Week 5: The Heart of Action Research

I am beginning a new graduate class called Diverse Learners. Our two texts are: Poverty Is Not A Learning Disability: Equalizing Opportunties for Low SES Students and Leading for Diversity: How School Leaders Promote Postivie Interthnic Relations. Since my action research project is to find a correlation between economically disadvantaged students active in our Campus' student led service organization, A4A (America for Africa), and academic achievement, I feel like this new class will be natural flow of progression from my Research class. However, I have found that as I perform the duties of a Special Education Case Manager and teacher preparing for the start-up of school, I can not lose focus of the heart of research which is "Wondermont." So today I am wondering, how my co-sponsor of A4A and I will manage to draw in our economically sup population as we begin our 3rd year on campus. What can we do to attract the students who would normally slip through the cracks because they feel embarrassed and stressed because they don't have parents that drive expensive cars and wear designer clothes. To put this in perspective, out of over 800 students in our Middle School...our economically disadvantaged sup population is less than 40 students! How do we find them? How do we make our A4A club a place where they feel safe, accepted, and provide the connectedness all adolescent students crave?

Week 5: Lessons from a Scholar

During this course I had the privilege of listening to Dr. Kirk Lewis, Superintendent of Pasadena ISD. Okay, it wasn't exactly in a lecture hall but was over the internet in my home office. What I learned from Dr. Lewis is to do research that is practical to me. I can ask myself, What do I need to know that I can apply directly to student learning? In the past, I've perceived that research concentrated on topics that were more theoretical than practical. Now I am seeing that action research is about what is meaningful to me. I am able to use ordinary language and concentrate on issues that relate to me, my faculty, and my campus. It is also necessary to follow my passions. My first action research 'wondering" stemmed from our school's RTI process. While RTI is at the forefront of many other researchers as a hot topic, my real passion or wondering evolved into issues surrounding our economically disadvantaged students. When I follow my passion the benefits are: 1) I will be interested, 2) I will be more focused on the outcome, and 3) my students will benefit. When I am able to harness my passion and put it into action that is propelled by data...I've got something that has the potential to impact the next generation of 21st century learners.

Week 4 1/2: Making Action Research Manageable

I came within seconds of deleting my previous week 4 post, but decided not to since revision is part of the learning process. It's not that my original plan was wrong, but it was too global and was not realistic for me to manage. What I've learned this week is that having a "big picture" is okay; in fact, it is imperative for me to keep a global perspective but at the same time start with a realistic, manageable steps. As for meeting with my new principal, I am relieved that she is supportive of my action research project and was willing to not only help me revise the plan, but explained (from a principal's perspective)how I could gain the data in smaller bites and expand the research as determined by the data. Click here to view the revised plan. I appreciate your comments.

My revised topic: Is there a relationship between economically disadvantaged students' participating in student-led service organization, A4A (America for Africa) and student academic achievement?

Week 4: Posting the Plan!

Thanks to a colleague of mine, I now understand how to add a link to my post! I am humble and grateful that I have peers in my graduate class who I can admit that I'm confused and they will help me out. Here is my action research plan...hopefully!

Click here to go to my action plan