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