Sunday, January 27, 2013

Action Research Idea (Ah-ha moment!)

This week was great reading through peers blogs, discussions, and watching videos from Scholar Practitioners. With all of the reading from our textbooks and the collaboration of material seen and heard above it gave me a better understanding about Action Research and why we use it, how we use it and how to make it practical. I think the further I read and hear about more Action Research the more in depth my research will be with my own topic.
With deciding which Action Research plan I used some wonderful advice from a video I viewed on Dr. Kirk Lewis, Superintendent of Pasadena ISD. He had mentioned to use what is practical to you and your school. A fabulous research project that does not benefit your students needs will not do any good. You must make your research practical to your environment. 
I took a step back to see if I could apply what he mentioned to my Action Research plan. Is this practical to my school? Are my students going to really benefit from this plan? I believe so! The Action Research plan that I have came up with will probably need to be tweaked but the meat and bones of it is the following: 
Will my students with behavior issues taking the STAAR test benefit from a smaller grouped environment focusing on a music instrument for a certain amount of time each day help their behavior improve as well as their test scores? Also, will this give them better self-esteem and self confidence? 
I hope to find a positive outcome with this research plan. I want these students to gain the confidence and the self-esteem that will help them soar through their classes and tests. I believe that when you find something special in each student and applaud them that they will try their best for you because you found the best in them.
Any feedback, questions or tweaks you might want to add feel free to say!

5 comments:

  1. I love your idea. We have several 3rd graders who seem to have the intelligence to do well on STAAR, but their very poor behavior and attitudes seem to be a stumbling block for them. We use as much positive behavior intervention with them as possible, but sometimes it seems we are getting no where. I will be following your research closely and can't wait to see what you come up with regarding the use of musical intruments to build their self esteem.

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  2. I'm sure you have seen the different approaches that are taken at Khan Academy but their results seem to be wonderful and they are using all kinds of things to appeal to the kids for motivations. Also, I can't recall the place but there is somewhere that the only way to enter the school building is by sliding down a big slide and many of the activities and lessons revolve around the kids playing games. I know this is in a Utopian world in many cases but if we can take pieces of this it has to help. On another note, I read an article yesterday about the state legislature not funding the starr test any longer so it seems that the testing may be changing yet again.

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  3. Oh that is interesting Scott. Are any teachers out there going to the Rally at the Capitol in Austin in February? I know my Superintendent is strongly encouraging us to voice our opinions. Go to go to savetxschools.org if you are interested!

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  4. Jacqui, one of the biggest obstacles with the new STAAR test format is the 4 hour time limit. I think it is unreasonable to expect students in grades 2 - 6 to take a rigorous 4 hour assessment without a break. Studies show that instrumental music can help students study...a musical break during a test may be beneficial. I know it would be for the teachers administrating it! Good luck!

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  5. Oh I love the idea of having a musical break during a test. I will add this to my proposal to my principals. Thank you Charlene!

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