It's been awhile

Update: Tutoring:

With the announcement of our beloved Principal's retirement, all tutoring has pretty much grinded to a halt.

Our assistant principal told me in the beginning that she would be looking in on classes to ensure that the tutoring was taking place, as I have my own advocacy group to teach. This did not happen.

I feel that this disconnect may harm our program, at least until a new Principal has been found.

As a grade level, I still consistently send out math and reading to all 7th grade teachers, however, I can not speak for the other two grades.

Tutoring: Week 3

Sort of random thoughts about the process this far:

-I am hearing rumors that certain teachers are not doing the tutoring as they are supposed to. Some teachers are doing it daily without fail, and for that I am thankful.

-I feel helpless to correct the situation. I would love to be able to go around and check on the tutoring while it is in progress, but I have my own group to tutor.

-My administrator questioned me last week about the teachers there were not tutoring, but yet again, failed to back me up by checking into these teachers himself. I understand that the responsibility is mine, but if I am unable to step out of my classroom to follow up, how is project suppose to succeed?  Our AP promised me she go around a check each classroom for the tutoring, but she too has gone MIA.

-I feel very isolated in this project, and that saddens me. I still very much believe in its possibilities of success. With the never-ending budget cuts, all after-school tutoring is gone. When will the other staff members realize that its now or never??

Tutoring: Day 1!

Tutoring has offically begun! Today was the first day that everyone was to start their advocacy tutoring. So far, so good! Today was a reading day, and each reading teacher shared an activitiy best suited to a topic they have been working on.

Overall, the hostilly of previous weeks has seemed to disappear, and everyone seems to be on board!

Research Update:

After finally getting the grade level teachers to come to a consensus, we are finally ready to move forward!! Today I held a committee meeting where we shared beginning of the year data and plans for the coming steps.

Each representative came to the table with great ideas to share, and they were even ready to proceed faster than scheduled with the tutoring!

It was a very positive step in the process! We are looking to be up and going in the next 2 weeks!

Research Update

GOAL: To increase the success of at risk learners by targeting those students that have between a 50 and 75% chance of meeting standard on this year’s state test.

Action Step	Person Responsible	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
1.       Create a small advocacy committee	Action researcher. School administration	August 29-September 3	None	-Staff attendance -Project consensus
2.       Using data, divide students into groups based on learning needs	Committee representatives, Classroom advocacy Teachers, Action Researcher	September 6-16	Previous year’s TAKS data	Organized student advocacy Schedules based on Tutoring need Teachers ready to begin Tutoring by October 1st
3.       Analyze student need based on objective and provide each teacher with a detailed list of student objective need	Committee representatives, Classroom advocacy Teachers, Action Researcher	October 1- end of school year	Previous year’s TAKS data, district benchmarks, formative assessments	Benchmarks throughout the  year to determine effectiveness with a final assessment in April 2012 on state test STAAR.
4.       Provide during the day tutoring based on objective need of student	Committee representatives, Classroom advocacy Teachers, Action Researcher	October1 – end of the school year	Previous year’s TAKS data, district benchmarks, formative assessments	Benchmarks throughout the year to determine effectiveness with a final assessment in April 2012 on state test STAAR.

Action Research: the First Pitfall....

We had our first meeting at the grade level to begin dividing the students by need. I was really shocked to find that despite the intial meeting they were all invited to try attempt to find a consensus, all of which they didnt attend, they are VERY resistant to the tutoring project.

I just dont understand, we were told from last year that this time during the day would be left for tutoring, my project just makes it more organized and fitted to the student. But the general message I got from today's meeting is "we dont want to do this." They dont want to do this, not because they dont think it will be helpful, not because they dont think having a set tutoring schedule and an idea of what to focus on would work, but simply because they would rather do NOTHING with the kids that they have, than have to change out students and teach during this time (even if the lessons are provided for them).

I truly believe this project will work! This will reach students that have NEVER stayed afterschool for tutoring, it will give each of us an idea of EXACTLY what we need to work on and with who, and it will help organize a period that was traditionally used for nothing but paperwork and crowd control.

How do you bring those against you on board? Against you not because they dont agree, but simply because they are lazy and resistant to working with different students. Once the project is rolled out, how can I be sure that they are actually using the matieral and tutoring?

Any advise would be greatly welcomed!!

Action Research Plan: the Beginning!

Examining the work: Setting the Foundation – The need is to improve student’s performance in the classroom and on Standardized Assessments.

Analyzing data –We will gain information by evaluating their Standardized tests results and district set benchmarks throughout the school year leading up to STAAR.

Developing deeper understanding – We will interview teachers about informal observations they have made about the students.  We will evaluate the effectiveness of the advocacy tutoring throughout the year through focus groups at the grade level and the action research committee level.

Engaging in Self-Reflection – As a future leader, I will be able to put into practice my beliefs that every child, even the ones deemed at-risk, can learn if they are reached effectively.

Exploring Programmatic Patterns – Students may require restructuring of the learning groups should they fall behind or develop needs different from the group they are currently in based on data. Straight math, straight reading, as well as mixed tutoring schedules will be available to better suit student needs. Groups will be created in a nonbiased way based purely on data.  

Determining direction – I will work with advocacy tutoring group to monitor and evaluate the progress of the students.  I will document the gains and relay that data to the advocacy teachers and campus administrators.

Taking action for school improvement – The research data will be available to all teachers and committee members through emails, meetings and bulletins.

Sustaining improvement – We will continue to update student groups as new data becomes available. Long-term goals would have this program become a regular part of our school. Trainings in data use would have teachers run their own classroom based tutoring based on student need, thus improving school performance in all levels and subjects.

Action Research takes TIME!!!

Finally reached a decision on which project to make my action research project! I have decided to use the following:

Will creating a school tutoring program during the day designed to target at risk learner increase scores? I am already hard at work designing this program that uses student data to focus on students that have a 50 to 75% chance of meeting standard on this year’s state testing. These students will be rearranged into groups based on their needed objectives in math and reading.

As I dive into my research project, I am being faced with a large challenge....patience!!!  In order for this project to truly work I must have a concensus from the other teachers. Sadly, as much as I want this project to start yesterday, it takes time to get all these people on board and organized. I set a deadline for meeting as grade level for the end of this week.....and LIFE happened!!! A staff meeting this day....a baby shower another day....and here we are....Thursday night, and no one has met. So, I once again attempted to reestablish a timeline. My hopes are that these meetings will take place no later than next week....despite there being a holiday on Monday. After these teams meet, I can once again host a meeting and hopefully get this project moving!!

Hopefully, updates from the team meetings to follow...SOON!!

My First Self-Lead Project Meeting!

This year, In addition to my PTO creation, I will also be working to create an organized tutoring program to better optimize our advocacy period in the middle of the day. The goal is to reach children in need that would not be able to attend tutoring before or after school.

This week, I sent out my FIRST communication to the staff and set up a meeting for Thursday to attempt to work on a consensus through the staff.

I was amazed by how many teachers attended!! It really reminds me of our first course, where we really learned that a leader must also have people that are willing to follow them! What an amazing feeling!

The meeting went extremely well! Lots of great ideas, and I even got 1 teacher from each grade level to volunteer to work as a representative.

Next week, each representative will meet with their grade levels to divide up students according to data and make decisions that they feel will work best for them.

The following week, I am planning on meeting with the representatives to get started on the next step! This was something that seemed very daunting and overwhelming, but I am really amazed how well it is going so far!

My administrator even congratulated me on my first meeting! He said he thought i did very well and it was very successful! What a relief! I was so nervous!!

Thanks to all that have encouraged me! I'll keep you posted! :)

Educational Blogging: A new revolution in sharing!

I believe that educators as well as administrators could benefit a lot from the use of professional blogs. A great number of great ideas can be stored and shared through this network.
Also, by reading other's blogs, you may learn new information or problem solving techniques from someone you would never had had the opportunity to meet in person.
On a personal note, I really enjoying reading blogs in my free time. I find I learn a lot about other people and what makes them tick so to speak. I can only imagine how much you might learn about others if introduced to a group of educators blogging.

Becoming a More Effective Leader Through Action Research

Action Research: It's something we do as teachers all the time but never noticed. As a good teacher, you often use data, assessments, and even projects to determine where your students are in their learning. Then, with that information, you make adjustments....a little more time here, an extra practice there...and so on.

As an administrator in training, I must also learn to utilize this skill for my leadership. I am learning more and more that leadership is less about coming in with new ideas ready to make changes and more about really learning to look and listen to what the campus needs.

With this new knowledge, I plan to use action research to further develop my projects on my campus. I have been given the task of building a parent involvement program from the ground up. However, before this program can come to be, I must first research to find out what my school and its surrounding community needs. A traditional PTO may not be effective in the type of area that our school is located, all though a recent survey showed that more than 72 percent of parents feel that they are not connected and informed of the goings on in our school. My goal is to improve this! After finding what the community needs, I must then try to make our staffs' needs align with this. Thus I believe the process and work it will take to make this program successful is by definition action research at its finest!

Stay tuned to track my progress!