any, from the removal of the extended academic learning period.	Kate Baca	July/August 30	All data, interview responses, survey results, and information from my literature review	Did the removal of the extended academic learning period affect the students and their achievements?
Present to administration and possibly continue study into next school year.	Kate Baca Administration	August 2012	Action Research Report	N/A
Decide if and how extended academic learning time will be implemented.	Kate Baca Administration	August-December 2012	Action Research results	N/A

Week 3 Reflection: I finally decided!

I finally decided on a topic for my action research and I'm excited about it!

How has the removal of an extended academic learning tutorial period affected our students’ achievement?

The web conferences have been very helpful and I've enjoyed following several classmates and reading everyone's posts. It was comforting to know I wasn't the only one having a hard time. But now that I finally decided and worked to construct a solid plan, I feel like things are moving and I'm happy about the direction I'm going. I am excited about what my research can possibly do for students in our school district and elsewhere.

Action Research Plan

My HONEST thoughts from week 2...

I'm feeling frustrated and confused about my action research topic. I know what I want to look at and why but something just doesn't feel right about how I'll conduct the research. I tend to always second-guess myself.

I enjoyed the interview videos this week. It's amazing how much we can learn from other administrators and people with significant experience in education. I also enjoyed reading about the nine common areas of action research. The Dana text is very informative and I'm learning so much from it.

I hope to get a clear head about my action research plan soon. My site supervisor suggested another topic that he is passionate about. But he gave me the freedom to choose my topic. Through our readings and listening to the lectures, I know it is beneficial to research a topic I am passionate about. Just looking for clarity and reassurance that my topic is the right one.

Educational Leaders Using Blogs...

Educational leaders can use blogs in several beneficial and creative ways. Pricipals can communicate with staff on a regular basis by posting important announcements, schedules, and inspirational ideas. They can also track their own action research through a blog, while encouraging their teachers to do the same. If monitored properly, a school can have a blog for staff and students to share announcements and accomplishments. Teachers can create blogs for their courses to communicate with their students. Coursework, reviews, and encouraging messages can be posted by the teachers. School clubs and coaches can also benefit from using blogs. School counselors can use a blog to provide helpful scheduling details, financial aid information, and college links. The possibilites are endless!