Week 5: Summing up Research 5301

This course has taught me more about using research in administration than I ever thought possible.  As an educator I understand the importance of self-reflection and trying to grow, but I never really considered the important role research plays.  Before this course, when I thought of research I though about sitting in my boring statistics class in college wondering when I would ever use this information.  Action research has really caught my attention and it seems like a very interesting and beneficial part of school administration.  The part I liked most about action research was that is done in the school setting, with the people who it most directly affects.  I gained a lot of insight working with my site supervisor on my action research project template.  I had all of these “great” ideas going in to talk to him and thought I had everything planned out perfectly.  When we met he had some great ideas on ways to improve my project further and I think these ideas made my project much better.  My time line for the project is going to have to change some, due to all of the state testing this month, but I would still like to try and get it completed before the end of this school year.  I am hoping to be able to present the data to my peers at the beginning of next school year with a presentation.  As I mentioned in my discussion board, one of the topics I plan to continue to research and learn is the 8 steps of how to share your research information.  If my project turns out like I am hoping I will have some really great information and I want to make sure I distribute it the best way possible.  

Week 4 Reflection

This week has been very beneficial in continuing to revise my action research plan.  My meeting with my supervisor was very helpful and he guided me in some great ways to improve my plan.  This week I will be working on and sending out my surveys to teachers to begin my project!

Revised Action Research Project

Action Planning Template
Goal:  The goal of my action research project is to try and find a relationship between discipline in schools and student success.  I will also include the role of parent involvement in the success of discipline and classroom success.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Create a survey to be given to Math and English teachers on campus about discipline techniques used in their classroom.	Courtney Krisch and teachers returning the survey	Start: March, 26 2012 End: April, 6 2012	Teacher boxes and emails to send both ways.	I will use the data from the survey to look at what these teachers have similar discipline styles and use the suggestions from Mr. Keele to choose what teachers I want to focus on for comparing discipline styles.
Create a survey for students that will gather information on what they feel about different discipline styles of teachers. (One enrichment class from Math and English from each grade level.)	Courtney Krisch and students returning the survey	Start: March, 26 2012 End: April, 6 2012	Teachers from each level to pass out during enrichment classes and then return to me.	I will use the survey from students to be another comparison tool for what teachers I want to focus on for my research.  It is important to use teachers that the students feel have successful discipline also.
Get testing data for Math and English teachers on campus to compare test scores for each teacher.	Courtney Krisch and Todd Keele	Start: April, 9 2012 End: April, 13 2012	Mr. Keele will use eduphoria to collect all testing data for our campus.	Mr. Keele and I would look at the teachers I have chosen to focus my research on and compare their scores.  If there are teacher with test scores far better we will make changes as needed to who the research will focus on.
From survey (and supervisors suggestions) interview teachers who have strong discipline in their classrooms.	Courtney Krisch and selected teachers	Start: April, 16 2012 End: April, 27 2012	Interview questions and a meeting time with each teacher.	I will interview the selected teachers on what discipline techniques they feel are most successful in making their students more successful.
Observe teacher (same ones I interviewed) to look for common characteristics on their teaching styles and discipline methods.	Courtney Krisch and selected teachers	Start: May, 1 2012 End: May, 18 2012	Teacher permission to observe in classroom.	I will observe the same teachers to look at any common practices that are done among them that helps to make their students success increase.
From student surveys discuss with a group of students what teachers they feel have the discipline and why they are more successful in those classrooms. (I will discuss with my enrichment class, 2nd period, 4th period and athletics classes.)	Courtney Krisch and selected students	Start: May, 1 2012 End: May, 18 2012	Discussion questions	I will take information from the surveys, interviews and observations and then discuss with teachers any common practices that might be increasing student success.  We will also discuss anything they feel could be added to this success.  I will also discuss with a group of students what type of discipline they relate to most with their teachers and if they feel that influence their success in different classes.
Survey all teachers and a group of students about how important they feel parent involvement in and what impact it has on a student’s success on school.	Courtney Krisch and teachers/students returning the survey	Start: May, 1 2012 End: May, 18 2012	Survey questions to put in all boxes and email – teachers to pass out during enrichment time and return to me.	I will use one last survey to tie in the role that parent involvement plays in student success.

Week Three Action Research Template

Action Planning Template
Goal:  The goal of my action research project is to try and find a relationship between discipline in schools and student success.  I will also include the role of parent involvement in the success of discipline and classroom success.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Create a survey to be given to all teachers on campus about discipline techniques used in their classroom.	Courtney Krisch and teachers returning the survey	Start: March, 26 2012 End: April, 6 2012	Teacher boxes and emails to send both ways.	I will use the data from the survey to look at what teachers have similar discipline styles and use the suggestions from Mr. Keele to choose what teachers I want to focus on for comparing discipline styles.
Create a survey for students that will gather information on what they feel about different discipline styles of teachers.	Courtney Krisch and students returning the survey	Start: March, 26 2012 End: April, 6 2012	Teachers from each level to pass out during enrichment classes and then return to me.	I will use the survey from students to be another comparison tool for what teachers I want to focus on for my research.  It is important to use teachers that the students feel have successful discipline also.
Get testing data for all teachers on campus to compare test scores for each teacher.	Courtney Krisch and Todd Keele	Start: April, 9 2012 End: April, 13 2012	Mr. Keele will use eduphoria to collect all testing data for our campus.	Mr. Keele and I would look at the teachers I have chosen to focus my research on and compare their scores.  If there are teacher with test scores far better we will make changes as needed to who the research will focus on.
From survey (and supervisors suggestions) interview teachers who have strong discipline in their classrooms.	Courtney Krisch and selected teachers	Start: April, 16 2012 End: April, 27 2012	Interview questions and a meeting time with each teacher.	I will interview the selected teachers on what discipline techniques they feel are most successful in making their students more successful.
Observe teacher (same ones I interviewed) to look for common characteristics on their teaching styles and discipline methods.	Courtney Krisch and selected teachers	Start: May, 1 2012 End: May, 18 2012	Teacher permission to observe in classroom.	I will observe the same teachers to look at any common practices that are done among them that helps to make their students success increase.
From student surveys discuss with a group of students what teachers they feel have the discipline and why they are more successful in those classrooms.	Courtney Krisch and selected students	Start: May, 1 2012 End: May, 18 2012	Discussion questions	I will take information from the surveys, interviews and observations and then discuss with teachers any common practices that might be increasing student success.  We will also discuss anything they feel could be added to this success.  I will also discuss with a group of students what type of discipline they relate to most with their teachers and if they feel that influence their success in different classes.
Survey all teachers and a group of students about how important they feel parent involvement in and what impact it has on a student’s success on school.	Courtney Krisch and teachers/students returning the survey	Start: May, 1 2012 End: May, 18 2012	Survey questions to put in all boxes and email – teachers to pass out during enrichment time and return to me.	I will use one last survey to tie in the role that parent involvement plays in student success.

Week Three Reflection

Working on my action research template this week really helped me to outline how I am going to do my action research project.  It took me a long time to look at what I want to get out of this project and what was the best way to implement it.  When looking at my timeline I decided to try and complete this project before school gets out in 10 weeks.  I think this will be enough time to get all of the surveys and interview together and get some data.  My school has had (what teachers would call) some discipline issues and some teachers feel that these discipline issues are negatively affecting scores.  Teaching math, I am constantly judged on my test scores so I am looking forward to seeing what I find in my research and hopefully start working toward a solution.

Week 2 Reflection

Through this weeks videos, discussions and readings I have learned a lot about action research and why it is important.  Each video help me understand a little more why action research needs to be done and ways to do it successfully.  Meeting with my supervisor to discuss topics for my project and talking over ideas gave me a lot of insight as well.  He had some really great ideas on how to implement my project and ways to tie in other areas as well.  For my action research project I am going to interview/observe teachers and students about ways they feel discipline affects their learning.  Most importantly I am going to try and find a common method between teachers who have good classroom management and discipline, and see why their students are more successful.  I am starting to get really excited about starting this project and seeing what I find out.  I am also looking forward to observing other teachers classrooms and seeing what other teachers are doing that works.  I feel like this one thing that could really help teachers but we never have the time to do it, with our busy schedules.  

Research Purpose and Significance

The purpose of my action research plan is to see if student discipline and parent involvement impact student success in the classroom.  I plan on evaluating and interviewing teachers from all subjects and grade levels to accumulate data.  My plan is to evaluate different teachers discipline styles and then look at the academic success of the students in that class.  I will look at office referrals, parent conferences/contacts and any other aspects that will help me gain insight into what factors might affect student learning.  I will also speak with parents of various students about their involvement in their child’s school life and try to find a connection between that and the students success at school.

The significance of my action research study will help to show teachers and administrators what type of classroom management/discipline produces the best student success.  I understand that teachers have different styles and have to do what works best for them in their classroom, but we can find some sort of relationship between types of discipline and student success it will help teachers take steps to make their students more successful.  This study could help parents to see how much involvement in their students schooling could help their child. 

How can blogs be used?

Blogs could be very beneficial to administrators leaders in numerous ways.  A blog could be a great way to get school information to parents and students.  Nearly everyone uses the internet and if you have a school blog you could communicate information to parents in a manner for them to ask questions and post responses.

Action Research -

Before this course I have never heard of action research, and after reading more on this topic I am very interested in learning more.  Action research seems like a great way to help address school issues directly and start to find solutions to many of the problems schools have.  I think action research is a great way to keep the problems close to home which will help come up with more effective solutions.  It was interesting to look back at the traditional methods of research and learn a new more efficient way to research problems.  I am already planning on using this method in my classroom and looking ahead at how I can use it as an administrator.  One topic I would like to use action research on is the correlation between student discipline and academic success.  My personal belief is that the more structured and consistent your discipline is, the higher your academic achievement will be.  I would like to start this in my classroom and see if I can see a change in learning based on discipline.  Another topic I would I like to use action research on is the effectiveness of technology on academic success.  My current district places a lot of importance on using technology and they spend a lot of money for this technology.  I understand that in this day and age technology is important, but I am interested in what the direct effect of technology in school has on student success in school.  The idea of action research has really caught my attention and I am looking forward to learning more about it through out the duration of this course.  There have been many times that I have been frustrated with the fact that the people making decisions in education have not stepped foot in a classroom in years (or sometimes ever.)  If we can use action research to collaboratively develop solutions to the problems so many schools face, schools would be a better place.