PSA Reflection

As a result of this project I spoke to my students about Cyberbullying. I shared the statistics of unreported cases and asked if they had either personally experienced this or know someone who had. Every hand in the room went up in each class period. I showed this video to my students and it opened a great dialogue. What really surprised me was how they took this message and made something meaningful from it.

Three students began collecting anonymous stories from our campus about the student experiences, how it made and how it made them feel. The letters written by these students were heart wrenching. There is now a formal sponsor and a group beginning when we return from break to support students with these experiences and how to avoid or stop them. The really amazing part it the group is being formed and "run" by students for students. They never cease to amaze me.

My Personal Photo Story Video

This was a very exciting project for me. I had a hard time deciding what I would do but then it occurred to me that this would be a good time to begin a video journal into my journey with Problem Based Learning [PBL]. It has been a very hard item to research and get good information on the planning and development of PBL lessons especially when curriculum is being layered. I really wanted to talk to someone who was actually doing this and get their thoughts on their personal experience. Maybe there will be someone else out there who wants to know how a person gets started in this type of instruction and that it is not just a decision to do it and then Ta-Da, you instantly have the wherewithal to do it with all of the internet resources and support of traditional lesson plans.

This first video describes how I stumbled into PBL as a pedagogy and am really just following the lead of my students as I encourage them to construct their own learning. I am holding on white knuckled and adrenaline rushing but still have my hands and feet inside the ride.

EDLD 5301 Final Reflection

     The most poignant moment of this class, for me, was the Week 2 lecture when Timothy Chargois stated that “to just help one student succeed is no longer enough”. I cannot say how many times I have stated that if I could help at least one student I have done a good thing. His comment echoed through me that I need a different frame of mind when approaching my students. I have to help them all, all the time, every time.

     The Dana text explored The Passions That Drive Your Journey: Finding a Wondering, in chapter 2 (Dana, 2009 pg 20) which helped me to focus on my Action Research project. When reviewing the nine passions I was able to focus my attention on an issue I believe can address all of these. My ideas were not so focused prior to this reading.

     The step by step guidance from the Harris book, Examining What We Do To Improve Our Schools, is something I have read twice and will continue to use as I consider the development of my lessons and education of my students. Each lesson should be re-created with some sort of action research plan incorporated. Not only will this help me as an educator, but will help me stay up with the ‘natives’ as they continue to evolve.

     I really enjoyed the blogging and seeing what others are doing. I appreciated the feedback and suggestions offered by classmates. Getting the perspective of others ‘in the trenches’ and from different disciplines makes a more rounded collaboration. I know I have new ideas from this collaboration that I can incorporate into my action research plan, now and in future ones.

Dana, N. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher. Corwin. Thousand Oaks,

     CA

Harris, S., Edmonson, S., Combs, J. (2010). Examining what we do to improve our schools: 8 steps from analysis to

     action. Eye On Education. Larchmont, NY.

CARE Model Planning Tool

Examining What We Do to Improve Our Schools Sandra Harris, Stacey Edmonson, Julie Combs

Tool 8.1 CARE Model: Planning Tool

Identify Concerns that must change (look to the future)

(Assign points to concerns from 1 to 3 in the order of the most important issues to consider.)

1. Students must take pride in their school and their work at school.

2. Faculty must look at each student based on their needs and not expect the students to bend to the teacher.

3. Administrators must support the teachers and foster collaboration throughout the campus.

Identify Affirmations that must be sustained (look to the present)

(Assign points to affirmations from 1 to 3 in the order of the most important issues to consider.)

1. Administration must continue to survey the students about their needs and concerns as they attend school.

2. Administration must continue to communicate the results of those surveys to the students and share the actions that will take place based on their voice on campus.

3. Teachers must continue to participate in the surveys as facilitators to gather the information from the students.

SMART Recommendations that must be implemented:

(Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely)

(Assign points to recommendations from 1 to 3 in the order of the most important recommendations to implement.)

1.  Student’s top three concerns should be addressed, in some manner, to the student body by May 15^th so they know their voices have been heard.

2.  Student Council should continue to advocate on behalf of the student body by soliciting concerns and issues as well as things they would like to see continued and present those to administration at least once per month.

3.  Student’s should have a School Improvement Box that they can deposit their written concerns, issues, and commendations at will to foster an atmosphere of caring.

EVALUATE – Specifically and Often

(Identify the best ways to evaluate the implemented recommendations.)

1.  A school assembly to be held no later than May 15^th (after TAKS) by our principal to talk to the student body about the top three submitted concerns. This assembly will address what the issues are, what can be done to improve the concern, and when that improvement will be implemented.

2.  Student Council will maintain an academic calendar to track the issues presented to them, when the meeting with administration was held, when the resolution is expected, and when the resolution is completed. This will document the efficacy of the involvement as an advocate of the Student Council and the timeliness of actions for both the council and administration.

3.  An administrator will be responsible for collection of the School Improvement comments from the box on a designated day each week. The comments will be aired on the school announcements and open for comment by the student body for a period of three days. The comments will be considered and changes implemented as appropriate. These changes will be listed in the school newspaper, on the announcements and in the hall ways for the students to see how their voice can make a change.

Agreed Action Plan

Kim Davis Action Planning
Goal: Improve student performance through better reading strategies.
Action Steps:	Person(s) Responsible	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
1.  Create a graphic organizer for students to identify vocabulary and main points of a reading passage.	Kim Davis, teacher	March 13, to March 21, 2011	Cornell Note Template	The reading template is completed.
2. Model, facilitate, and observe student use of the graphic organizer.	Kim Davis, teacher	March 21 to April 15, 2011	Textbook, graphic organizers	Improved student 6 week grades.
3. Review and revise the graphic organizer through student feedback and teacher observation.	Kim Davis, teacher	March 21 to April 15, 2011 (ongoing)	Textbook, graphic organizer, feedback	Continuous student improvement (at least a 10% improvement in the fail rate each grading period.

Action Plan

 Goal: My students will become better equipped to handle difficult reading assignments and, in the process, become more successful at learning the substance of what they are reading, by learning paraphrasing techniques.

Objective 1: Students will complete a teacher guided reading instruction through one entire Biology chapter in 5 school days using a graphic organizer to identify new vocabulary words and main ideas with a modified Cornell Note format.

Objective 2: Students will complete a teacher facilitated reading instruction through an entire Biology chapter in 5 school days using a graphic organizer to identify new vocabulary words and main ideas with a modified Cornell Note format.

Objective 3: Students will independently complete a reading instruction through an entire Biology chapter in 5 school days using a graphic organizer to identify new vocabulary words and main ideas with a modified Cornell Note format.

Objective 3: Students will show an improvement in reading comprehension and the substance of what they are learning by reducing the overall student fail rate by 10% from the previous grading ending period.

Activities: Over a three week period students will have modeling and guided practice with learning to use a modified Cornell Note formatted graphic organizer to learn new vocabulary words and identify main points. The first week will be a guided activity. In the second week students will be asked to complete the reading activity with questions being answered by the teacher during the reading time. By the third week of reading assignments students will be asked to complete the graphic organizer independently.

Resources and research tools: This activity will require the creation of a modified Cornell Note style graphic organizer, student textbooks, and writing utensils.

Timeline: Three weeks are needed to complete this research based inquiry as described below:

     Week 1: Teacher guided reading activity to model how to read for understanding by

                   identifying unknown vocabulary words and main points of the passage.

     Week 2: Teacher facilitated reading activity to assist students who are reading a

                   passage to identify unknown vocabulary words and main points.

     Week 3: Students will work independently in the reading assignment to identify

                   unknown vocabulary words and main points of the passage.

Responsible Party: Kim Davis (teacher) is responsible for implementation.

Process for monitoring the achievement: Students’ ability to work independently to complete the task and a fail rate reduction of 10% in six week grades.

Assessment instrument(s): Correct, independently completed graphic organizer and six week grades will be used to assess efficacy of this action research study.

Week 3 Blog - Drafting the Action Research Plan

This is an exciting week for me. I have narrowed down my action plan to something that can not only benefit my students in my class, but is also a timely activity for TAKS time and may be a tool they can use throughout High School and possibly improve their educational experience and reduce the overall dropout rate for our school.

It is known in our district that the reading comprehension levels are low for our students due to language and cultural challenges. I taught my students to use Cornell Notes earlier in the year for lectures and will use a modification of that format (scaffolding) to create a graphic organizer to be used during reading assignments.

I have been researching this online and am finding some interesting information in similar directions in the High School settings; way past where the students should have already learned these techniques. I have redesigned my lessons for after Spring Break to incorporate this research activity.