DRAFT

Action Research Draft For: 

How can I best facilitate teachers’ implementation of our new reading series?  

What effect does the use of a blog have on this process?  

Will blog discussions help teachers focus on differentiation and enable them to better meet the needs of all students? 

Setting the Foundation 

Teachers are excited about having a new reading series this year, but the change can be overwhelming and uncomfortable. The new reading series is focused on guided reading groups and differentiated instruction, which is new for some of the teachers. Successful implementation will require collaboration and training. How can I best facilitate teachers’ implementation of our new reading series?

Analyzing Data 

Teachers tend to be isolated from one another during the school day, and dread after school meetings. We need to find a way for teachers to collaborate without scheduled meetings. Our district’s website allows us to have interactive blogs. What effect does the use of a blog have on this process?

Developing Deeper Understanding 

I found an article written by an elementary principal who successfully implemented moodle, twitter, wikis, and blogs. Huber (2010) embedded technology into the culture of the campus and created professional learning that is online, ongoing, and automatic. Teachers have access to information and collaboration anytime, anywhere. Could staff development on our campus become as interesting as facebook?

 Reference 

Huber, C. (2010). Professional learning 2.0. Educational Leadership 67(8), 41 – 46.  

 

Engage in Self-Reflection 

Will the district’s website allow for a creative and inviting blog? I’d prefer to use moodle or ning but cannot confirm that teachers will be able to access these sites. I will need to go to my campus to experiment with various sites and check for firewalls.
Do I have the time to commit to this project? My vision for the blog is to include photos, video, and samples of student work. I’m hoping that all teachers will follow the blog, but I’ll need to have just a few teachers as my focus group. These teachers will be open to experimentation and welcome my visits. 

Exploring Programmatic Patterns 

As I continue to refine this project, I realize that it could result in even bigger changes. On the blog, teachers will see differentiation in action and become more comfortable with it. Will blog discussions help teachers focus on differentiation and enable them to better meet the needs of all students?

Determining Direction 

Ultimately, this research project is all about meeting the needs of our students. By increasing the level of collaboration among teachers using an interactive blog, we can successfully implement our new reading series and provide more effective, differentiated instruction. The blog provides for both monitoring and evaluation. Revisions can be made throughout the study based on the level of activity on the blog. Our timeline consists of ten active weeks with the blog plus a few weeks of preparation before and one week after. I believe this will give us plenty of time to answer our action research questions.

Taking Action for School Improvement 

Goal: Facilitate successful implementation of new reading series using an interactive blog.
1. Create invitation and pre-study survey.
2. Create new blog.
3. Conduct survey and identify four focus participants. 
4. Make ongoing visits to classrooms to capture photos, video, and student work for blog. 
5. Host and monitor blog.
6. Conduct post-study survey. 
7. Create digital scrapbook to share research with others. 

 Sustain Improvement 

How can we share the results of our study with others? On our campus, we might want to implement interactive blogs for other subjects. We can share our digital scrapbook with other schools in the district. A blog could replace a staff meeting, bring together a group of principals in scattered districts, help teachers mentor new staff, or create a place for PLC’s to interact. When a principal implements a blog, chances are the teachers will become comfortable with the process and begin to use blogs in the classroom. The opportunity for improvement using technology is inspiring.