After a great conversation with my administrators, I am excited to see what information this project will give us throughout the year. I just learned that our enrollment has exceeded 2800 for the coming school year, and I believe our school capacity is 2500. Things are going to get pretty sticky in the next two years, but if we work together to encourage one another, I think we can continue to get better every day.
I've been brainstorming ideas with colleagues this week, and a few of the teacher appreciation initiatives I would like to see are
1) A huge, laminated "Teacher of the Week" award to post outside a teacher's door each week. The award will have a blank that can be filled in with a specific reason that teacher is being recognized.
2) School-wide contests, such as a chili cook-off or "iron chef" contest. Contests that involve food have an added bonus that all the people get to eat. :)
3) Random acts of kindness for staff. For example, walking door to door and passing out candy or restaurant coupons to teachers who are on hallway duty.
I certainly welcome any and all ideas, so if you do something great on your campus, please share!
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Research, Week Two
This week's assignment required me to come up with three action research questions. After reading about the nine areas ripe for research and considering issues on my own campus, here's what I came up with:
1) How will increased teacher morale impact student discipline referrals and minor student offenses (IDs, dress code, etc)?
2) Will common planning time during the school day create a more aligned curriculum in the English department?
3) What staff development options exist that can be carried out without staff development days during the school year?
It was during the conference with my site supervisor that I remembered the concept of measurable goals as she reminded me to make sure that each of these things could be measured in some way when I reach that step of the process. Each of these questions are applicable to my current school, but I've decided to research the first question because it holds the most interest for me.
My follow up questions become:
1) Do teachers on our campus feel that they play a vital role in discipline?
2) How do teachers deal with minor discipline issues like ID violations? Do they perceive that they are checking students for IDs? Is what they're doing in line with what the administration perceives as the best method?
3) For teachers who don't feel they watch for violations, why not? Is it intentional?
Wouldn't you know it? My initial question has already evolved. It should now read "How can we encourage teachers to help decrease minor discipline problems?" Teacher appreciation and morale is only one thing that may be a solution to this problem.
1) How will increased teacher morale impact student discipline referrals and minor student offenses (IDs, dress code, etc)?
2) Will common planning time during the school day create a more aligned curriculum in the English department?
3) What staff development options exist that can be carried out without staff development days during the school year?
It was during the conference with my site supervisor that I remembered the concept of measurable goals as she reminded me to make sure that each of these things could be measured in some way when I reach that step of the process. Each of these questions are applicable to my current school, but I've decided to research the first question because it holds the most interest for me.
My follow up questions become:
1) Do teachers on our campus feel that they play a vital role in discipline?
2) How do teachers deal with minor discipline issues like ID violations? Do they perceive that they are checking students for IDs? Is what they're doing in line with what the administration perceives as the best method?
3) For teachers who don't feel they watch for violations, why not? Is it intentional?
Wouldn't you know it? My initial question has already evolved. It should now read "How can we encourage teachers to help decrease minor discipline problems?" Teacher appreciation and morale is only one thing that may be a solution to this problem.
Based on the case studies in the text, I think my next steps are to begin trying to find the answers to these questions from teachers on my campus and to research what other campuses do about minor discipline infractions.
What are your thoughts, reader? What can we do to encourage teachers to help out with these little problems?
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Research? EEK! That sounds awful!
As an educator who teaches research and the ever-dreaded research paper to high school students, when I learned that my next grad school class was all about research my reaction was not one of enthusiasm. I saw myself spending hours in the library and on the computers pouring through volumes of literature that someone else, somewhere else, created, desperately searching for anything that could remotely benefit my chosen topic. I envisioned that moment when, in sheer frustration, I began looking for the information that would fit what I had already decided rather than approaching research with an open mind and the willingness to change my point of view. Let's face it, every researcher has been there -- the place where research becomes the spitting out of an assigned product rather than the intended broadening of mind and perspective.
Alas, my fears quickly subsided when I learned that action research isn't just reading incessant amounts of someone else's studies and searching for nuggets of gold. In fact, action research (dare I say it) puts academia in its place. In her book, Leading with Passion and Knowledge, Nancy Fichtman Dana describes the action research process this way:
"...the practioner inquiry movement focuses on the concerns of practitioners (not outside researchers) and engages practitioners in the design, data collection, and interpretation of data around their question" (p. 5).
Sounds pretty awesome, right? Think of the possibilities! As an educator, I evaluate data to find problems or areas of concern, and then I collect input not only from academic experts who are far removed but also from real-world circumstances in my classroom, at my school. When I have a question, I ask people for their ideas and solutions. After all, many times the experts on a situation are the people actually in the situation. Then I take all of that data and knowledge and input and create a plan for some type of improvement.
I guess I can finally admit it. I am excited about this course. I'm excited about conducting research and using the incredible knowledge of my colleagues both in my district and in the faraway, mystical land of Academic Pursuits.
Then, as an icing on the cake, I learned that I had to create a blog for this class. It was like the heavens opened and the angels sang! I consider myself an avid blogger, so this part of the assignment seemed just plain easy.
Easy and useful. I can log my thoughts regarding any number of research topics and actually be able to find them later since they'll be right here on my handy blog. I can ask for and receive feedback from peers not only locally but across the globe. In my dream-blog world, I can foster a community of candid discussion and idea sharing that will allow educators everywhere to be innovative, collaborative, lifelong learners.
Action research? Blogging? I should be paying them to take this class!
Oh, wait....
Alas, my fears quickly subsided when I learned that action research isn't just reading incessant amounts of someone else's studies and searching for nuggets of gold. In fact, action research (dare I say it) puts academia in its place. In her book, Leading with Passion and Knowledge, Nancy Fichtman Dana describes the action research process this way:
"...the practioner inquiry movement focuses on the concerns of practitioners (not outside researchers) and engages practitioners in the design, data collection, and interpretation of data around their question" (p. 5).
Sounds pretty awesome, right? Think of the possibilities! As an educator, I evaluate data to find problems or areas of concern, and then I collect input not only from academic experts who are far removed but also from real-world circumstances in my classroom, at my school. When I have a question, I ask people for their ideas and solutions. After all, many times the experts on a situation are the people actually in the situation. Then I take all of that data and knowledge and input and create a plan for some type of improvement.
I guess I can finally admit it. I am excited about this course. I'm excited about conducting research and using the incredible knowledge of my colleagues both in my district and in the faraway, mystical land of Academic Pursuits.
Then, as an icing on the cake, I learned that I had to create a blog for this class. It was like the heavens opened and the angels sang! I consider myself an avid blogger, so this part of the assignment seemed just plain easy.
Easy and useful. I can log my thoughts regarding any number of research topics and actually be able to find them later since they'll be right here on my handy blog. I can ask for and receive feedback from peers not only locally but across the globe. In my dream-blog world, I can foster a community of candid discussion and idea sharing that will allow educators everywhere to be innovative, collaborative, lifelong learners.
Action research? Blogging? I should be paying them to take this class!
Oh, wait....
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