Action Research Plan

Action Steps:	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources:	Evaluation:
Discuss action research topic with “leaders” involved.	Department chair, site supervisor, math instructional facilitator, and instructional technology facilitator.	Now - May 13th.	Intern plan.	Do I have a clear topic and plan of action?
Gather currently used technology resources. (links)	Myself.	May 5th - June 13th.	Other math teacher's input.	Does my list incorporate all currently used internet and technological resources available to teachers.
Organize technology resources and links with corresponding lessons.	Myself.	Ongoing	Rights to edit the technology integration portion of our curriculum management system.	Is it easy for teachers to find the technology resources that correspond with lessons?
Teacher surveys	Math teachers and myself.	May 5th – June 3rd.	Survey questions and campus STAR Chart data.	Compare my survey results with the campus STAR Chart data to gauge the use of technology with-in the Math Department.
Teacher interviews	Myself.	May 12th - June 3rd.	Interview questions.	Determine how well and how much technology is integrated from the teacher's perspective.
Collaborate using Delphi Method with stakeholders on their view of better integrating technology into the curriculum.	Math teachers and myself.	May 9th - June 3rd.	Questionnaires and responses.	Did I develop a deeper understanding of teacher's perspective?  Supplement to teacher interviews.
Student surveys	Math teachers and myself.	May 12th - June 3rd.	Survey questions.	Analyze responses to formulate interview questions.
Observe teachers who are integrating technology into their lesson on that particular day.	Math teachers and myself.	May 12th - June 3rd.	Teachers integrating technology into their lessons during that time period.	Did a sufficient number of observations take place?  (3 or more)
Student interviews	Myself.	May 19th - June 3rd.	Interview questions.	Determine how well and how much technology is integrated from the student's perspective.
Research other schools' ways of integrating technology into the math curriculum. Specifically our sister high school in the district, NFHS.	NFHS math teachers, math instructional facilitator and myself.	May 9th - June 3rd.	Responses from NFHS math teachers.	Were additional ideas generated to increase the options and results of my action research project.
Gather “new” technology resources and links.	Myself, math teachers, math instructional facilitator, and instructional technology facilitator.	Ongoing.	Internet access.	Am I able to supply teachers with a wealth of resources for their particular subject so that they can integrate technology into their lessons on a more regular basis.
Make the technology resources easily available to teachers.	Myself, math facilitator, and instructional technology facilitator.	June 2nd - August 17th.	Forethought (curriculum management system) rolled out completely.	Are the resources easily accessible enough so that  teachers will actually use the resources?
Train teachers on using the Forethought Curriculum Management System.	Math Instructional Facilitator, Instructional Facilitator, and myself.	August 2011	Network access.	Do teachers feel comfortable accessing these resources and implementing them on their own?
Re-evaluate implementation of solutions.	Myself	December 2011	Previously interviewed students and teachers.	Did the quality of instruction improve?  Did the amount of technology integration improve?

Reflection on Week 5 of EDLD 5301 Research

This last week of the course was a little difficult because I struggle with putting my reflecting thoughts onto paper.  I know it's a good practice and it's good for me, but it still is difficult for me.  I'm sure the more I do it, the better I will get at it just like anything else. 

I still need to contact an academic adviser at Lamar to find out if there's only one summer session and if I'll automatically be enrolled in two courses for that session.  I also would like to find out if my Ed. Tech. course will count towards my Ed. Admin. master's and when I should be graduating from the master's program.

Reflection on Week 4 of EDLD 5301 Research

Week 4 was a little frustrating because of the seemingly lack of participation by my fellow classmates in reviewing other classmates' action research plan.  I only received one comment as of Saturday evening.  The good news is that it was a very useful and relevant comment that helped me not only improve my action research plan, but my internship plan as well.

One of my weaknesses is networking.  I am just more naturally an introvert, so networking with people I'm not familiar with just is not something I'm comfortable with.  This is definitely something I need to improve in order to grow as a professional.

Reflection on Week 3 of EDLD 5301 Research

This week in EDLD 5301 Research was a little overwhelming just because I realized all that was going to be involved in my action research.

When I listed my actions in my action research plan (as seen in the post below), it became a little bit more clear how much it is going to take to complete my action research project.  It also made me happy that I chose the topic that had the most limited scope.  I think picking a topic with a larger scope may have been too overwhelming.

This week definitely got me more excited about my action research topic.  Seeing each step being put on paper made me eager to start because of how many steps need to get taken care of before we break for summer.

Action Research Plan Draft

Action Steps:	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources:	Evaluation:
Discuss action research topic with “leaders” involved.	Department chair, site supervisor, math instructional facilitator, and instructional technology facilitator.	Now - May 5th	Intern plan.	Do I have a clear topic and plan of action?
Gather currently used technology resources. (links)	Math teachers and myself.	May 5th - May 12th.	Other math teacher's input.	Does my list incorporate all currently used internet and technological resources available to teachers.
Teacher surveys	Math teachers and myself.	May 5th – May 12th.	Survey questions and campus STAR Chart data.	Compare my survey results with the campus STAR Chart data to gauge the use of technology with-in the Math Department.
Teacher interviews	Myself.	May 12th - May 19th.	Interview questions.	Determine how well and how much technology is integrated from the teacher's perspective.
Student surveys	Math teachers and myself.	May 12th - May 19th.	Survey questions.	Analyze responses to formulate interview questions.
Observe teachers who are integrating technology into their lesson on that particular day.	Math teachers and myself.	May 12th - May 26th.	Teachers integrating technology into their lessons during that time period.	Did a sufficient number of observations take place? (3 or more)
Student interviews	Myself.	May 19th - June 2nd.	Interview questions.	Determine how well and how much technology is integrated from the student's perspective.
Gather “new” technology resources and links.	Myself, math teachers, math instructional facilitator, and instructional technology facilitator.	Ongoing.	Internet access.	Am I able to supply teachers with a wealth of resources for their particular subject so that they can integrate technology into their lessons on a more regular basis.
Make the technology resources easily available to teachers.	Myself, math facilitator, and instructional technology facilitator.	June 2nd - August 1st.	Space on the district's shared drive or space on the math department's website.	Are the resources easily accessible enough so that teachers will actually use the resources?
Train teachers on the use of Examview.	Instructional technology facilitator and myself.	Summer 2011	Computer with Examview installed on it.	Does the teacher feel comfortable administering assessments using Examview?
Train teachers on using the “library” of math technology resources.	Myself	August 2011	Network access.	Do teachers feel comfortable accessing these resources and implementing them on their own?
Re-evaluate implementation of solutions.	Myself	December 2011	Previously interviewed students and teachers.	Did the quality of instruction improve? Did the amount of technology integration improve?

Week 2 of EDLD 5301 Research

This was quite a difficult week, not because of any part of the master's program, but rather because of my health.  Missing three out of the five days of work this week and having a flu/mono-like virus was not fun.  It definitely ruined my routine with getting my master's work completed.

My biggest struggle this week was with deciding on which of the three topics I would choose for my action research topic.  My biggest concern was scope. 

The topic with the largest scope was looking into integrating action research into the district's professional development.  Due to the large scope, I did not pick this topic given my current position as a math teacher.  I just didn't feel I'd have the ability to take on a project with such a large scope given my current position.

Another topic of interest was my campuses tardy system.  This topic's scope was limited to my campus, but I still was concerned with it's scope along with getting the buy-in of the teachers and administrators at my campus.  Also, this topic just didn't have the personal intrigue factor that my third topic has.

The topic I choose for my action research project is, "How is technology integrated into the math curriculum?"  This not only has more of the scope I was looking for my first action research project, but it had the personal intrigue factor for two reasons.  First off, I am a math teacher and I am always looking to improve my effectiveness.  I find that too often the lesson is presented as a lecture and I would like to look towards technology to differentiate my instruction.  Why technology?  Even though I am a math teacher I actually don't have my my degree in math.  I actually majored in Business Administration and Information Technology, so better integrating technology perks the I.T. side of me up.  These combinations of factors are what led me to deciding on this topic ahead of the other two possibilities.

Use of Blogs by Educational Leaders

From my readings to this point I see educational leaders benefiting the most from blogging through the use of it as a tool to collaborate.  The sheer number of people that blogging can connect someone to makes it a powerful tool.  I think it can be even more effective as a tool used between acquaintances to build a good professional relationship and establish collaboration between people that might not normally be able to collaborate because of time or distance.