ARP Update

Thus far the plans for my action research project are going well. I received approval from my principal for my research and gathered all my materials in the middle of August.  I explained the process to my new teaming partner, and she readily accepted the idea and has been a tremendous help in keeping me informed of when her class needs to receive beads for compliments or when a student falls below green on the conduct display. 

At Meet the Teacher night, I was able to explain how the beads and incentives will work to the parents and students who attended. There was a lot of excitement among the students to hear that they could potentially earn gift certificates to McDonald’s or Taco Bell as well as other prizes.

I spent a good deal of time the first day of school explaining how the bead system works to both of my classes. At the time, all students were anxious to start receiving beads to wear on the shoe strings because they were interested in receiving the prizes.

After four weeks of school, I am pleased with the way things are going in my classroom. I have a total of three students who have not accumulated nearly 25 beads, but there have been no office referrals as opposed to this time last year.

 By the fourth day of school, every student in my homeroom was in appropriate the clothing described by our dress code. They have remained that way daily. One young man even keeps an extra belt in his back pack in case he forgets to put one on at home. In my second class, the  students have maintained appropriate dress code since the 7^th day of school. One student in that class had to wait for his mother to purchase a belt for him, which was unfortunate. However this is still a massive improvement over my students from last year.

The most amazing part of the bead system has been in the area of homework. Almost all students are turning in both homework pages each week. My homework retrieval rate has never been so high in the time I have taught. Students are also returning progress reports and other items that need parent signatures in a more timely fashion.

We are coming up on our first set of major tests during the week of September 23. The weekly test grades have not been as high as I expected them to be. However, there are outside factors to be considered. We had very little time during the first two weeks of school to do much core subject teaching because we were required to teach and practice procedures. I was encouraged today when grades were better on both the math and science weekly tests. I hope the review work before the major tests next week will be sufficient to prepare students and help catch up on anything we had to hurry past or was otherwise not mastered.

The six weeks ends on October 4. The first round of prizes will be given out on October 10 or 11. I am eagerly anticipating the counting of the beads to see which students will receive which prizes. I am also eager to see what will happen next six weeks when students have seen what they can earn and hopefully strive to earn more beads.

Week 5, Part 2 assignment

As I completed Part 2 of the Week 5 assignment, I had so many thoughts and concerns running through my head. I am going to share part of them in my blog below. Please comment so that I can have other opinions as well!

I have seen the traditional research method utilized too often in my school district during the past few years, especially in the area of curriculum. There is an old saying about walking a mile in somebody’s shoes that probably should be applied to research methods as well. At some point, I do hope to be able to make many changes in my school district. I am afraid the term “backwoods” might truly apply to us even though we are the largest district in the county.

teachers frequently take suggestions for improvement better as an idea from a co-worker rather than as a directive from an administrator 

Our blogs and discussion boards have been very enlightening during this course. I thoroughly enjoy seeing what topics my fellow students are interested in studying through their action research projects. A couple of them are doing things similar to mine so I am grateful for the opportunity to watch their blogs and learn new things that I might be able to apply to my project. I also appreciate the encouragement and feedback I am receiving. As I get further into my plan when school starts, I am sure my group of blog supporters will have very useful information for me. I hope to be able to contribute useful information for them as well.

I want my staff to have relevant staff development rather than something that is of no interest or, in some cases, importance to them. Too often school district lump all personnel into one huge meeting in order to say staff development has taken place. For example, during staff development week next week, I will see the same gentleman make the same presentation on classroom management I have seen twice before. I think those returning teachers who have already seen the presentation would be better served with something different to do at that time such as receiving staff development in content areas.

Thanks in advance for your comments. I will be looking at the other blogs I follow several times this week to make comments on yours!

 

Week 4 Update

As we draw near to the end of EDLD 5301, I have taken some steps towards the implementation of my action research plan. I purchased enough shoe laces for each student I teach to have one supplied for them. I am sure the parents will appreciate not having to purchase a set of shoe strings only to use one of them. I visited Hobby Lobby and picked out a multitude of colored pony beads for students to put on the shoe strings once they have been earned. I am still working on determining what the criteria must be to earn each color. Also, I am still working on figuring out how many beads the students must earn each six weeks in order to earn the prizes. Finally, I am putting together a presentation for students and parents for Meet the Parent Night as well as the first week of school. We spend a solid week on learning procedures on my campus. It will be a great time to fine tune the bead system as we practice the procedures surrounding the beads. I am so looking forward to the beginning of the school year and getting to know my new students. I hope they will respond as well toward my plan as I think they will.

As always, any ideas or suggestions are greatly appreciated! I will be happy to respond to your blogs as well. Everyone was very kind and no suggestions were made for changes this week. Please let me know if you think of something that would be helpful!

My Action Research Plan Template

Action Planning Template
Goal: Research and evaluate how offering classroom incentives can increase student attendance and academic achievement while decreasing disruptions due to discipline issues.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Meet with site supervisor to receive approval for the plan. Study the academic calendar for the 2013-2014 school year to determine testing dates. Create and organize a notebook to use for data storage and notes on the research project.	Amanda Jackson, Principal A.M. Story Intermediate School Melinda Limbaugh	July 29-Aug 2, 2013	2013-2014 Palestine ISD calendar Notebook to store all data and notes on the research.	Does Mrs. Jackson agree that we need to add incentives to our current discipline management plan that does not include incentives? Are there a sufficient number of major tests/projects to be taken from which to gather data?
Purchase supplies (several colors of pony beads and shoe laces) needed for the project. Plan how to use to use the various colors of beads. Create charts to classroom behavior, posters to display in the classroom, and an informative letter for parents (English and Spanish) Plan incentives for students who earn various numbers of beads each six weeks based on attendance, academic achievement, and good citizenship.	Amanda Jackson Victor Gonzalez, Bilingual Teacher Melinda Limbaugh	August 5-16, 2013	Shoe laces Numerous colors of pony beads Notebook	What incentives can be offered to students earning the beads each week or six weeks? Are there a sufficient number of colors of beads to utilize for each area I want to address? Are there local merchants who would be willing to contribute incentives for students who earn them?
Explain the research plan and incentive plan to my new team teaching partner.	Team Teaching Partner Amanda Jackson Melinda Limbaugh	August 19-23, 2013	Copy of behavior chart Notebook	Prepare my team teaching partner for his/her role in my research. Determine if he/she has questions or concerns that need to be addressed before the arrival of students.
First six weeks instruction leading up to the first major science and math grades. Track attendance daily in Skyward. Use behavior charts to track classroom disruptions. Utilize weekly tests and math fact quizzes to determine student progress up to the Curriculum Based Assessment. Gather and analyze DMAC data after the assessment. First six weeks information will be used as baseline information.	Team teaching partner Amanda Jackson Melinda Limbaugh	September 2-October 4,  2013	Behavior charts, Skyward attendance and office referral data DMAC testing data after taking first Curriculum Based Assessments Notebook	Does the use of incentives encourage students to have good attendance during the first six weeks? Does the use of incentives promote the relearning or remembering of the basic addition and subtraction math facts? Have the students been successful in having few classroom disruptions during the first six weeks as tracked by behavior charts and Skyward office referrals?
Continue to monitor testing, attendance, and discipline data throughout the school year. Analyze data to determine whether or not incentives are providing encouragement for students to achieve academically while having few classroom disruptions.	Amanda Jackson Teaming Partner Fourth Grade Students Other School Personnel as needed (RTI, Special Education, Bilingual, etc) Melinda Limbaugh	October 7, 2013-May 30, 2014	Skyward attendance and office referral data DMAC testing data Teacher made discipline charts Notebook	Does the use of incentives create desire in students to increase academic performance, attend school as much as possible, and refrain from causing disruptions in the classroom? Do students who are low performing early in the year show improve as the year progresses?
Use data gathered throughout the year as well as input from others involved in the plan to determine whether the plan produced the desired results.	Amanda Jackson Team Teaching Partner Fourth Grade Students Fourth Grade Parents Melinda Limbaugh	June  2-6, 2014	Skyward attendance and office referral data DMAC testing data STAAR reports Teacher made discipline charts Notebook Information gathered from students and parents regarding the incentives received.	Have students shown progress throughout the year in the identified areas? How do current students and their parents feel about the use of the incentives? What suggestions do they have for the future use of incentives in the classroom?