ARP Summary

Action Research Project Title: Collaborative Campus Culture changed to YABC

Blog URL: http://jodyhelmsaction.blogspot.com/

Number of AR Project Documented Hours:

AR Project Summary (at least 250 words):

RISD administration has taken some of my ARP plans and implemented them at the beginning of the year.  With this happening,  I have been working to revise my plan to work along with what has already been implemented.  I did aid in this process but do not feel it is “mine” to take credit for.  So I am evolving my plan to be more of a parent-teacher-community involvement program.  We have held 2 meetings on this topic and have a huge vision of greater parent involvement and student involvement in the community at the same time.  Our upper grades do not have parent involvement unless it has to do with a sport.  I feel that the academic involvement at RISD is minimal at best.  Grades, discipline, and attendance have suffered.  Our goal at YABC is to increase parental involvement on the academic level.  Educate parents through workshops and filers of needed steps to get their child into college.  Give the students the tools they need to be prepared for post High School decisions.  This may be a 4 year college, Jr. College, vocational school, or job that they are interested in.  I feel they need more information and tools to be successful in any of the above mentioned fields. By having a nearby Jr. College visit with parents and educate parents and students on things like the ACT preparation, FAFSA forms, applications and scholarship requirements, along with any other needed information.  Job fairs and job shadowing are other aspects of this partnership I would like to implement. Invite RISD graduates to come speak about their career and how they got there.

 I have not completely revised my ARP, so when it is finished I will post it to my blog as well.  I have come to realize that change is the one thing that is consistent in administration.  No matter how solid your plans are, something will happen to change it all.  Being flexible is the key to succeeding in this profession.

Week 5 reflection

Through the creation of my Blog and discussion boards, I have been able to connect with a whole network of people striving for the same goals I have. We all want improvement and a higher standard for education, and through reading others blogs/comments I have gained a new wealth of knowledge.  Peer sharing is an amazing tool that allows like minded individuals to brainstorm, vent, question and plan ways of improving something we all hold dear to our hearts.  This has been a great way to get “outside the box” and explore others opinions and ideas as well as reflect on my own.

To look deep into why, how, where, when, something is done and research better ways, easier ways, and more productive/innovative ideas to make improvements. “By participating in practitioner inquiry, the principal develops a sense of ownership in the knowledge constructed, and this sense of ownership heavily contributes to the possibilities for real change in schools.” (Dana, 2009, pg. 10.)

 Reflection is another aspect of action research that I feel will be extremely beneficial to me as a principal.  Taking the time to reflect on what has been done, accomplished, or failed in a situation and searching for ways to improve/continue the process is a great way for a principal to never get stagnant in his/her work. “Elliot (1998) describes action research as a continual set of spirals consisting of reflection and action.” (Dana, 2009) Then we can look back at what has been done, decide on a new direction, and act on it.  Reflection then action.  Assess where we are and create action to continue forward movement.  This totally makes sense to me. 

All in all, this course has been very informative and given me a new perspective on inquiry and wonderings that arise in the school.  As a principal I want to instill this thought process in my teachers and encourage the questions of why.  Why leads to inquiry, which leads to action, which leads to reflection, and the cycle continues.

My site supervisor and I have been on the same page with this ARP from day one.  We have discussed the need and importance of this plan and come up with strategies that will encourage growth and improvement district wide.  I feel like we have the same goals in mind and she is very encouraging and willing to help in any way possible. 

During our conference we discussed how to make our campus and district meetings structured and beneficial instead of a bashing session that accomplishes nothing.  She asked that I keep them on track and suggested a few ways to keep my cool and stay on task. We discussed the different strategies for sustaining improvement, discussed in the Harris text and decided that the Delphi method and Nominal Group Technique could be very beneficial to RISD. She did not see a real need for major revision of my action research plan.  I will be adding those two strategies to my plan.

I look forward to starting this Action Research.  We both think it will be very beneficial to RISD and the future of our students.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SFnMTHhKdkw
Thought this video was a good one for the beginning of our school year! Hope you enjoy!!

Action Research Project - Week 3
I can see, in the time it has taken to write this plan, just how much it will change over its time as a research project. I am also sure there  are thinks left out of this plan, which makes it great that it is "allowed" to change.  I do feel much better about the entire plan after "putting it on paper" so to speak.  I like that there is actual direction to follow instead of just 100 ideas floating around in my head.

OK, let me know what you think....

 

Action Planning Template Goal: : In what ways can our school develop a collaborative culture characterized by weekly campus meetings that communicate greater levels of understanding, expectations, and planning for all students?
Action Step(s)	Person(s) Responsible	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
1. Presentation to encourage teachers to reflect on teaching style/expectations of students.	Mrs. Robinson Jody Helms	Week of Convocation Aug. 19-23	Power Point Teacher Reflections	Assess teacher reflections to get a good perspective on teacher opinion of RISD at the beginning of the year.
2. Conduct a Survey of Teachers, Students, and Parents perception of RISD	Jody Helms	First week of School Aug. 26-30	Survey Created on survey monkey	Include Students and parents with the teachers in assessing all opinions of RISD.
3.  Data Analysis of the reflections and surveys	Jody Helms	Aug. 2013	Binder with surveys and reflections	Get a good grasp on where our climate is at RISD to determine direction
4. Establish weekly campus meetings with principal by campus.This should be used for reflection, sharing, collaboration, problem solving/ discussion of students. Used to strengthen the community and create more trust within.	Elementary Faculty JR.High Faculty HS Faculty Principals Superintendent	Beginning Aug. 26- end of 2013-14 school year	Curriculum,student work, reflections, possible blogs, motivational videos, books, literature, anything else that teachers find to share	Minutes from the meetings, teacher created curriculum, anything else that comes up.

 

5. Establish monthly district meetings including a few faculty from each campus.	Jody Helms Superintendent Faculty from each campus Principals from each campus	Begin Sept. 1, 2013 – May 31, 2014	Minutes from campus meetings, ideas created there, field notes, student work, curriculum, anything else deemed necessary	Evaluate campus meetings and brainstorm ideas that can be carried out across campus.
6. Establish meetings with students to gain their insight on things that could improve RISD.	Randomly selected group of students from each campus Jody Helms	Sept. 2013 – May 2014	Student surveys, brainstorming activities, curriculum, etc.	Gain knowledge of student opinion and encourage student created ideas that improve campus climate and district climate/community
7.  Conduct walk through and data collection throughout the year at all types of events	Jody Helms Student committee Teacher committee	Sept 2013 – May 2014	Camera, videos, written observations, blogs, surveys, etc.	Evaluate climate through the use of video, camera, blogs, surveys to assess climate and its improvement
8. Compile information collected and present progress to superintendent	Jody Helms	May 2014	All data collected, video, pictures, blogs	Present improvement to Superintendent

Week 2 Reflection

I am getting to a point where I am not sure how to manage ALL of my life..... My husband and I have a 13 yr old and a 5 yr old that starts Kindergarten this year (sniff sniff), we own a full time catering business, I am moving from Elementary to Jr. High Science this school year, OH! and I am trying to get my Masters! HA HA!  It all piles together and everyone wants/needs something at the exact same time. I have decided the only way to get through this is to take it one day at a time and resolve to the fact that there isn't really that much need for sleep... ;)

OK, enough complaining, I wouldn't trade anything in my life. I am VERY blessed!

This week I realized that there are SO many aspects of a school and the great part, to me, is that they all tie in to each other. If Staff Development is your focus, there are still aspects of Individual Teachers development and Culture Building along with Leadership Skills.  We may be focused on one passion, but I feel like we touch on almost all passions at the same time and change is bound to happen over time and as more light is shed on a topic through research.  It is not unusual, as practitioner-inquirers collect data... for them to gain insights into their initial wondering that leads them in a new direction midway through the inquiry (Dana 2009, pg. 68). This statement give me comfort in the fact that nothing is set in stone and we can allow the research to take us in whatever direction benefits our school the most.  

I feel like coming up with a definite wondering statement is going to prove difficult.  Another meeting with my site supervisor is necessary to word this thing the best way possible. I know we are all feeling overwhelmed, but it will all be worth it in just a few months! Good luck this week!!

Educator use of Blogs

Using a blog is a way to journal your findings and relate those findings to interested parties.  Weblogs are another excellent way principal-researchers can capture their thinking as an inquiry unfolds (Dana, 2009).  By writing reflections throughout the research process administrators are able to incorporate thought, findings and links to research that will keep other parties involved and informed.  Being able to comment on these posts allows feedback from those parties and growth of the research. 
Educators can use blogs in the classroom to inform students and parents of daily/weekly assignments or upcoming events.  They can be used to log progress of a project that students are working on. They can also be used as a journal for students to write, reflect and comment on their own findings and class progress.  Blogs create an educational community that feeds off of each students words and creates growth and insight in the classroom.

Action Research defined:

In my mind research meant going to the library, searching through endless text and hoping you found enough information to get your quota of pages written on your specific topic of research. Obviously the majority of research I had to do in school was not assisted by the Internet.  Thank goodness for technological advancements! 
After the assigned reading this week I have a completely different opinion of research and am very excited about this adventure. Action research/administrative inquiry is a way for administration to take a recognized problem or situation, look at the current way things are being done and research ways to improve or remedy the situation.  The difference between action research and traditional research is that action research is done by the people involved in the situation.  Simply stated, administrator inquiry refers to the process of a principal engaging in a systematic, intentional study of his/her own administrative practice and taking action for change based on what he/she learns as a result of the inquiry (Dana, 2009).  The key difference is in the reflection of the administrators own practice.  By reflecting on practice we are able to look at ourselves critically and see where the problems lie and what can be done to change these issues.  Self reflection is a hard thing for educators to do sometimes. Through the "continual set of spirals consisting of reflection and action" (Elliot, 1988), we are able to reflect and then make a change that best suits our students.  The process is continually repeated until we achieve our goal. As administrators participating in action research, we are stetting examples for our teachers and students as well.  We are showing them that we choose to be life long learners and search for continual improvement through research, data collection and reflection.  I look forward to learning this process well and leading by example through out my administrative career.