I'm into Week 3 of my Action Rearch Graduate class and I'm still breathing! gasp gasp I don't think my brain has gone through so many mental gymnastics! Sometimes the enormity of what action research encompasses is a bit overwhelming, but I can honestly say that with the new week has come a sense of unfolding clarity.
As of today, July 30, 2010, I am researching the relationship between student connectedness within the context of extra-curricular activities and student achievement amongst our economically disadvantaged population.
Of course, as with all action research, it is cyclical, on-going and nothing is set in stone!
The following are the questions I've decided to research, some background information for you, so you can get the gest of where I am going. Here we go...
Action Research Inquiries:
How can our middle school campus encourage and monitor student connectedness among our economically disadvantaged students?
What obstacles can we remove to facilitate our economically disadvantaged students' participation in extra-curricular activities on campus i.e. UIL, band, art club, service organizations?
What is the relationship between economically disadvantaged students' participation in extra-curricular activities and student achievement on standardized tests?
Description of rationale:
Last year, I became a teacher sponsor to help students start a service learning project on our campus, called America for Africa or A4A. Unlike other clubs on the campus, there were no fees for uniforms, art supplies, prolonged commitments, or parent involvement required. As part of the membership drive the students hosted a free pizza party. A boy I'd never seen before sat in the back of the room fixated on eating his pizza. When the pizza was gone he asked me if there was anymore. It was the first time I'd seen a hungry student on our campus, and it truly moved me.
I saw our little club grow and I began building relationships with kids from "the other side of the tracks." Their dispositions changed and I became increasingly aware that the safer our economically disadvantaged students felt, the more they began participating in other aspects of school. One girl decided to become a middle school cheerleader and we were able to pay for her uniform without others knowing. My passion for seeing economically disadvantaged students become a vital part of our school culture has grown ever since.
Previous research:
To put this in perspective, in 2008 the household median income in our school district was $105,350 compared to the state of Texas, $50,043. The median house or condo value was $203,682. Our economically disadvantaged students live in apartments, a trailer park, or are bused in from a nearby school district with permission. All in all, our economically disadvantaged students make-up about 4% of the school population.
In our middle school we have 828 students so it is easy to get lost unless you are involved in an extra-curricular activity. Our school culture places a high value on students participation in extra-curricular activities. However, substantial costs go into being a part of the band such as the cost of the instruments, private tutoring, uniforms, costs of traveling to be in competitions, and parent involvement. An economically disadvantaged student would not be able to adhere to financial requirements.
Furthermore, I am currently reading articles that show a direct correlation between student achievement and student connectedness in the content area of extra-curricular activities. Whereas in elementary school, students thrive from their connection to teachers. In the middle and high school years, students thrive more from student to student connections. Extra-curricular activities are a breeding ground for healthy student connectedness with their peers. All studies indicate that student connectedness is a driving force behind student achievement.
Beginning Research:
My Principal realized that student connectedness among our economically disadvantaged students was my passion. Combined with poor academic student performance on TAKs, specifically in Math, we began to "wonder" if there was any relationship to academic achievement and participation in extra-curricular activities. After lengthy discussions, sharing our visions and thoughts, she encouraged me to embark on the subject of student connectedness in relation to our economically disadvantaged students. I am both nervous and excited to see where this inquiry takes me!
Friday, July 30, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Week 2: Learning from the Experts
If it isn't meaningful (with a strong element of fun) I'm more than likely not to pursue it. After successfully creating a blog (last week) and downloading a picture (this week) I feel that I am somewhat on my way to figuring this thing out! Two important things I learned this week are: 1) I should choose a topic that will hold my attention and 2) the subject needs to be doable.
This week I listened to a couple of scholars who had some great advice on the importance of action research. Dr. Chargois, Director of Research, Planning and Development in Beaumont, ISD believes that we, as educators, must be action research orientated. This is a 180 degree change from my belief that research was something that scholars did. Instead, I become the reseracher and it is imperative that I learn how to conduct action research in my classroom if I want to be an effective teacher. I especially like his saying, "If you are green, you are growing!" Yes, I feel very green!
The second scholar, Dr. Kirk Lewis, Superintendent, Pasadena ISD, believes in the importance of data driven instruction. He requires for teachers in his district to be able to look at data from a class objective standpoint and how it translates to individual students. He is a proponent of pulling data from other school districts that have similar characteristics such as demographics, academic needs, etc. and pull from their research findings. It goes back to the old adage, "Why reinvent the wheel?"
After completing my week 2 assignment for my research course, I feel like I'm gaining confidence as I begin to narrow down my many wonderings on what to research. After meeting with my site supervisor, and pondering my own passions, I am interested in researching what my principal calls "student connectedness" within the peremeters of our middle school. I am wondering: How can our middle school campus monitor and foster student connectedness within our economically disatvantaged students? How does their involvement in school based opportunities to be connected compare to other economically disatvantaged students not involved as far as grades, behaviors, etc.
Well, my brain is on overload but I am anxious to learn more about the nuts and bolts of how to do action research as I begin a new week.
This week I listened to a couple of scholars who had some great advice on the importance of action research. Dr. Chargois, Director of Research, Planning and Development in Beaumont, ISD believes that we, as educators, must be action research orientated. This is a 180 degree change from my belief that research was something that scholars did. Instead, I become the reseracher and it is imperative that I learn how to conduct action research in my classroom if I want to be an effective teacher. I especially like his saying, "If you are green, you are growing!" Yes, I feel very green!
The second scholar, Dr. Kirk Lewis, Superintendent, Pasadena ISD, believes in the importance of data driven instruction. He requires for teachers in his district to be able to look at data from a class objective standpoint and how it translates to individual students. He is a proponent of pulling data from other school districts that have similar characteristics such as demographics, academic needs, etc. and pull from their research findings. It goes back to the old adage, "Why reinvent the wheel?"
After completing my week 2 assignment for my research course, I feel like I'm gaining confidence as I begin to narrow down my many wonderings on what to research. After meeting with my site supervisor, and pondering my own passions, I am interested in researching what my principal calls "student connectedness" within the peremeters of our middle school. I am wondering: How can our middle school campus monitor and foster student connectedness within our economically disatvantaged students? How does their involvement in school based opportunities to be connected compare to other economically disatvantaged students not involved as far as grades, behaviors, etc.
Well, my brain is on overload but I am anxious to learn more about the nuts and bolts of how to do action research as I begin a new week.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Baby Steps: Setting up a Blog Site and Reflection
My first baby step to blogging was to watch the youtube video "Blogs in Plain English" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN21pWXjXI. The video must have been created by the same people who wrote Blogging for Dummies because it could not have made the process any easier! I learned that a blog is basically "news" that a person has to share with others. Anyone can blog about anything!
For the purposes of my journey into action research, blogging gives me the ability to document my thoughts, as well as, allow me to share what I learn with others. It allows me to give and recieve feedback that is constructive and helps me to become a better leader. Possibly one of the best things about a blog is that it gives me the capability to record my reflections or "capture thinking." Blogs or Web -logs are an excellent way to allow educational leaders to document the layers of questioning as their thoughts and inquiries unfold (Dana, 2009, p. 87). As educational leaders, it is one way of dissolving feelings of isolation and to connect to others.
For the purposes of my journey into action research, blogging gives me the ability to document my thoughts, as well as, allow me to share what I learn with others. It allows me to give and recieve feedback that is constructive and helps me to become a better leader. Possibly one of the best things about a blog is that it gives me the capability to record my reflections or "capture thinking." Blogs or Web -logs are an excellent way to allow educational leaders to document the layers of questioning as their thoughts and inquiries unfold (Dana, 2009, p. 87). As educational leaders, it is one way of dissolving feelings of isolation and to connect to others.
Action Research: Week 1 What I Am Learning
I have to admit that it has been difficult wrapping my brain around the concept of Action Research. Maybe it's because of the messages I've grown up with that told me that I needed someone on the "outside"to educate me and give me solutions because they are "experts" and I'm not. Take weight loss sytems for instance, I've probably spent enough money going to weekly meetings for someone else to weigh me, hand me a food guide, plan my meals, and keep weekly data on my weight loss (or gains) to pay off my son's student loans. That's not to say that using an "outside" source to manage my weight was wrong, it's just that I didn't know that I could have had the same results collaborating with others and using the action research process I am learning about this week in my Lamar Research class.
Unlike traditional research pardigms of the past, action research encourages practitioners to engage in solution-seeking behaviors to "facilitate change based on the knowledge they generate" (Dana, 2009, p. 5). All action research begins with what Dana calls "wonderings" or "inquiries." This termanology in and of itself is freeing to me because I am by nature an inquisitive person. For me asking question is like a loose thread that you pull that seems to have no end. It's not important whether or not I get the answers right away, it's the freedom to wonder and to ask "what if?" It's like looking up at the clouds and finding an animal shape and just as soon as I point it out to someone and we share the "Aha!" moment...it transforms into something else. What I am learning about Action Research is that it is nothing like the research projects in my past, but will tap into my curious nature and guide me on a systemic journey to explore areas as an adminstrator I would like to see changed in my school.
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