Week 2 Part 3- Selecting action research topics

Week 2 Part 3- Selecting action research topics

The three topics I narrowed down for my research topics are:

1.       How will our campus make team leader meetings more productive, and how will we implement teacher peer coaching?

2.       Our campus will use technology to provide information from teachers, the principal, and superintendent, to all parents in the district for parent orientation and meet the teacher.

3.       Our campus will find a way to remove computer and library from the PE rotation and place them back into the teachers’ weekly schedule, and locate funds to rehire a teacher for the music program to be put back into place.

My conference with my site-mentor, who is my campus principal, went well. We discussed all the issues at hand. He really liked the team leader meeting idea, but thought the other two ideas were more pressing for our campus at this time. We both really liked the computer/library/music project and we are both very passionate about that idea. However, we agreed, that the powers above us would not allow results within the time period I needed to have my project complete. I had brought up the technology idea at our September site-based meeting, and he really liked it. He even brought it to the attention of our superintendent. We decided that the technology information for parent orientation was the most realistic project for me to research and implement within the Master’s program.

For my action research project, I will research the use of technology and communication between my campus and parents. Our campus is very large at over 700 students from grades PK-4. We are literally busting at the seams. This year was our first year to have parent orientation at the same time as meet the teacher. This happens the day before the first day of school. The plan was for parents of students in Pk-2 to meet in our gym for 15 minutes and listen to our principal go over campus policy and procedure. Then parents were to move on to their children's classrooms and listen to their child's teacher give an orientation for that grade. Third and fourth grade followed 45 minutes later. The first problem was the gym could not hold everyone that showed up. The second problem was that some parents did not want to sit through the principal orientation; they just wanted to meet the teacher. Then, the teacher had parents showing up at staggered intervals not allowing the teacher to give a proper orientation.

At our site-based meeting in September, I asked my principal if we could video him and stream him into the classrooms. He loved the idea. We have now decided that I will video him, the superintendent, and the team leaders for each grade level, and I will upload those videos to our district website. Because all classrooms on our campus are equipped with a SmartBoard and overhead projector, we will ask all parents to show up in their child's classroom at the same time. Teachers will show the videos in their classrooms all at the same time. For families with more than one child at the school, we will still stagger the times, but if they want, they will be able to view the orientation videos on their own time if needed. These videos will be available all year for families new to the district and for those that would like to review for clarification.

This will allow for teachers to not be so stressed during this busy time and it will allow for our principal and superintendent to be free to move around campus during such an important event. Students will get to meet their teachers and parents will get the much needed information for their child's upcoming school year. If parents have a source to go to, some of their questions may be answered without having to set up in-school conferences resulting in loss of time from work.

I am very excited about this project. This will allow me to work with all grade levels on the campus and also allow me to work with several of my administrators throughout my district.