Action Research Plan

Action Research Plan
Goal: For 6th Grade students to improve their fitness levels in 6 months, by having Fitnessgram software and non-traditional exercises built into their physical education class
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Conduct Fitnessgram fitness testing	Janean Marxen Jay Mastandrea* Tom Hochkeppel* Robyn Levine* (*other PE teachers in my school)	October 15th to October 31st	Fitnessgram software	Compute all scores into Fitnessgram software
Decide what non-traditional activities are to be incorporated into the class	Janean Marxen	November 15th to May 15th	Jay Mastandrea Tom Hochkeppel Robyn Levine Online resources	Group dialogue (once a month meeting to decide what we will do for that month)
Give students recording of their fitness scores from Fitnessgram software	Janean Marxen Jay Mastandrea Tom Hochkeppel Robyn Levine	November 15th to December 15th	Fitnessgram software	Handouts from Fitnessgram software
Incorporate non-traditional activities into daily warm-up routines	Janean Marxen Jay Mastandrea Tom Hochkeppel Robyn Levine	November 15th to May 15th	Each other and online sources	Group dialogue (once a week to discuss progress)
Conduct Fitnessgram fitness testing	Janean Marxen Jay Mastandrea Tom Hochkeppel Robyn Levine	May 1st to May 15th	Fitnessgram software	Compute all scores into Fitnessgram software
Give students recording of their fitness scores from Fitnessgram software	Janean Marxen Jay Mastandrea Tom Hochkeppel Robyn Levine	May 15th to June 1st	Fitnessgram software	Handouts from Fitnessgram software
Compile results from Fall and Spring testing	Janean Marxen	June 1st to June 15th	Self	Charts
Analyze data	Janean Marxen	June 15th to June 30th	Previous studies from other researchers	Research project completed

Week 2 Reflection

The summary of this weeks's readings and assignments was basically to come up with different ideas for the action research project. First we had to watch videos from three different scholars from three different backgrounds. There was a principal, superintendent, and an director of research, planning and development. Each person gave their own insight to action research, and each gave examples of what has been done in their school district. I found this interesting to watch and I liked the different perspectives. You can see what is important for each career position. Second, we had to read from the book, Leading with Passion and Knowledge. Chapter two breaks down the reasons that people conduct action research projects such for staff development, curriculum development, individual teacher(s), individual student(s), school culture/community, leadership, management, school performance, or social justice or equity issues. This also provided many different examples as to what we could do for our assignment. The book gives specific examples of true life situations, which also makes it an interesting read. Overall, I have a much more confident feel of what to do for my own project.

Blogs for Educational Leaders

Blogs can be very useful for an educational leader. They allow their writers to share information with many people without having to send a million emails. Administrators or other educational leaders can use blogs to hold faculty meetings. Instead of having a traditional meeting, they can post the information on a blog. Then the faculty can view that information at any time. Previous meetings can be viewed for those who were absent, or when it comes time to calculate professional development hours. By having the information on a blog, the time that was traditionally given for meetings can be used for PLC or action research time. This is much more efficient. Secondly, blogs can be used to share information about technology. Technology facilitators can post new ideas, tools, techniques, activities, or lessons pertaining to technology or any other department of education. Finally, blogs can be used as a form of reflection. If teachers or leaders were conducting an action research plan, they can post their findings on a blog. Therefore keeping everyone informed of what was going on with the research. There are various different ways blogs can be used for educational leaders; these are just to name a few.

Action Research

Practitioner inquiry or also known as action research is a method of research that solves a problem or provokes change. This method is beneficial for administrators as well as teachers. It allows the practitioner to play a major role in the entire process, not just execution of a solution. Traditional methods, such as process- product and qualitative or interpretive studies, mainly have researchers outside of your school or district doing all the work. They don’t know what problems your individual school has. They are providing answers to a generalized situation and have no idea what is actually being done or going on in the school. Therefore action research plans provide the school or district with more relevant information.
I am a health and physical education teacher. I can use action research right in my own department. Over the past few years, our department has tried to incorporate some new fitness activities and techniques that are non-traditional. We have been curious to know if they are actually working or if we need to go back to more traditional exercises. I can conduct a research plan by using standardized fitness tests. I have collected data in previous years for my own inquisition. I can use that data and compare it with the data I collect from this year. Therefore I would be comparing the results of students with traditional exercises and those with non-traditional activities.

What was learned?

I learned quite a bit from this course. When I started this program, I knew that I wanted to learn more about technology, but I was also skeptical. Everyone is always talking about how we need to push technology and how we need to change how we teach. I was weary because I did not want to change the way I taught. So my opinion about technology was low. However, after reading some of the articles from this class, and learning some of the tools I have realized that you don’t have to change everything, just integrate more. Take what you know and add some new ways of accomplishing the same goal. This particular class did not provide a lot of areas for leadership, but I am sure that will come with future classes. I feel as though my attitude has changed for the better and I am not truly prepared to take on this program.

Course Assignments

The course assignments were given ahead of time with detailed directions, therefore it made it very easy to complete and carry them out on time. Week 5 was the only week I struggled with. This was because I have just been diagnosed with Meniere’s disease and it has been hard for me to concentrate. Meniere’s is a disease of the inner ear that causes hearing loss and extreme dizziness. This was a tough week so I did not start working on this assignment until last minute. Therefore, I don’t think it will be as good as previous works. With that I do apologize. Other than that, I thought all assignments were outlined and it was very easy to know exactly what was due each week.

Still not achieved

I don’t believe that there are any outcomes that I did not achieve. Since I did not set my standards that high because I did not know what to expect, I achieved everything I thought I would. I do, however, feel as though I need more practice with the different tools, and more education on how to help others get on board with using these tools. Teachers can be very stubborn or set in their ways. I need to know how to persuade them in a way that they will want to do, not feel as though they have to do it. I also need help creating more daily class assignments that have technology integration. I feel as though projects are easy to incorporate, but day to day work. Unless I make my class more like a PBL (problem based learning), but I like some traditional teaching as well. Lots to think about!

Relevant?

The work that I have done in this course has definitely helped what I do in my class. I have learned new tools that I can share with my students and even my peers. I have already tried to tell other teachers about wiki’s. Some have just recently tried them, while others seem afraid to try new things. I tried to reassure them that they are not hard to use or manage. I suppose this is where professional days are useful. I am eager to apply the ideas that I learned in this course to my own class. I have already thought of ideas and how I can implement them, now I just need to actually sit down and do it. There are a lot more things I would like to learn, but this is only the first course. Therefore, I am excited to see what the rest of this masters will bring.

Outcomes

I honestly did not know what to expect from the course or the entire program. I knew that I would obviously be learning new forms of technology and ways to implement them in my school. I definitely feel that I have accomplished those goals thus far. I have never created a blog or a wiki and because of these new tools, I have created new projects or improved some of the ones I already have. Once I looked at the course outline, I realized that I what I expected was basically what was being taught. This first class has already helped me with getting the ball rolling with technology. I have a better understanding the importance of integration and how our learners will truly benefit from the different tools out there. I did not feel as though there were any surprises in the course. Everything was laid out and very organized.