Week 3 - Action Research Plan

Action Planning Template
Goal: To find effective strategies for 1st grade that will increase fluency and comprehension and determine if implementing these strategies improve student performance on EOY TPRI
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Look at EOY comprehension scores for Kinder TPRI to determine % of students that were still developing on listening comprehension.  (will not be able to look at fluency because they do not orally read a story in Kinder, it is only listening comprehension)	Kelly Wehmeyer	August 19, 2013 to August 23, 2013	2013 Kinder EOY TPRI Summary Sheets	% of students still developing on comprehension and a list of these students as well as the classroom they will be in this coming year.
Review literature on instructional strategies related to fluency and comprehension	Kelly Wehmeyer	August 5, 2013 to September 30, 2013	Lamar Online Library, International Reading Association, Journals and articles,	Compile a list of instructional strategies
Search online and in Intervention resource books for research based strategies for fluency and comprehension	Kelly Wehmeyer	August 5, 2013 to September 30, 2013	Online research based strategies, resource books	Compile a list of instructional strategies   Make the 1st grade teachers a resource page with the strategies
Explain the research inquiry to the 1st grade teachers	Kelly Wehmeyer; 1st grade teachers	August 26, 2013 to August 30, 2013	Research information and Block time for meeting	Making sure the 1st grade teachers understand the process
Administer the BOY 1st grade TPRI	Kelly Wehmeyer 1st Grade Teachers (teachers will administer the test)	September 3, 2013 to September 30, 2013 (unsure of when the exact 2 week window will be)	1st Grade TPRI Kits	TPRI Assessment
Gather and  analyze each 1st grade class TPRI scores   Pick 3 students from each class that I will base my findings on (21 students total)   (teacher will use strategies on all students reading below grade level)	Kelly Wehmeyer	September 30, 2013  to October 11, 2013	BOY TPRI summary sheet from each teacher	Spreadsheet with % still developing and % developed on BOY oral reading and comprehension   Progress chart/graph of students that I will base my findings on.
Meet with 1st grade teachers during block to model how to implement the instructional strategies   Give teachers the names of students that I will base my findings on	Kelly Wehmeyer	October 14, 2013 to October 18, 2013	Resource page of Instructional Strategies   List of students	Ensure an understanding of the strategies they will implement
Implement Strategies to increase fluency and comprehension	1st Grade Teachers	October 21, 2013 to December 18, 2013	Instructional Strategies	Cold Read/Hot Read Charts; Running Records to show  the effectiveness of  the strategies; 6 week oral reading and comprehension assessment   These students will also be monitored on AIMSweb   This information will be from my 21 students
Meet monthly with 1st Grade teachers to discuss progress and change strategies if no progress is shown	Kelly Wehmeyer 1st Grade Teachers	November 2013 to May 2, 2014   Meet one block period per month	Copies of running records; six week assessments; AIMSweb graphs   Journal of strategies	Progress Charts
Administer the MOY 1st Grade TPRI	Kelly Wehmeyer 1st Grade Teachers (teachers will administer the test)	January 2014	1st Grade TPRI Kits	TPRI Assessment
Gather and  analyze each 1st grade class TPRI scores   Compare to BOY scores	Kelly Wehmeyer	January 2014	MOY TPRI summary sheet from each teacher	Spreadsheet with % still developing and % developed on BOY Oral reading and comprehension   Spreadsheet with % of students that improved from BOY to MOY   Graphs with growth for the 21 students
Continue implementing strategies if showing progress   Change strategies if no progress is shown	1st Grade Teachers	January 6, 2014 to May 2, 2013	Instructional Strategies	Cold Read/Hot Read Charts; Running Records to show  the effectiveness of  the strategies; 6 week oral reading and comprehension assessment   These students will also be monitored on AIMSweb   This information will be from my 21 students
Administer the EOY 1st Grade TPRI	Kelly Wehmeyer 1st Grade Teachers (teachers will administer the test)	End of April 2014	1st Grade TPRI Kits	TPRI Assessment
Analyze and interpret data from EOY TPRI scores	Kelly Wehmeyer	May 5, 2014 to June 6, 2014	EOY TPRI summary sheets	Create charts and graphs of data findings and compile a list of strategies that proved to be successful
Share results with administration	Kelly Wehmeyer	June 9, 2013 to June 14, 2013	Action Research findings	Summary of findings

Week 2 Reflection

I have to admit, this week was tough.  We were on vacation in Arkansas and Tennessee and I get extreme car sick so working in the car was impossible.  But, I made it through. 

I was not able to meet with my site supervisor this week but I did email her 3 topics that I thought would benefit our campus.  The one that I had spoke with her about previously and the one that I have wanted to do my research project on all along is the one that she approved.  YAY!!!  When we spoke about my topic I had approached her with working with 1st and 2nd grade.  We decided that it would be best to focus on the grade level that needs the most help, so I will focus on just 1st grade this year.  This really excites me because before moving into the instructional specialist position, I taught 1st grade for 11 years.  These babies hold a special place in my heart.  :)
My topic of research will be:  What are some effective strategies for building automaticity and fluency to help comprehension and does implementing these strategies prove to be successful in improving automaticity, fluency and comprehension?

As far as our readings, videos, and assignments this week, it was very insightful.  Like I stated in my first post, action research was foreign to me before this class.  Now I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of what it is exactly, and I'm looking forward to learning more about how to actually do it.  The nine passions were quite interesting.  It helped me understand exactly how and where administrators begin the process of research inquiry. 

It was also interesting to me that in the 2 interviews that I reflected on, both were very adamant about how important it is to make sure that what ever research you do, it is useful and will impact student achievement and result in student improvement.  Also the fact that they also spoke of how data is the driving force in much of what you research. 

Although this week was a tough one, I keep telling myself that I will make it through this journey.  I guess that thing that stresses me out the most is the fact that it's still summertime and I feel overwhelmed.  I can't imagine how I'm going to feel once school starts in just a few weeks. 

Research and Blogs!!!! YIKES!!

To be honest, before I started this class, I had never heard of action research before.  In fact, when I saw that this class was a research class, my stomach sank.  I was not excited at all.  But, after this first week’s readings and videos, this is a very interesting way of doing research and one that I don’t think I will find to be stomach turning.  In fact, in a roundabout way, isn’t this what teachers do daily?  If something isn’t working in class or if the students are struggling, we reflect on the way we are teaching that concept or skill, we “research” ways to improve and we make changes. 

From what I have learned from the readings, administrative inquiry or action research is a systematic problem solving method in which an administrator looks at his/her own professional practices for inquiry for the betterment of the school.  Through this type of research, one is able to have ownership in the research which enables you to make this a continuous process of learning, reflecting and implementing changes.  “Practitioners become collaborators in educational research by investigating their own problems, and practitioners play a part in the research process, which makes them more likely to facilitate change based on the knowledge they generate (Dana, 2009, p.5).”  I see it as a hands-on approach to finding solutions to problems or questions one has.   Another point that I found interesting is the fact that action research requires one to do a lot of self-reflection.  Action research is a reflective process. 

Like I said above, I think teachers already do action research in an indirect way.  To be an effective teacher you have to reflect on the ways the students are responding to the lessons and make changes if need be.  As an administrator there are countless ways I feel I would be able to use action research.  One would be to use it to collaborate with teachers on issues that are affecting our school, thus finding ways to make it the best possible place for our students to learn.  How I would like to see action research used is with our Administrator meetings that are held at the district office.  Instead of sitting and listening and listening and listening, why not come up with some questions for the betterment of the district and then collaborate together to seek the changes that need to be made.   

Blogs are a very beneficial tool for educational leaders to use.  I never knew how helpful blogs were until I started searching for ideas for my classroom and there were tons out there for me to look at.  One way for leaders to use blogs is to inform parents, students, fellow administrators and teachers.  It can be a networking tool with others who are in the educational field, or a way for parents and students to stay abreast of things happening at the school.  It can be used as a type of journal for reflections, feedback, and collaboration between administrators and teachers.  Blog possibilities are endless.