EDLD+5301+Discussion+Boards


 * Week 1**

To acquire information regarding the creation of an action plan, I looked at my campus improvement plan. I noticed that we hoped to have 100% of third and fourth graders pass all state mandated examinations in reading, writing and math along with 90% of K-3 students becoming developed in all areas of the TPRI. I also noticed that we hoped to have teachers integrating technology into lessons and activities during 70% of instruction time. When I reviewed the suggestions, I noticed that they included the use of our ActivBoards (all classrooms have one), class web sites, a 4th grade campus update team and palm pilots. I did not see where any of this was to be used or created by students.

Therefore, I would like to see an action plan developed that would address the use of technology by our students during 70% of instruction time. This would not only include students using the ActivBoard. Students would need to use technology to create activities and projects. Each grade level on our campus has at least one teacher that allows their students to use technology during lessons/activities so I am sure it would not be hard to create a committee to create activities to be used during specific concepts.

One of our 4th grade teachers had her students using various kinds of technology (Animoto, Garage Band, video cameras, ActivBoard, Power Point, etc.) to create a project for just about every concept or story they learned. No wonder she had 60% of her students receive commended on their test scores. It can be done! With the use of CSCOPE (it does not look like it is going away), lesson plans are basically done for them. They need to take the time to create a student-based project for the lessons. Since I write the PK language arts lesson plans, I am in the process of developing technology projects for my students to create for various concepts.

According to Jo Williamson and Traci Redish in ISTE's Technology Facilitation and Leadership Standards, "technology can be used to promote student-centered, performance-based instruction, higher-order thinking, and problem solving. Technology can also be used to reinforce teacher-centered presentations or rote memorization of discrete facts." I feel the more technology the students use, the more meaningful the information and the longer they will retain it.

Redish, Traci, and Jo Williamson. ISTE's Technology Facilitation and Leadership Standards: What Every K-12 Leader Should Know and Be Able to Do. Eugene,OR: International Society for Technology in Education, 2009. Print.


 * Week 2**

Action research: How can I utilize technology in pre-kinder to improve vocabulary?

I previously taught 1st grade for 8 years before moving to pre-kinder. Our district uses the ITBS for the K-2 state-mandated assessment. Our students consistently score low on the vocabulary section. Our PK students also score low on the CIRCLES vocabulary assessment. I know this has to do with the lack of exposure to even the simplest of vocabulary. It seems many of our families do not explain and define enough to help our students. I would like discover various ways to use the technology we have and obtain different types of technology to increase students vocabulary.

Significance of action research: If this action plan is successful, it will benefit our students, school and district in higher test scores. Our teachers will not have to spend time teaching the basic vocabulary needed to get through a concept and can then cover more. It will also help our students become successful in their personal and professional lives as they get older.

Dana, N. F. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: the principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks: Corwin.


 * Week 3**

Action Research: Can having PK students use various forms of technology to create vocabulary projects help them learn and retain vocabulary in order to increase scores on the CIRCLES test?

Description of the Context or Setting Study: My action research will be conducted in one PK classroom on my campus. I will be working with our campus instructional technologist in developing activities. This project will continue throughout the school year in order to obtain end of the year CIRCLES vocabulary scores.

Target Population: This project will target one classroom of 20-25 pre-kindergarten students ranging in age from 4 to 5 years of age. The district is considered Title I and the students are of varying abilities in regards to academics and knowledge of technology.

Sample Selection: Both PK and Kindergarten students were considered for the project but it was decided to focus on 1 classroom of 20-25 PK students. Our campus instructional technologist has been trying for at least 2 years to get PK and K teachers to use technology in the classroom. She was excited when I moved down to PK because she knew I would use her activities in the classroom with no help from her.

Rationale for Sample Size: It was decided to focus on 1 class of 20-25 PK students for several reasons. Three of the six K teachers are new to the grade level and they administer more tests than PK so they were ruled out. Only 1 class in PK will be used because one teacher will be taking over the lead teacher duties, one is new to the district and has only taught two years and the last teacher does not like using technology herself so will not work in letting her own students use it. It will also be easier to coordinate teaching one class of students and developing activities with a smaller sample.

How Research will be Conducted: The action research project will continue throughout the year. I will begin with reviewing the middle of the year and end of the year CIRCLES vocabulary scores for the past two years in order to develop a baseline. I will then develop vocabulary technology activities and teach my students how to work with various forms of technology. I will use field notes, student work samples, teacher interviews and MOY and EOY CIRCLES vocabulary scores to monitor their progress and compare the data with the three other PK classrooms.

Dana, N. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: the principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.


 * Week 4**

My goal is to have PK students use various forms of technology to create activities that will help them increase their vocabulary scores. The challenges I foresee in implementing my action research study are student behavior, lack of time and lack of technology. Student behavior may become a problem if students do not get their wish to use the technology. They may become disillusioned and think that they will not get to use it because my aide and I will only be able to work with a small number of students at a time. To offset this, I plan to emphasize the need for planning that includes writing, drawing pictures, making lists, etc. in order to produce a great project. This will keep my students busy until they can actually use the technology. Lack of time may also become a challenge. Because this will be the first time for many PK students to be in a structured school setting, I may have to spend more time teaching them about structure, expectations and rules. I may use this as a way to bring in technology and help them learn these by creating projects that show these aspects of school. Students this age also require more patience and one-to-one so this may take away from the time we have to work on projects. Lack of technology may also become an issue. I am now down to one student and one teacher computer so this will hurt us. I will try to utilize the computer lab and fourth grade lab buddies as much as I can until TAKS starts.

Please check out my action research plan at: @http://princetechnologyblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/goal-to-increase-pk-students-vocabulary.html

Dana, N. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: the principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
 * Week 5**

I learned two important things about action research. During the readings and videos, I learned that all the "stupid" discussions my principal was leading us in were actually forms of action research! I thought she was just trying to kill time during required faculty meetings or to get us to do her work for her. Boy have I been schooled! I also learned that this is a process anyone can use to facilitate change.

As others have already mentioned, I would really like to learn more about data collection and analysis. I am still a little unsure of the forms of data I have listed in my action research plan and if it will be sufficient to help me bring about change. I also did not include literature to back up my data (Dana, 2009, page 180).

I plan to discuss other forms of data with my campus reading coach once we get back to school and also discover literature that will hopefully back up that data.

Dana, Nancy Fichtman. (2009). Leading with Passion and Knowledge. , Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Publishing.