Kay, thank you so much for clarifying this part of Week 4 Assignment. I believe my Action Research topic would fall under this category. My Action Research Query is to try and determine whether or not a student’s participation in extracurricular activities increases that student’s academic, attendance, or discipline achievement levels, and if so, then why more funding is not allocated to extracurricular activities.
I am posting my Action Research topic here. It is how can technology increase the vocabulary development of second language learners in the primary grades.
My action research plan will focus on student motivation. Why do some students seem to be unmotivated no matter what the consequence/reward? What can we as teachers do to ensure that we reach all students?
My action research topic overlaps into two categories: Staff development and Individual student I will discover how the integration of 21st Century Skills impact student achievement and how we can motivate teachers to create this environment in their teaching and learning.
My action research project falls into this category. I will be inquiring, researching and analyzing struggling readers. Specifically, students receiving Resource services/interventions. My questions are: are the interventions that are offered effective for these struggling readers? How can we ensure that even more direct instruction can be implemented? How would full inclusion/collaborative teaching affect these struggling readers, as well as the general ed. student that is maintaining on-grade level status?
My action research plan addresses how we might be able to increase student retention of content material in Biology by matching technology activities to student learning styles. This topic is extremely important for my school because our district has begun implementing a one-to-one laptop initiative and more and more instruction and learning is happening via computer. If we can help students figure out which types of technology tools and applications help them learn the best, we will be able to more easily utilize differentiated instruction when students at our campus receive their computers.
My research is focused on math improvement for low performing at risk elementary students. Each year, we seem to spend most of the time working with only 3 or 4 kids who are really struggling. Those kids end of scraping by on passing the TAKS test. At the same time, the rest of the class must work independently. I want to see how to identify these students early and make them more successful. Please check out the full plan and comment. Thanks!
My action research focuses on a reading incentive that we are implementing on my elementary campus this fall. It will be a schoolwide "Million Word Challenge" where students are challenged to read one million words as a school from October 1 - May 1. The goal of this research is to determine its effect on students' desires to read.
My action research plan is focused on improving the academic achievement of SPED students and increasing the amount of meaningful parental involvement on the part of their parents through more comprehensive training/development for ALL FACULTY in Special Education Law & Advocacy.
My blog access information is: http://rthroweractionwords.blogspot.com/
Hi there, My action research falls in between two categories but I feel that overall I am focusing on individual students and their performance. My focus is on helping our ELL students and our at-risk students by combining two successful programs already implemented at our school- sheltered instruction and single gender-based classrooms into one program concentrating on the core subjects of math and science. My blog info is http://vtnguyen02.blogspot.com/
My action research project is to have PK students create vocabulary projects using various types of technology in order to increase vocabulary scores on the CIRCLES test.
My action research plan focuses on determining the correlation between student progress and absenteeism, and then creating interventions to help students that demonstrate negative attendance behaviors. Please stop by my blog I will appreciate all comments.
My Action Research Plan is dealing with post-secondary options for students at my high school and finding out reasons why they don't take advantage of them. Most of the students do not go on to higher levels and education and I am looking for reasons why!
My Action Research Plan is directed toward the very early development of students in pre-kindergarten. Focusing on the question, "What role does small group instruction play in meeting the needs of students with little or no prior educational experience to pre-kindergarten?" I plan to explore how differentiated instruction makes a difference in helping these students to catch up to their peers and to be prepared for kindergarten.
My Action Research Project question is: How does Internet usage by students at school affect their Internet usage at home and what can educators do to support and offer positive choices for the use of the internet by students when they are not at school. I plan to concentrate on training teachers on our web program so they can develop ways to use their classroom website to encourage positive Internet choices. We also hope to get parental input via a survey during parent teacher conferences. I would appreciate any comments or suggestions. My Blog Site is: http://amygeorge-tech.blogspot.com/2010_08_01_archive.html
Goals and objectives/outcomes of the research investigation: The goal of this action research project is to identify the area of reading in which our students in kindergarten and first grade struggle the most and to address that need using research based practices. When these practices are put into place it is expected that the students in kindergarten and first grade will become more successful readers and will be able to meet the district set standards for being successful readers. This means that the students in kindergarten will end the school year reading on DRA2 level 4 in May and the first graders will end the school year reading on DRA2 level 18 by the end of the school year. The goal is also for these kindergarten and first grade students to receive a rating of developed on the TPRI assessment for their grade level. Activities designed to achieve the objectives: This action research project will begin with the students taking assessments that are given individually by the classroom teacher beginning on October 4, 2010. These assessments will test phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency. The assessments that will be used will be the TPRI and the DRA2. Once the assessments have been completed, the data will be compiled and I will look at the data in order to identify an area of deficiency in one of these five areas of reading. Once an area has been identified, research based strategies will be identified that will address this need in the students. The teachers of the grade levels along with administrators and me will meet to identify the strategy or strategies that we feel will best meet the needs of our students. The teachers will be trained in using this strategy or strategies and go back to the classroom to put them into practice. I will meet with the teachers every six weeks to allow for time to evaluate how the teachers feel the program is working and whether or not the strategies need to be adjusted for the students. The students will be assessed three times a year using the DRA2, and the TPRI. The data from these assessments will be used in the meetings as data for influencing decision making. At the end of the school year the assessment data will be compiled and the administrators, teachers, and me will get together to assess how effective this research has been in meeting the needs of the students. Resources and research tools needed for data gathering: The resources and research tools that will be needed for gathering data on the action research project are the TPRI and the DRA2 at the appropriate grade level. I will use research based strategies to help to meet the greatest area of need that was identified. Time line for completion or implementation of activities: The time line begins on the week of October 4, 2010 with the beginning of the year assessments. The middle of the year assessments will occur during the two week period that begins with January 10 and lasts until January 24, 2011.The end of the year assessments will take place from May 2, 2011 until May 13, 2011. Persons responsible for implementation of the action research plan: I will be running the implementation of the research plan. I will do this with the help of the kindergarten and first grade teachers. I will report findings and data to the principal. Process for monitoring the achievement of goals and objectives: In order to monitor the achievement of the goals and objectives of this research project, I will meet with the teachers and the administrator regularly. A journal or log will be compiled that outlines the steps that were taken and the reasons behind the decision making. All data from the assessments will be turned in to me so that I can compile it into a format that determines how successful the project was in meeting the desired goals and objectives. Assessment instrument(s) to evaluate the effectiveness of the action research study: TPRI and DRA2 will be used for assessment.
My action research will be to use technology to focus on reading more with bilingual students and to see if it will lead to higher reading skills and vocabulary.
I believe my Topic would fall under this category. My research project focuses on how the individual student uses or misuses a chat client in a school setting.
The lack of parent involvement is prominent at the high school and middle school level within our district. The climate and school culture may be the blame. We were once sited for not having Spanish speaking personnel to assist our Spanish speaking parents. Now we must determine if students and parents feel welcomed at our school and we must also create a welcome mat for them. While creating this welcome mat, we must determine the following: What effects does parent involvement and interest groups have on the attendance rates, drop out rates and academic achievement for ELLs and our Hispanic student population? Will developing programs for this population aid in increasing parent involvement? Will having the presence of Hispanic professionals create a sense of belonging to the community? Will the presence of Hispanic professionals motivate students to complete high school?
Intrinsic versus Extrinsic motivation: What motivates students in the classroom, both in the special education and the regular education classrooms?
As educators, I believe it is a constant struggle to motivate our students. For this reason, I think we turn to external motivators to get our students to acquire some desire to complete tasks. During my study, I want compare data with other teachers and determine who are the intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivated students and research ways of moving our extrinsic students to intrinsic motivators. I also believe that there is a correlation to intrinsic motivated students to parent involvement, and I would like to research this believe some more.
The main questions I would like to have answered at the end of my study are: 1. Is there long-term positive or negative results in applying extrinsic motivation? 2. How can we change the desire from extrinsic motivation to intrinsic motivation? 3. Are intrinsic and extrinsic motivated students given the same opportunities in the classroom? 4. Is there a correlation between the intrinsic or extrinsic motivated student and demonstrating appropriate behavior in the classroom? 5. Will the expectation of a reward that is contingent upon performance decrease intrinsic motivation?
The selected teachers and I will use a checklist and a daily journal to document our findings during the action research project study. I would also like to determine if there is a correlation in students grades and whether they are intrinsically or extrinsically motivated.
My action research project is similar to Melba's posted on Aug. 5th. I am researching the difference in behavior and academic success of student athletes as opposed to non-athletes. Because of some comments posted on my blog and input from others, it may morph into almost exactly what Melba is doing, i.e., how participation in any school-sanctioned extracurricular activity affects the behavior and academic progress of our students as opposed to that of non-participants.
My blog address is http://cindybusch.blogspot.com The inquiry I decided to go with is:
Would a differentiated discipline plan be feasible and effective to use with all students in a general ed classroom, and does using it help student achievement? How do you know?
My supervisor and I are positively anxiouss to put it into gear starting at the beginning of this year. My sample group is my home room with the 5th grade to follow. The principal is actually wanting to implement it into the whole campus. We decided to wait unitl the second semester to see what was successful.
My Topics Is: 1. Why are enrollment rates of minority males in AP classes lower than the at large population? What can we do to correct that issue? My blog address is:http://dbarrent.blogspot.com
I think my topic will fall in this area. I am researching which method or style is the best way to teach a bilingual student. I want to find the best method that allows the bilingual student to transistion into english and have the ability to move into advance level classes in the high school level.
My topic of inquiry is how to decrease student office referrals and as a result increase student achievement. How do we keep the disruptive students in the classroom and maintain a learning environment?
My chosen research of Classroom Referrals and its effect on student achievement is opening up more complex questions for me rather than developing a conclusion. Each and everytime I think that my data points in one direction, my topic seems to become unfocused.
For example, the wondering is easy enough in itself. The original question is when we give a student an office referral and they are removed from the classroom for any length of time, is classroom achievement minimized for that student? The data certainly points in that direction as TAKS scores are directly related to the attached referrals. However, new questions then arise. Why is the student misbehaving? What are the alternatives for punishment? Do teacher behaviors support the campus vision? Are staff members and PARENTS willing to accept responsibility for student behavior? Are teachers allowed control inside their classroom? Is there consistency in enforcing discipline? And, these are just a few that come to mind.
This is where I get off task and find my mind wondering and rambling. One colleague of mine made a very good analogy. One of my biggest concerns with the research was to be very careful and try to avoid any conflict among my colleagues as conflict resolution is not my strong suit. I was really worried about throwing a stone in the calm pond and causing ripples. But, as my friend stated, "Calm and still waters become stagnant"! This was very interesting and did make complete sense as change and progress are often married to disagreements and opposite trains of thought.
Now back to how we can decrease teacher office referrals and increase student performance. I am open for suggestions because I do need some input as I don't have a clue at this point on possible remedies. I suppose you could just make it a rule to never punish a student with an "outside the classroom" consequence, however, is this acceptable? I am starting to see a trend in my study that indicates a good majority of teachers simply want the undesired behavior to cease rather than a punishment phase. On the other hand, opposite research shows that a few of our colleagues desire a public display of ultimate punishment. I just finished reading What Great Teachers Do Differently by Todd Whitaker and it was simply amazing and has helped me a great deal with this inquiry.
The time is rapidly approaching that I must start determining direction and sustaining improvement or else the project has been taskless. I do have a roadmap and just hope that I can stay within the navigational beacons.
The final hours are upon us and the action research blueprint is complete. I am well satisfied with my chosen inquiry dealing with the “Consequences of Classroom Referrals and How They Affect Student Achievement”. One troubling reflection or perhaps question that has been a concern is the following: Am I following this wondering for the completion of course work or is it for the purpose of actually following a passion and conviction? To answer that question is rather difficult. I asked myself some reflective questions. Was this issue a concern for me before the introduction to EDU 5311? And, would I have ignited it on my own without the influence of a course requirement? The honest answers to both questions are Yes to the first and a reluctant but honest No to the second. With this said, I would also like to point out that great changes often happen due to a series of events. Perhaps this could be a perfect example.
The course Professors, Dr. Arterbury and Dr. Jenkins, has been terrific leaders throughout this endeavor. Their understanding style of lecture motivated me to really do some looking inside the proverbial mirror while trying to develop understanding about my plan. Dr. Jenkins and the late evening video conferences were something to look forward to as we discussed our course work and even to a small extent Odessa Permian and MOJO football. Diane Mason also helped tremendously by acting as our moderator and coach and showing her patience with our frustrations.
The assignments and activities for our course were rigorous, but fulfilling. Perhaps I put more work in them than was needed. I realize that I can be a tad over winded at times and tend to ramble. It is something that I am working on! However, at the end of each week, I felt very enthused and anxious to share my work with my colleagues. This might perhaps sound a bit silly, but the completion of the assignments gave me a sense of pride. I only wish that I could convey this intrinsic emotion to my students.
The forums were perhaps my most favorite times of the week. I really enjoyed the sharing of action plans and thoughts between my colleagues. The tone was always very positive and professional. I was able to piggy back several ideas from my classmates and implement them for the improvement to my own plan. The forums for me provided a private arena in which to share thoughts. I preferred this venue over the world wide audience of our “Blog Spots”. I find myself on the Blog talking very generally and not very specific. However, the Blog reaches such a huge audience of readers when compared to the Forums. This could prove to be very advantageous for an action researcher as we gather data and information from many sources.
I would like to introduce to you one very influential and true confident in this new direction with my education. Her name is Elaine Stribling and she is my site supervisor. Without her direction and friendship, I would be a lost lamb in a big pasture. Mrs. Stribling is an accomplished administrator that I have been privileged to work alongside for 15 years and counting. We both share the same educational philosophies and consequently have created a dream team of vision.
Finally, while stopping this writing and reflecting a few minutes ago, I came to realize that I do have the passion for making education and students a top priority. This is not only my current job but is starting to become an obligation that I am pleased to fulfill. The action research issues will be a steady focus for the next several months if not years. I actually am not convinced that one’s action research ever comes to a completion as one issue revolves into another and the cycle continues and exponentially grows.
My topic is determining if the current RTI program our school has chosen to implement will raise achievment levels of 5th and 6th grade At Risk students. Our campus has taken a giant step towards RTI compliance and our principal and superintendent are interested to see if there is positive impact among the At Risk population.
There seems to be numerous others on this topic who are also studying the effects of technology and so I will throw my research topic into the mix as well. I will be studying the effectiveness of an online learning environment of recovering lost credit. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
In Career and Technology programs, obtaining certification is considered the culmination of the career pathway; however, post-graduation utilization of such certificates is unknown. My action research topic will explore several questions regarding these certifications. How do we determine the impact of CTE certifications on long-term career decisions by our high school students? What certifications and trainings are offered? How many of the certifications/ trainings are completed by our students before they graduate from high school? How many students certified/trained continue to pursue education and training within their certification field after high school? How many students certified/trained begin working in the field in which they were certified/trained after graduation?
Please view my action research blog and make any comments or suggestion you may have. My research topic is how to effectively reduce student tardies,while improving teacher morale, and reducing the number of students in In School Suspension.
How can parental involvement affect student growth? Through more contact with parents (teacher website, and news letters) will students test scores improve? If teacher provides parent workshop opportunities will test scores increase?
I feel that homework is a big problem with the students at my school. I feel that many parents do not know how to support their child at home with homework. I think that if parents were offered workshops that would give them support in helping their child we would see more homework completed correctly. If parents are involved in helping their children complete practice correctly than we should see improved test scores. Also, with a teacher website there would be more parent teacher communication. The teacher could communicate test, assignments, and homework with parents daily.
Kay, thank you so much for clarifying this part of Week 4 Assignment. I believe my Action Research topic would fall under this category. My Action Research Query is to try and determine whether or not a student’s participation in extracurricular activities increases that student’s academic, attendance, or discipline achievement levels, and if so, then why more funding is not allocated to extracurricular activities.
ReplyDeleteGreat that you are posting here, Melba. Sounds like an important study.
ReplyDeleteKA
I am posting my Action Research topic here. It is how can technology increase the vocabulary development of second language learners in the primary grades.
ReplyDeleteMy action research plan will focus on student motivation. Why do some students seem to be unmotivated no matter what the consequence/reward? What can we as teachers do to ensure that we reach all students?
ReplyDeleteMy action research topic overlaps into two categories: Staff development and Individual student
ReplyDeleteI will discover how the integration of 21st Century Skills impact student achievement and how we can motivate teachers to create this environment in their teaching and learning.
My action research project falls into this category. I will be inquiring, researching and analyzing struggling readers. Specifically, students receiving Resource services/interventions. My questions are: are the interventions that are offered effective for these struggling readers? How can we ensure that even more direct instruction can be implemented? How would full inclusion/collaborative teaching affect these struggling readers, as well as the general ed. student that is maintaining on-grade level status?
ReplyDeleteMy action research plan addresses how we might be able to increase student retention of content material in Biology by matching technology activities to student learning styles. This topic is extremely important for my school because our district has begun implementing a one-to-one laptop initiative and more and more instruction and learning is happening via computer. If we can help students figure out which types of technology tools and applications help them learn the best, we will be able to more easily utilize differentiated instruction when students at our campus receive their computers.
ReplyDeletehttp://mathactionresearch.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteMy research is focused on math improvement for low performing at risk elementary students. Each year, we seem to spend most of the time working with only 3 or 4 kids who are really struggling. Those kids end of scraping by on passing the TAKS test. At the same time, the rest of the class must work independently. I want to see how to identify these students early and make them more successful. Please check out the full plan and comment. Thanks!
My action research focuses on a reading incentive that we are implementing on my elementary campus this fall. It will be a schoolwide "Million Word Challenge" where students are challenged to read one million words as a school from October 1 - May 1. The goal of this research is to determine its effect on students' desires to read.
ReplyDeleteMy action research plan is focused on improving the academic achievement of SPED students and increasing the amount of meaningful parental involvement on the part of their parents through more comprehensive training/development for ALL FACULTY in Special Education Law & Advocacy.
ReplyDeleteMy blog access information is:
http://rthroweractionwords.blogspot.com/
Hi there,
ReplyDeleteMy action research falls in between two categories but I feel that overall I am focusing on individual students and their performance. My focus is on helping our ELL students and our at-risk students by combining two successful programs already implemented at our school- sheltered instruction and single gender-based classrooms into one program concentrating on the core subjects of math and science.
My blog info is
http://vtnguyen02.blogspot.com/
My action research project is to have PK students create vocabulary projects using various types of technology in order to increase vocabulary scores on the CIRCLES test.
ReplyDeletehttp://princetechnologyblog.blogspot.com/
My action research plan focuses on determining the correlation between student progress and absenteeism, and then creating interventions to help students that demonstrate negative attendance behaviors. Please stop by my blog I will appreciate all comments.
ReplyDeletehttp://ashleysar.blogspot.com/
My Action Research Plan is dealing with post-secondary options for students at my high school and finding out reasons why they don't take advantage of them. Most of the students do not go on to higher levels and education and I am looking for reasons why!
ReplyDeleteMy Action Research Plan is directed toward the very early development of students in pre-kindergarten. Focusing on the question, "What role does small group instruction play in meeting the needs of students with little or no prior educational experience to pre-kindergarten?" I plan to explore how differentiated instruction makes a difference in helping these students to catch up to their peers and to be prepared for kindergarten.
ReplyDeletehttp://kbactionresearchreality.blogspot.com/
My Action Research Project question is:
ReplyDeleteHow does Internet usage by students at school affect their Internet usage at home and what can educators do to support and offer positive choices for the use of the internet by students when they are not at school. I plan to concentrate on training teachers on our web program so they can develop ways to use their classroom website to encourage positive Internet choices. We also hope to get parental input via a survey during parent teacher conferences. I would appreciate any comments or suggestions.
My Blog Site is: http://amygeorge-tech.blogspot.com/2010_08_01_archive.html
Goals and objectives/outcomes of the research investigation: The goal of this action research project is to identify the area of reading in which our students in kindergarten and first grade struggle the most and to address that need using research based practices. When these practices are put into place it is expected that the students in kindergarten and first grade will become more successful readers and will be able to meet the district set standards for being successful readers. This means that the students in kindergarten will end the school year reading on DRA2 level 4 in May and the first graders will end the school year reading on DRA2 level 18 by the end of the school year. The goal is also for these kindergarten and first grade students to receive a rating of developed on the TPRI assessment for their grade level.
ReplyDeleteActivities designed to achieve the objectives: This action research project will begin with the students taking assessments that are given individually by the classroom teacher beginning on October 4, 2010. These assessments will test phonological awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency. The assessments that will be used will be the TPRI and the DRA2. Once the assessments have been completed, the data will be compiled and I will look at the data in order to identify an area of deficiency in one of these five areas of reading. Once an area has been identified, research based strategies will be identified that will address this need in the students. The teachers of the grade levels along with administrators and me will meet to identify the strategy or strategies that we feel will best meet the needs of our students. The teachers will be trained in using this strategy or strategies and go back to the classroom to put them into practice. I will meet with the teachers every six weeks to allow for time to evaluate how the teachers feel the program is working and whether or not the strategies need to be adjusted for the students. The students will be assessed three times a year using the DRA2, and the TPRI. The data from these assessments will be used in the meetings as data for influencing decision making. At the end of the school year the assessment data will be compiled and the administrators, teachers, and me will get together to assess how effective this research has been in meeting the needs of the students.
Resources and research tools needed for data gathering: The resources and research tools that will be needed for gathering data on the action research project are the TPRI and the DRA2 at the appropriate grade level. I will use research based strategies to help to meet the greatest area of need that was identified.
Time line for completion or implementation of activities: The time line begins on the week of October 4, 2010 with the beginning of the year assessments. The middle of the year assessments will occur during the two week period that begins with January 10 and lasts until January 24, 2011.The end of the year assessments will take place from May 2, 2011 until May 13, 2011.
Persons responsible for implementation of the action research plan: I will be running the implementation of the research plan. I will do this with the help of the kindergarten and first grade teachers. I will report findings and data to the principal.
Process for monitoring the achievement of goals and objectives: In order to monitor the achievement of the goals and objectives of this research project, I will meet with the teachers and the administrator regularly. A journal or log will be compiled that outlines the steps that were taken and the reasons behind the decision making. All data from the assessments will be turned in to me so that I can compile it into a format that determines how successful the project was in meeting the desired goals and objectives.
Assessment instrument(s) to evaluate the effectiveness of the action research study: TPRI and DRA2 will be used for assessment.
My action research will be to use technology to focus on reading more with bilingual students and to see if it will lead to higher reading skills and vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteI believe my Topic would fall under this category. My research project focuses on how the individual student uses or misuses a chat client in a school setting.
ReplyDeleteThe lack of parent involvement is prominent at the high school and middle school level within our district. The climate and school culture may be the blame. We were once sited for not having Spanish speaking personnel to assist our Spanish speaking parents. Now we must determine if students and parents feel welcomed at our school and we must also create a welcome mat for them. While creating this welcome mat, we must determine the following: What effects does parent involvement and interest groups have on the attendance rates, drop out rates and academic achievement for ELLs and our Hispanic student population? Will developing programs for this population aid in increasing parent involvement? Will having the presence of Hispanic professionals create a sense of belonging to the community? Will the presence of Hispanic professionals motivate students to complete high school?
ReplyDeleteMy action research project:
ReplyDeleteIntrinsic versus Extrinsic motivation: What motivates students in the classroom, both in the special education and the regular education classrooms?
As educators, I believe it is a constant struggle to motivate our students. For this reason, I think we turn to external motivators to get our students to acquire some desire to complete tasks. During my study, I want compare data with other teachers and determine who are the intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivated students and research ways of moving our extrinsic students to intrinsic motivators. I also believe that there is a correlation to intrinsic motivated students to parent involvement, and I would like to research this believe some more.
The main questions I would like to have answered at the end of my study are:
1. Is there long-term positive or negative results in applying extrinsic motivation?
2. How can we change the desire from extrinsic motivation to intrinsic motivation?
3. Are intrinsic and extrinsic motivated students given the same opportunities in the classroom?
4. Is there a correlation between the intrinsic or extrinsic motivated student and demonstrating appropriate behavior in the classroom?
5. Will the expectation of a reward that is contingent upon performance decrease intrinsic motivation?
The selected teachers and I will use a checklist and a daily journal to document our findings during the action research project study. I would also like to determine if there is a correlation in students grades and whether they are intrinsically or extrinsically motivated.
My action research project is similar to Melba's posted on Aug. 5th. I am researching the difference in behavior and academic success of student athletes as opposed to non-athletes. Because of some comments posted on my blog and input from others, it may morph into almost exactly what Melba is doing, i.e., how participation in any school-sanctioned extracurricular activity affects the behavior and academic progress of our students as opposed to that of non-participants.
ReplyDeleteMy blogsite is http://krmwade.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteMy blog address is http://cindybusch.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteThe inquiry I decided to go with is:
Would a differentiated discipline plan be feasible and effective to use with all students in a general ed classroom, and does using it help student achievement? How do you know?
My supervisor and I are positively anxiouss to put it into gear starting at the beginning of this year. My sample group is my home room with the 5th grade to follow. The principal is actually wanting to implement it into the whole campus. We decided to wait unitl the second semester to see what was successful.
My Topics Is: 1. Why are enrollment rates of minority males in AP classes lower than the at large population? What can we do to correct that issue?
ReplyDeleteMy blog address is:http://dbarrent.blogspot.com
I think my topic will fall here. My topic is how can I use Science notebooks as a formative assessmetn tool to improve student achievement?
ReplyDeleteI think my topic will fall in this area. I am researching which method or style is the best way to teach a bilingual student. I want to find the best method that allows the bilingual student to transistion into english and have the ability to move into advance level classes in the high school level.
ReplyDeleteHowdy,
ReplyDeleteMy Blog is at:
http://rickyeades.blogspot.com/
My topic of inquiry is how to decrease student office referrals and as a result increase student achievement. How do we keep the disruptive students in the classroom and maintain a learning environment?
My topic is reducing the number of students who lose credit due to attendance.
ReplyDeleteGreetings,
ReplyDeleteMy chosen research of Classroom Referrals and its effect on student achievement is opening up more complex questions for me rather than developing a conclusion. Each and everytime I think that my data points in one direction, my topic seems to become unfocused.
For example, the wondering is easy enough in itself. The original question is when we give a student an office referral and they are removed from the classroom for any length of time, is classroom achievement minimized for that student? The data certainly points in that direction as TAKS scores are directly related to the attached referrals. However, new questions then arise. Why is the student misbehaving? What are the alternatives for punishment? Do teacher behaviors support the campus vision? Are staff members and PARENTS willing to accept responsibility for student behavior? Are teachers allowed control inside their classroom? Is there consistency in enforcing discipline? And, these are just a few that come to mind.
This is where I get off task and find my mind wondering and rambling. One colleague of mine made a very good analogy. One of my biggest concerns with the research was to be very careful and try to avoid any conflict among my colleagues as conflict resolution is not my strong suit. I was really worried about throwing a stone in the calm pond and causing ripples. But, as my friend stated, "Calm and still waters become stagnant"! This was very interesting and did make complete sense as change and progress are often married to disagreements and opposite trains of thought.
Now back to how we can decrease teacher office referrals and increase student performance. I am open for suggestions because I do need some input as I don't have a clue at this point on possible remedies. I suppose you could just make it a rule to never punish a student with an "outside the classroom" consequence, however, is this acceptable? I am starting to see a trend in my study that indicates a good majority of teachers simply want the undesired behavior to cease rather than a punishment phase. On the other hand, opposite research shows that a few of our colleagues desire a public display of ultimate punishment. I just finished reading What Great Teachers Do Differently by Todd Whitaker and it was simply amazing and has helped me a great deal with this inquiry.
The time is rapidly approaching that I must start determining direction and sustaining improvement or else the project has been taskless. I do have a roadmap and just hope that I can stay within the navigational beacons.
Ricky
http://rickyeades.blogspot.com
The final hours are upon us and the action research blueprint is complete. I am well satisfied with my chosen inquiry dealing with the “Consequences of Classroom Referrals and How They Affect Student Achievement”. One troubling reflection or perhaps question that has been a concern is the following: Am I following this wondering for the completion of course work or is it for the purpose of actually following a passion and conviction? To answer that question is rather difficult. I asked myself some reflective questions. Was this issue a concern for me before the introduction to EDU 5311? And, would I have ignited it on my own without the influence of a course requirement? The honest answers to both questions are Yes to the first and a reluctant but honest No to the second. With this said, I would also like to point out that great changes often happen due to a series of events. Perhaps this could be a perfect example.
ReplyDeleteThe course Professors, Dr. Arterbury and Dr. Jenkins, has been terrific leaders throughout this endeavor. Their understanding style of lecture motivated me to really do some looking inside the proverbial mirror while trying to develop understanding about my plan. Dr. Jenkins and the late evening video conferences were something to look forward to as we discussed our course work and even to a small extent Odessa Permian and MOJO football. Diane Mason also helped tremendously by acting as our moderator and coach and showing her patience with our frustrations.
The assignments and activities for our course were rigorous, but fulfilling. Perhaps I put more work in them than was needed. I realize that I can be a tad over winded at times and tend to ramble. It is something that I am working on! However, at the end of each week, I felt very enthused and anxious to share my work with my colleagues. This might perhaps sound a bit silly, but the completion of the assignments gave me a sense of pride. I only wish that I could convey this intrinsic emotion to my students.
The forums were perhaps my most favorite times of the week. I really enjoyed the sharing of action plans and thoughts between my colleagues. The tone was always very positive and professional. I was able to piggy back several ideas from my classmates and implement them for the improvement to my own plan. The forums for me provided a private arena in which to share thoughts. I preferred this venue over the world wide audience of our “Blog Spots”. I find myself on the Blog talking very generally and not very specific. However, the Blog reaches such a huge audience of readers when compared to the Forums. This could prove to be very advantageous for an action researcher as we gather data and information from many sources.
I would like to introduce to you one very influential and true confident in this new direction with my education. Her name is Elaine Stribling and she is my site supervisor. Without her direction and friendship, I would be a lost lamb in a big pasture. Mrs. Stribling is an accomplished administrator that I have been privileged to work alongside for 15 years and counting. We both share the same educational philosophies and consequently have created a dream team of vision.
Finally, while stopping this writing and reflecting a few minutes ago, I came to realize that I do have the passion for making education and students a top priority. This is not only my current job but is starting to become an obligation that I am pleased to fulfill. The action research issues will be a steady focus for the next several months if not years. I actually am not convinced that one’s action research ever comes to a completion as one issue revolves into another and the cycle continues and exponentially grows.
My topic is determining if the current RTI program our school has chosen to implement will raise achievment levels of 5th and 6th grade At Risk students. Our campus has taken a giant step towards RTI compliance and our principal and superintendent are interested to see if there is positive impact among the At Risk population.
ReplyDeleteThere seems to be numerous others on this topic who are also studying the effects of technology and so I will throw my research topic into the mix as well. I will be studying the effectiveness of an online learning environment of recovering lost credit. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
ReplyDeleteIn Career and Technology programs, obtaining certification is considered the culmination of the career pathway; however, post-graduation utilization of such certificates is unknown. My action research topic will explore several questions regarding these certifications. How do we determine the impact of CTE certifications on long-term career decisions by our high school students? What certifications and trainings are offered? How many of the certifications/ trainings are completed by our students before they graduate from high school? How many students certified/trained continue to pursue education and training within their certification field after high school? How many students certified/trained begin working in the field in which they were certified/trained after graduation?
ReplyDeletePlease view my action research blog and make any comments or suggestion you may have. My research topic is how to effectively reduce student tardies,while improving teacher morale, and reducing the number of students in In School Suspension.
ReplyDeletehttp://jjqactionresearch.blogspot.com/
How can parental involvement affect student growth? Through more contact with parents (teacher website, and news letters) will students test scores improve? If teacher provides parent workshop opportunities will test scores increase?
ReplyDeleteI feel that homework is a big problem with the students at my school. I feel that many parents do not know how to support their child at home with homework. I think that if parents were offered workshops that would give them support in helping their child we would see more homework completed correctly. If parents are involved in helping their children complete practice correctly than we should see improved test scores. Also, with a teacher website there would be more parent teacher communication. The teacher could communicate test, assignments, and homework with parents daily.