1st week back to School and 1st week of School and Comunity Relations Class

This has been a great 1st week back at school.  I have really enjoyed the students and faculty at White Deer High School.  Although we have been in football practice for the past 4 weeks its always different when you go back into the classroom with all of the kids.  But it has been amazing.  This week of meeting new students and new faculty members has really caused me to reflect about everything that I have learned and am continuing to learn.  I still feel as passionate as ever about my action research plan and have tried dilligently in this 1st week to create a great classroom atmosphere where engagement is the rule rather than the exception.  I hope that this continues to produce a great environment and leads to great student performance as well.  I have also thought about the huge role of parental and community involvement in our schools and it's affect on our students.  There is always a profound effect from parent and community involvement whether it is positive or negative depends on the degree (high or low) and authenticity of the involvement.  I still have much to learn and am excited to continue on my journey. 

Time to Reflect

I am midway through the final week of the second course of my master's degree plan.  This week we were given the opportunity to reflect back on the highlights of this course in several different domains  Since this is my blog I want to share the greatest insight that I have taken from these past few weeks concerning blogging. 

This course provided me with my first experience in blogging and I very much enjoyed it.  There are many positives in blogging: I enjoy the comments from my professional peers as well as the opportunity to post my ideas and thoughts, however it is as a self reflective tool that my blog is most valuable to me.  The importance of this to me is best stated by Dana as (and yes I am a Harry Potter fan): 

   “If you (or any of the students or teachers in your building) are Harry Potter fans, you will recall that the wise teacher and headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, has the ability to extract thoughts and recollections of events from his head and place them in a “pensieve.”  At critical times in the Harry Potter stories, Albus enters the pensieve, sometimes with Harry, to explore these old memories and thoughts and gains new insights with each visit.  Journaling or blogging can serve as your personal pensieve to capture and store your thoughts and recollections safely so you can share them with teaching colleagues or other administrators and return to them at various times in the evolution of your inquiry, gaining new and deeper insights with each visit.” (2009. p. 88)    

While there are many positive aspects to blogging this reflective journaling aspect has been the highlight to me.

Resources

Dana, Nancy Fichtman (2009). Leading with Passion and Knowledge: The Principal as Action Researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Consensus, Challenges and Sustaining Improvement

This week I have met with my site supervisor to reach a consensus on my action research plan, identified challenges that I expect to present themselves in the implementation of said plan and learned how we can sustain improvement within our schools.  This has been a very profound week for me as well as a breath of fresh air after last week, as it was not a task that I took lightly to create a plan for active inquiry.  I feel that each week my eyes are opened a little further and I can't wait to find out "what am I going to learn next?"  We also started football 2-a-day practices on Monday so it has been a very busy week but a great one at that.  One of the most profound statements that I have read this week is "in order for change to occur, the driving forces for the change must exceed the resisting forces against the change." (Harris et al, 2010. p. 94).  This just reinterated to me how change is never easy and we must make always identify if a proposed change is doable.  I found this especially enlightening because in a few short weeks, when school begins, we will begin implementing changes.  I believe in the case of this active research plan (although I know it is my brain child - I'm not try to pat myself on the back) that the changes are both doable and necessary.  

Resources

Harris, Sandra, Edmonson, Stacey, Combs, Julie. (2010). Examining What We Do to Improve Our Schools: 8 Steps From Analysis to Action. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.

My First Action Research Plan

Action Research Plan
Goal: We, the math teachers of White Deer High School, will adapt our classroom practices to raise the levels of student engagement to facilitate deeper understanding and learning in order to improve our 9th grade students' achievement on the Algebra I End Of Course Exam / State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR)
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Create a highly engaging classroom through specific steps addressed in The Highly Engaged Classroom by Robert J. Marzano and participatory activities in the Region 16 Collaborative for Excellence in Mathematics Teaching (R16CEMT).	Jeff Quisenberry and Jessica Selman (math teachers of White Deer High School).	August 23, 2011 through May 29, 2012	The Highly Engaged Classroom. Membership in R16CEMT, which allows access to both a network of educators and shared resource material.	Administrative walk through and evaluations, student interviews, videos of classroom daily activities and teacher reflective journal.
We will pursue continuation of our professional development and improvement of our knowledge and skills.	Jeff Quisenberry and Jessica Selman	August 23, 2011 through May 29, 2012.	Internet capability to research "what are other schools doing or have they done when facing similar challenges?" Selected trainings at our regional service center designed to address how we as teachers can impact our students to meet the standards by the State of Texas. Share and learn through our professional network of teachers developed in R16CEMT.	We will collaborate to share both successes and struggles as well as to create a mutually agreed upon plan on what we can do to positively impact our students. The ultimate success of all of these activities will be seen through our students' performance on the End Of Course Exams.
Four benchmark tests will be given, one at conclusion of each of the first four 6 weeks, which will address the Supporting and Readiness Standards in a format that will be similar to what is expected on the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness Test.	Jeff Quisenberry, Jessica Selman and Darla Forney (principal of White Deer High School).	September 28, 2011. November 2, 2011. January 4, 2012. February 29, 2012.	Materials taken from Algebra I EOC Preparedness Training provided by the Region 16 Education Service Center. Materials taken from R16CEMT. Test generator through Data Management software for Assessment and Curriculum (DMAC) in Texas schools.	A score of 70% or higher will be deemed to "meet the standard." The goal is to have 100% of all students meet the standard. Individual results will allow us to differentiate and address student individual needs. Objectives with a low rate of student success Demonstrate an area for class remediation.
We will compare qualitative data from our evaluation of our success in creating highly engaging classrooms to the quantitative data on our students' success on our benchmark tests	Jeff Quisenberry, Jessica Selman and Darla Forney.	September 29, 2011 through March 7, 2012.	Complete collection of administrative evaluative material as well as student interviews, classroom videos and teacher journals and completed lesson plans.	Objectives on which our students performed: do the instructional periods that we taught these knowledge and skills correspond to time periods where we feel that we created highly engaging classrooms and learning experiences? Is the inverse true as well? Does the time periods when we taught objectives our students did not perform well on coincide with times when we struggled with creating engagement?
After we return from Spring Break we want to look for a deeper understanding of how are we affecting our students? Are we, through our instruction creating or not addressing achievement gaps. We want to create a plan that will answer "In the next 6 Weeks what are we, as the teachers, going to do address these issues?"	Jeff Quisenberry, Jessica Selman and Darla Forney.	March 19, 2012 – March 23, 2012.	DMAC report from our previous 4 benchmarks with disaggregated data by student vs. objective, AEIS groups vs. objective and entire class vs. objective. Completed lesson plans. List of "What do We Think We Have Done Best."	We will identify what knowledge and skills our students have struggled to master. We will look at data concerning individuals, sub- populations groups and whole group. We will create a six weeks plan of not only what we will teach but how will we teach it. We will use for templates the lessons that were most successful in engaging our students in the learning and have produced the highest achievement on our benchmark tests.
Our students will take the Algebra I, End of Course Exam. This will be the ultimate indicator of the success of this plan. The goal is not to teach to the test but to best prepare our students to attain high achievement on the test by creating high levels of learning through engaging classrooms.	Jeff Quisenberry, Jessica Selman and Darla Forney.	May 7, 2012 through May 25, 2012.	2011 – 2012 9th grade students' performance results on the Algebra I End Of Course Exam / State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness. These same students performance on their 8th grade TAKS Test. The 10th – 12th grade students of White Deer High School results on their 9th grade TAKS Test.	We will use our students' STAAR results to identify if we were successful throughout the school year. Did we positively impact our students' achievement on the state mandated test? Also, how did our students' mastery of their 9th grade, Algebra I, objectives compare to their mastery of their 8th grade objectives the previous year? Finally, how did this group of students perform compared to the previous three classes of students on their 9th grade state test? Are we preparing our students for success for the remainder of their high school career?
In this final step we want to collaboratively answer the question: "So now what? Where do we go from here?" In this stage we are preparing ourselves for future inquiries. As this process is cyclical and will continue, we want to, as the 2011 – 2012 school year ends, set the foundation for the 2012 – 2013 school year.	Jeff Quisenberry, Jessica Selman and Darla Forney.	May 28, 2012 through June 1, 2012.	A short, yet comprehensive list of what we did in Algebra I class during the 2011 – 2012 school year and the "class report" of how did our freshman class perform on the EOC test.	We want to answer: "In what areas did we positively impact our students' achievement?" "In what areas did we not positively impact our students' achievement?" "What did we do well that we will continue doing next year?" "What did we do that didn't work out well?" "How will we improve upon these practices next year?"

 

Format based on Tool 7.1 from Examining What We Do to Improve Our Schools

(Harris, Edmonson, and Combs, 2010)

My action research project proposal

Wow.  This week has been challenging and informative.  I have created my first action research proposal and like most things on the first try, I'm sure it's not perfect and will continue to be developed.  This was a very challenging task for me to adequately put thoughts into words that would be understood by others.  However, I have found that by writing the plan an individual achieves "clarity about what it is that will focus your efforts." (Harris, et al, 2010. p. 84).   I have also tried to remain cognizant of the fact that there are 8 key steps to planning and implementing an action research project which are:  1) Examining the Work / Setting the Foundation, 2) Analyzing Data, 3) Developing Deeper Understanding, 4) Engaging In Self Reflection, 5) Exploring Patterns, 6) Determining Direction, 7) Taking Action and 8) Sustaining Improvement. (Harris, et al, 2010. p. 1)  I feel that I have an emerging understanding of how to do this and just as I'm sure my action research proposal will grow and develop so will by ability to implement each of these 8 critical aspects into my plan.

Resources

Harris, Sandra, Edmonson, Stacey, Combs, Julie. (2010). Examining What We Do To Improve Our Schools: 8 Steps From Analysis To Action.  Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.

An active inquiry I will engage in.

This week I have looked at action research projects that I can follow through on that would benefit myself and my colleauges.  I have chosen my topic to be an active inquiry that will answer the question:  How does the implementation of a highly engaging classroom prepare students to meet the demands of the impending State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness Tests (STAAR Tests) / End of Course Exams?  The significance is teachers will use their ability to create highly engaging classrooms to cover the require material and prepare students for success on the State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness(STAAR) tests by correctly addressing the appropriate Readiness Standards, Supporting Standards and Career and College Readiness Standards.  I have no doubt that I will further clarify exactly how to do this in the weeks to come as I have already learned so much.  I can honestly say that I am excited to be taking this journey and I do believe this will be beneficial to me and my fellow teachers.

How leaders can use blogs

Leaders can use blogs for several purposes but two main contexts stand out to me.  First, as  I have already found this to be true, blogging allows us to create a professional network that we otherwise might not be able to form.  Through blogging I have been able to gain insight into other prospective administrators’ and school leaders thoughts and ideas, which have helped me to shape and question my own.  This has been remarkably powerful.  Second, blogging allows us to capture and record our thoughts so that we can go back and revisit them at another time – just like an online journal.  Add to this that others can comment on our thoughts and opinions and you have a very powerful professional development tool.  I believe I am going to really enjoy this experience.