EDLD 5352 In regards to everything else...

In this course I did something that I thought I would never do. I successfully collaborated with people I never met. This amazed me, primarily due to the fact that in all my prior experiences in learning, I was never able to pull off a group project in a manner that felt as though the work-load was equally shared and everyone did what needed to be done. As far as campus internship hours are concerned, I was able to add only a handful this summer by participating in writing the master schedule and fulfilling a few other duties that are required to my new job description (District Wide Dean of Students). It seems as though it would be an easy task in a district that is composed of only a little over six hundred students, but I think that this can make it more difficult. We as a school are, what I would consider, short on teachers and therefore unable to offer as many classes as we need to offer to give students a broad base in education beyond just core classes. At the moment, I have 124 campus based internship hours. When it comes to my Action Research Project, I have completed my initial draft and only need to complete final comparisons of initial data to final data.

EDLD 5352 Web Conference Reflections (No mirror required)

Web Conference Reflections:

Week 2: Our Week 2 web conference was presented by Dr. Jenkins and Dr. Benevidez. During the week two conference, the manner and method in which the rest of this course was going to continue took place and the tone was set. In this web conference we discussed how to go about completing and submitting the Week 2 assignments as well as a brief talk about what to expect in the weeks to come.

Week 3: The Week 3 web conference was fraught with technical difficulties for the first few minutes. After we were able to get going in a productive manner, we discusses items such as the use of Livebinders in regards to their necessity to this course as well as the submissions in Tk20 for this course. Once the conversation really got going and looked as though it was going to be very informative, I lost my internet connectivity and could not repair it prior to the termination of the conference.

Week Four: The web conference this week was aimed at the clarification at submission through Tk20 or actually the lack thereof. Another big topic for this week’s web conference was the discussion of PBL’s. It was mentioned by some students that on their campus or in their district, PBL’s are embraced while others mentioned that they are not so welcomed. The importance of Project Based Learning was also discussed and methods of introducing PBL’s to a campus and or district were also discussed.

Wicked Cool

During the last five weeks, we have been privileged to a multitude of lectures, guided to weekly readings, various assignments, discussion board topics, and opportunities to post in our blogs based on the various themes we have discussed. All of these things that we have been guided to participate in and encouraged to work on have helped us to further design and shape the future of our action research plan.

     The readings that we have, have been very useful. The last readings that we partook in were simple and invaluable. It was made obvious many of the ideas that I had, were incorrect or inaccurate and needed to be reviewed before I could have an accurate and beneficial action research project.

     The assignments that we were assigned were also very beneficial in that we were often times forced to examine what we were doing in our projects and then make changes in order to keep them accurate and beneficial. More often than not, I was forced to re-examine where I was in my project and make the proper changes to the plan in order to be sure that what I was doing was going to make a difference. I think that with the guidance that we have received, all of us definitely have the opportunity to make a difference with the information that we will be gathering and examining.

     As far as the discussion board is concerned, the utilization of the discussion board has been of the utmost benefit. To be able to read what the others in my situation are having to deal with has made it possible to put myself in their shoes as well as them to put themselves in my shoes in order to see another way to help the situation. When we are able to work together and be open to make as well as take suggestions from our peers, then we reach another level of professionalism as well as a higher plain of being a help to the future.

     The blogs are something that I have never been a part of until this class. I was nervous at first use the blogger website, being afraid that I would not be able to write in a manner befitting the fact that anyone in the world could read my blog and know what I was thinking about. It wasn’t until after the first post of two that I realized that many of the people in my class were in the same situation as myself when it came to the blog “thing.” Becoming part of the blogosphere has been a benefit in that it gave people the opportunity and apparently the freedom, to be able to say anything that they felt needed to be say about what I was doing.

     Over all, the experience of this class has been what it was set out to be I think. It has made me examine what I am doing as a research project from angles I didn’t know existed while at the same time, it has provided me with the knowledge that I need to get this taken care of in a manner befitting of a Masters of Educational Administration.

Live Action

So, in my efforts to get feedback on my action plan, I found that my supervisor is even busier than I ever thought.  In a weeks time, myself being sick and having workshops, and my supervisor working all day long, I do not yet have an updated plan to post. I expect to soon so please check back in a day or so.

Action Plan

 

 

 

Goal: To find a correlation between the educational levels of a student body’s caregivers and the student body’s academic success and provide a means for improvement.

 

                                      Person(s)               Timeline:                Needed                

Action Step(s)              Responsible           Start/End              Resources              Evaluation

1. Goals and Objectives- To use data concerning the educational level of the primary caregiver and the academic success level of the caregiver’s dependents to form a comparative data set reflecting academic success’ dependence on parental influence. This comparative data will then be used to create a program to help the caregiver to be able to provide needed assistance in the household.	Bean, John M., voluntary members of the Campus Improvement Leadership Team, On Site Supervisor.	November 12, 2012/ July 2013	Surveys-used to request information concerning the level of education the primary caregiver has achieved, spreadsheet for data collection, informational resource packets designed to assist caregivers in helping their dependents in the household. Campus location for meeting of caregivers to introduce idea and have them complete survey or schedule an interview.	Comparing grade data from the first half of the 2012-2013 school year to grade data from the second half of the 2012-2013 school year to note whether there has been an improvement in overall averages after parents have been informed of different study methods and techniques.
2. Activities to help achieve objectives- Data will be obtained from caregivers through surveys and interviews, parental impact meeting to complete surveys as well as schedule interviews and discuss the importance of home support of dependents. Distribute the resource “The Teaching Parent” to attending caregivers. Data concerning students will be collected from school databases. Only students who can be matched with data from their caregiver to form a complete data set will be utilized.	Bean, John M., voluntary members of the Campus Improvement Leadership Team, On Site Supervisor.	January 2013	Location to conduct meeting, snacks or meal, students to help (ask student council for volunteers)	N/A
3. Collect data from the end of the second half of the school year concerning students academic scores.  Analyze data collected from caregivers and students to form a growth chart for the first half of the school year compared to the second half of the school year	Bean, John M., voluntary members of the Campus Improvement Leadership Team, On Site Supervisor.	May-July 2013	Time	Use data to determine usefulness of educating caregivers on different methods to help their dependents with at home learning.

Template used is from Examining What We Do to Improve Our Schools, Sandra Harris, Stacey Edmonson, Julie Combs Copyright Eye On Education

Oh man, it's week two...

                Action research, it's not just for doctorates.

     Until I started this class, I had never even heard of the term "Action Research." Now every time I hear it, I think of a superhero. It takes someone with a lot of commitment, drive, and will to take on things such as writing an action research project. Not just because it requires constant and persistent work, but because it means that they are willing to "put it out there." Taking the time to research ideas to help our kids and then just throwing them out there for all to see and criticize, well, gutsy. I hope that I can get it right.

     During this assignment, I have learned that it isn't just something that a select few should try. Even if you are not wanting to create a multi-chapter dissertation based on research, anyone and everyone in the educational community should be willing to take a good hard look at what they or their district is doing and see if there is a way to make it better. Just think, what if you could be the one to make a difference in not just your students' life, but the whole campus or district. Wouldn't it be worth it to make the world a better place? Yeah, cliche, again. We all should be willing to take the time to at least look around at others' research and see if there is a way to "make it better." After all, we love these kids, lets do more for them.

Beans Blogomatic #1, Action Research

My encounters with action research have been brief, but in these encounters I have learned a couple of things. One is that I’m not necessarily doing it right, and two, I’ve already begun to do it. The “it” that I speak of is, of course, action research. At the moment, I am currently a member of a PLC (Professional Learning Community) as well as a campus leadership team. Which brings us to the part about what I’m not doing right, as part of the PLC, I feel as though I have been taking it too lightly. Dufour reminds us in his 2002 book Getting Started: Reculturing Schools to Become Professional Learning Communities, that “Simply changing the structure of a school will not produce fundamental changes. The culture, the belief system of a school, must also change.” I have been avoiding the almost overwhelming idea that the whole culture of my school must be changed. Through action research however, I have come to the realization, that my denial is one of my problems. As far as the campus leadership team is concerned however, understanding how action research works a little better has brought me to believe that I am on the right track as part of this committee of collaborative efforts.

I feel as though having a blog as an educational leader would be beneficial in that it has the power to give insight as to what is taking place in the school. So much of what the principals, superintendents and other administrators do is seen as “behind the scenes” to so many of the stakeholders within the district community. Something as simple as sitting down at the computer a couple of times a week and putting out a few words on the schools website has so much power and can make anyone within the district feel enlightened.