Saturday, February 2, 2013

Action Research Plan


 
ACTION RESEARCH: IDENTIFY TEACHERS HESITANT TO USE STUDENT-DRIVEN LESSONS TO CREATE AN ENGAGING CLASSROOM AND IDENTIFY THE REASONS WHY.
 
School Vision:  To ensure that all teachers are creating and/or implementing student-driven lessons which create an engaging classroom for our students.
Goal:  To identify the reasons teachers on our campus are hesitant to use student-driven lessons and then to provide them with the support and training needed to address the areas of concern, so they will be confident enough to use student-driven lessons and create an engaging classroom for our students.
Outcomes
·         To identify reasons teachers are hesitant to use student-driven lessons.
·         To identify teachers who do use student-driven lessons and to identify what has enabled them to be confident enough to use student-driven lessons.
·         To provide teachers not implementing student-driven lessons with meaningful staff development and training so they are confident enough to use student-driven lessons.
 Activities
·         Meet regularly with campus principal
·         Maintain confidentiality
·         Distribute teacher surveys
·         Collect and analyze data
·         Classroom Walk-throughs
·         View and review materials from meeting
·         Review literature on student-driven lessons and engaging classrooms
Resources / Research Tools Needed
Including, but not limited to:
·         Teacher survey
·         Access to Internet
·         Literature on student-driven lessons
·         Literature on engaging classrooms
·         Implementation calendar
·         Food (if after school or during summer)
·         Classroom Walk-through evaluation forms
·         Access to Eduphoria
Responsibility to Address Activities
Nicole Velebil and Heath Koenig
Timeline
February 1, 2013 to June 07, 2014
Benchmarks/Assessments
Not limited to: Teacher surveys after training; analyze Eduphoria evaluations to see if engagement levels have increased.
Revisions to SIP/PIP based on Monitoring / Assessments
None

 

6 comments:

  1. I am a a big fan of engaging in the classroom. I see so many teachers that cant get kids involved in their lessons because they follow the old approach to lecture and notes. We need to get our kids to be more active and involved in lessons to inspire higher thinking. Keep up the good work. Tom Lee

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  2. Thank you Tom Lee -

    It is very important to engage the students. Many teachers today are afraid of giving up control of the classroom and taking a back seat to students. This is a little scary, I admit, but what most teachers do not realize is in the long run student-driven classrooms are a tons more fun and less work for the teacher.

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  3. I like the concept of your action research plan. It is very important to allow students to take control of their learning. It can help engage those students who are otherwise hard to reach. I think your plan looks well thought out. I would suggest that one reason teachers have trouble implementing a student led lesson is that they are not confident or familiar with that type of teaching. Sometimes having an opportunity to see this type of class led can improve other teachers ability to have that type of lesson in their classroom.

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  4. I personally feel that it is awkward, but role-playing can be a good way to give a teacher unfamiliar with student led lessons an opportunity to practice the techniques that they would use in an actual classroom setting. Another thing you might consider is having those teachers who do utilize student led lessons invite those teachers who don't into their classroom to observe.

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  5. Elisabeth and Michael -

    Thank you for your thoughts. I like the idea of having teachers model for teachers. Now it is just a matter of finding teachers who do not feel threatened when someone is in their room observing.

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  6. I think a big reason that teachers do not implement student-driven lessons is because classroom management is an issue. Either they don't know how to manage an active classroom or they do not want to. I use drama as a classroom management strategy. It teaches the students to regulate their own behavior so that you aren't having to manage it anymore. I've seen it change my classroom and the schools where I teach. Once that management system is in place, it becomes easier to open yourself up to more active learning styles. Here is a link if you are interested: http://www.artsintegrationconsulting.com/professional-development/foundation-workshops/acting-right-drama-as-a.html

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