Well, I have finished my Action Research Project :)
I am so glad to be done, just the PowerPoint left to do now and then everything will be done related to this course.
I'm ready to graduate on May 9 and not have the weight of coursework hanging over me... it is really hard to keep working full time, fulfilling coursework obligations and trying to raise a family at the same time. I will be glad to be done so I can finally start reading books for pleasure again, as I haven't had time over the last year!
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Phew! Big sigh of relief...
So, this morning I finally typed up the last part of my Action Research Project and it feels like a great weight has been lifted off of my shoulders! I can quit yelling at my kids to be quiet while playing because I can't concentrate :)
This is my last major assignment for my Master's as I'm due to graduate on May 9th, so really the only thing left between me and graduation is some revisions to my project and creating the presentation to submit via PowerPoint. Again, I can't tell you how big the relief is! I know my kids will be glad when I don't have homework in the evenings or on the weekends and can play with them instead.
I've enjoyed the process of the Action Research Project and it had opened my eyes to the need for this kind of research on behalf of the teachers. Too often the research is conducted by outsiders who are looking in and don't have the insights provided by working with the population they are assessing, so action research fills a gap. However, most teachers are incredibly overloaded as it is and do not have time to dedicate to this kind of research. I dream of a time when the American education system adopts foreign practices that allow for teachers to spend more time in professional learning situations with colleagues, and are able to observe peers, and consult with them. We are kept working hard in seclusion and do not have time to consult with others and find out their best practices, or are encouraged to keep our practices to ourselves because we will be evaluated on our progress, in comparison with others.
Alright, I've rambled enough for today and my eyes are crossing from staring at the computer screen for so long! Time for some lunch with my boys.
This is my last major assignment for my Master's as I'm due to graduate on May 9th, so really the only thing left between me and graduation is some revisions to my project and creating the presentation to submit via PowerPoint. Again, I can't tell you how big the relief is! I know my kids will be glad when I don't have homework in the evenings or on the weekends and can play with them instead.
I've enjoyed the process of the Action Research Project and it had opened my eyes to the need for this kind of research on behalf of the teachers. Too often the research is conducted by outsiders who are looking in and don't have the insights provided by working with the population they are assessing, so action research fills a gap. However, most teachers are incredibly overloaded as it is and do not have time to dedicate to this kind of research. I dream of a time when the American education system adopts foreign practices that allow for teachers to spend more time in professional learning situations with colleagues, and are able to observe peers, and consult with them. We are kept working hard in seclusion and do not have time to consult with others and find out their best practices, or are encouraged to keep our practices to ourselves because we will be evaluated on our progress, in comparison with others.
Alright, I've rambled enough for today and my eyes are crossing from staring at the computer screen for so long! Time for some lunch with my boys.
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Slacking!
So... I've been slacking over the last week as it was Spring Break. The kids and I went down to Myrtle Beach and stayed in a great hotel just down from the boardwalk. We had a wonderful time playing on the beach, in the pool (indoors thank goodness!), eating too much ice cream and going to Family Kingdom, the theme park down there.
Now, however, it's back to reality tomorrow. School starts again (with Composite Functions and Combinations of Functions... not pretty!) and baseball practice starts for my youngest, plus I have to finish analyzing my results to add them to my project.
It's quite strange to think that in less than a month all of this will be over and done with, to be honest I'm happy and sad. Happy because I will get to spend more family time with my boys without having to think about homework, and sad because I will miss all the learning that I have experienced over the past few years.
Alright, time for an early night as tomorrow will be a long day!
Now, however, it's back to reality tomorrow. School starts again (with Composite Functions and Combinations of Functions... not pretty!) and baseball practice starts for my youngest, plus I have to finish analyzing my results to add them to my project.
It's quite strange to think that in less than a month all of this will be over and done with, to be honest I'm happy and sad. Happy because I will get to spend more family time with my boys without having to think about homework, and sad because I will miss all the learning that I have experienced over the past few years.
Alright, time for an early night as tomorrow will be a long day!
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Successful survey, but invasion of sickness again
I anguished over the questions on the survey for many days and finally bit the bullet and decided on what to include. I limited the initial survey to 10 questions as I did not want to overwhelm anyone, especially this close to the end of the grading period!
I've been very happy with the response from our staff, so far I have 34 respondents to the survey and a lot of good data. I've started to analyze the data, trying to find patterns according to years of experience and other variables. The data does seem to confirm my hypothesis that most teachers have a very limited knowledge of the McKinney-Vento Act and exactly what to do when we have homeless students in our classes.
I'm leaving the survey open for a couple more days until the break and then will analyze the data some more over the break. Afterwards I will provide the staff with a folder of information relevant to homeless students and then survey them again to see if they are better equipped to deal with them.
Okay, better sign off now... oldest son just finished taking antibiotics for strep about 10 days ago and now has horrible sore throat and congestion. I predict a visit to the doctor in the near future and hope he doesn't feel too bad over the break as we have a couple of days at the beach planned.
I've been very happy with the response from our staff, so far I have 34 respondents to the survey and a lot of good data. I've started to analyze the data, trying to find patterns according to years of experience and other variables. The data does seem to confirm my hypothesis that most teachers have a very limited knowledge of the McKinney-Vento Act and exactly what to do when we have homeless students in our classes.
I'm leaving the survey open for a couple more days until the break and then will analyze the data some more over the break. Afterwards I will provide the staff with a folder of information relevant to homeless students and then survey them again to see if they are better equipped to deal with them.
Okay, better sign off now... oldest son just finished taking antibiotics for strep about 10 days ago and now has horrible sore throat and congestion. I predict a visit to the doctor in the near future and hope he doesn't feel too bad over the break as we have a couple of days at the beach planned.
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Calmness ensues!
I'm feeling a little calmer today. I've managed to get all my grades updated, I have prepared my presentation for the teachers today on Cornell notes, and I'm almost done preparing my survey questions for the staff about the McKinney-Vento Act and homelessness in students. I plan on sending out my survey next week via google docs... just a quick question, does it invalidate the research if I bribe the teachers to respond with candy??!
I'm really getting into my research project and finding more and more information about it. I recently found a guy who had written a book for his doctoral dissertation and that provided me with links to lots of useful information that I can use in the packet I'm going to provide to the teachers.
I approached a couple of friends and told them about the project and said I would be sending out the survey soon, and one responded with the fact that she had never dealt with a homeless student and would this be a problem. It opened my eyes to information that I need to include with the cover email and the survey so that people don't think it's just a survey for those who have dealt with homeless students, it is for everybody to get some background on what they know about it. So, anyway, back to my day job :)
I'm really getting into my research project and finding more and more information about it. I recently found a guy who had written a book for his doctoral dissertation and that provided me with links to lots of useful information that I can use in the packet I'm going to provide to the teachers.
I approached a couple of friends and told them about the project and said I would be sending out the survey soon, and one responded with the fact that she had never dealt with a homeless student and would this be a problem. It opened my eyes to information that I need to include with the cover email and the survey so that people don't think it's just a survey for those who have dealt with homeless students, it is for everybody to get some background on what they know about it. So, anyway, back to my day job :)
Thursday, March 5, 2015
Problems with proposal
I HATE APA CITATION!!!!!
Sorry for all the caps but I really feel like yelling that... at the moment it is the bane of my existence, trying to get stuff in the correct format but ending up missing a comma or a parenthesis is just giving me a headache.
I've rewritten my proposal this week as the first draft was not good enough, hopefully the second go around will be better. I still have my article review left to do but have the article and research, just need to draft it. This week has been particularly busy, my oldest child had strep throat resulting in 3 days off school (he had lung cancer 4 years ago so we have to be careful when he gets sick with high fevers) and now I think I may have caught his strep, my throat is killing me. I will have to get in an early bedtime tonight and try to feel better, I just don't have time to be sick right now.
My research project is coming along well, I am drafting the surveys that I will send out to staff to get their feedback on the McKinney-Vento Act and on child homelessness. I've also set up a time to talk to the school social worker to get more information from her. All my free time is taken up with looking for resources to read to help out my project, there is a plethora of information out there and the hardest part is finding the stuff that is worthwhile.
Okay, time to make dinner and then maybe I can go collapse into bed. On a positive note I did receive my email with instructions on how to get my cap and gown for graduation, and I've been debating ordering a class ring as we don't do that kind of thing in Europe so I don't have anything with my undergraduate colleges on them.
Sorry for all the caps but I really feel like yelling that... at the moment it is the bane of my existence, trying to get stuff in the correct format but ending up missing a comma or a parenthesis is just giving me a headache.
I've rewritten my proposal this week as the first draft was not good enough, hopefully the second go around will be better. I still have my article review left to do but have the article and research, just need to draft it. This week has been particularly busy, my oldest child had strep throat resulting in 3 days off school (he had lung cancer 4 years ago so we have to be careful when he gets sick with high fevers) and now I think I may have caught his strep, my throat is killing me. I will have to get in an early bedtime tonight and try to feel better, I just don't have time to be sick right now.
My research project is coming along well, I am drafting the surveys that I will send out to staff to get their feedback on the McKinney-Vento Act and on child homelessness. I've also set up a time to talk to the school social worker to get more information from her. All my free time is taken up with looking for resources to read to help out my project, there is a plethora of information out there and the hardest part is finding the stuff that is worthwhile.
Okay, time to make dinner and then maybe I can go collapse into bed. On a positive note I did receive my email with instructions on how to get my cap and gown for graduation, and I've been debating ordering a class ring as we don't do that kind of thing in Europe so I don't have anything with my undergraduate colleges on them.
Friday, February 13, 2015
Crazy week
Argh! This week has been crazy, what with breaking up a fight outside my classroom, finding out that the kids videoed the fight and it 'went viral', applying for graduation and then realizing that I'd read the deadlines wrong... I think I need a vacation!
So I did some of my literature review but I'm finding it hard to make it cohesive and not sound too choppy, hopefully over the weekend while my mother-in-law has the kids I can have uninterrupted time to think and write.
I'd looked at the deadlines earlier in the week and thought that I had to turn mine in on Tuesday, February 17th which would have been great seeing as the 16th is President's day and there are no children at school so I'd have peace and quiet to write. So, imagine my dismay this morning when I checked the dates and found out that my proposal is due on Sunday... hence the exclamation of dismay at the beginning of the post.
So Valentine's Day is shot, I'm going to be writing and reading all day (sorry hubby!) to try to get this done. I know it will all be worth it in the end but I'm having trouble seeing that now, while I'm drowning in the cumulative weights of teaching, grading, cooking/cleaning, raising kids, and sleeping!
I will write another post later when I don't feel so depressed :(
So I did some of my literature review but I'm finding it hard to make it cohesive and not sound too choppy, hopefully over the weekend while my mother-in-law has the kids I can have uninterrupted time to think and write.
I'd looked at the deadlines earlier in the week and thought that I had to turn mine in on Tuesday, February 17th which would have been great seeing as the 16th is President's day and there are no children at school so I'd have peace and quiet to write. So, imagine my dismay this morning when I checked the dates and found out that my proposal is due on Sunday... hence the exclamation of dismay at the beginning of the post.
So Valentine's Day is shot, I'm going to be writing and reading all day (sorry hubby!) to try to get this done. I know it will all be worth it in the end but I'm having trouble seeing that now, while I'm drowning in the cumulative weights of teaching, grading, cooking/cleaning, raising kids, and sleeping!
I will write another post later when I don't feel so depressed :(
Friday, January 30, 2015
First Reflection
Hi all!
So, our first post needs to be a reflection on our thoughts about Action Research and our thoughts about our project...
As far as action research goes, I think it's just like anything else; there will be poor action research and good action research and the difficulty is in distinguishing between the two. Most of the articles that I have read this week have been about some good action research, in particular I enjoyed reading about the school-based strategy in intercultural professional development. Action research needs to incorporate a vast amount of reflective practices in order for it to be successful, and it is probably what separates the good and the bad, the amount of reflection that the researcher has completed.
I have been thinking about my action research project for several months now. When I started I was going to do some research on how my school is implementing AVID strategies, in particular Cornell note-taking, completing research before and after implementation to see if it has made teacher's lives easier or harder and whether the students are receptive and learning. However, the implementation of that has been delayed so I searched around for another topic.
The topic that I hope to use for my action research project is homelessness in high school, and what teachers can do in order to ease the burden for these students. Last semester I had a student whose father was about to kick him out and he came to me saying he would have to drop out and get a job. He and I researched the McKinney-Vento information because I knew there were provisions made for homeless students, but he was unaware of that fact and what could be done to help him. Until a couple of years ago, when we started completing the safety videos at school, what I knew about McKinney-Vento could be written on a postcard. I think this is one area of information that teachers have a vague understanding about but are not really sure what it entails.
My idea for my project is to survey the teachers in my school about their prior knowledge, and then using that information create a 'packet' of information that is available to teachers to use to help the students. The information will be more in laymen's terms, as the 'McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Act' document is a complete bear. I struggled my way through it and tried to pull out information as I could, but it's not very user friendly. The packet I develop will contain what options students have, what teachers can do to help them and other stuff. I will provide this to teachers/staff to use and then survey them again at the end of the semester to see if it helped them any and if they felt that it was a valuable resource for them and the students.
It's a work in progress but those are the bare bones on my research. Okay, it's Friday... time to leave school for the weekend :)
So, our first post needs to be a reflection on our thoughts about Action Research and our thoughts about our project...
As far as action research goes, I think it's just like anything else; there will be poor action research and good action research and the difficulty is in distinguishing between the two. Most of the articles that I have read this week have been about some good action research, in particular I enjoyed reading about the school-based strategy in intercultural professional development. Action research needs to incorporate a vast amount of reflective practices in order for it to be successful, and it is probably what separates the good and the bad, the amount of reflection that the researcher has completed.
I have been thinking about my action research project for several months now. When I started I was going to do some research on how my school is implementing AVID strategies, in particular Cornell note-taking, completing research before and after implementation to see if it has made teacher's lives easier or harder and whether the students are receptive and learning. However, the implementation of that has been delayed so I searched around for another topic.
The topic that I hope to use for my action research project is homelessness in high school, and what teachers can do in order to ease the burden for these students. Last semester I had a student whose father was about to kick him out and he came to me saying he would have to drop out and get a job. He and I researched the McKinney-Vento information because I knew there were provisions made for homeless students, but he was unaware of that fact and what could be done to help him. Until a couple of years ago, when we started completing the safety videos at school, what I knew about McKinney-Vento could be written on a postcard. I think this is one area of information that teachers have a vague understanding about but are not really sure what it entails.
My idea for my project is to survey the teachers in my school about their prior knowledge, and then using that information create a 'packet' of information that is available to teachers to use to help the students. The information will be more in laymen's terms, as the 'McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Act' document is a complete bear. I struggled my way through it and tried to pull out information as I could, but it's not very user friendly. The packet I develop will contain what options students have, what teachers can do to help them and other stuff. I will provide this to teachers/staff to use and then survey them again at the end of the semester to see if it helped them any and if they felt that it was a valuable resource for them and the students.
It's a work in progress but those are the bare bones on my research. Okay, it's Friday... time to leave school for the weekend :)
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