Action Research Plan Update!

I had to recently switch my action research plan. I was originally doing a plan based off a computer program being used at the elementary school I was teaching at. This summer I learned I would be moving up to teach 7^th grade TX History, which meant I would have to change my actions research plan. I have met with my site supervisor  almost weekly trying to decide on a new research plan. We narrowed it down to two things: how bring involved in extracurricular school events has an effect on student’s academic success and whether the “flipped classroom” concept has a positive effect on students success. After three teachers (2, 8^th grade teachers, 1 7^th grade teacher) have chosen to “flip” their classroom, I became really intrigued with the idea of a flipped classroom and whether it would be beneficial or not. This has led me to my decision of making the flipped classroom my focul point of my action research plan. My goal is to gather test data from a teacher using the flipped method and one who is not and see if I can see a definitive difference between the test scores. I also want to survey students to see what their opinion is of having the flipped classroom versus not having it.

            I had worked a lot of hours gathers data for my original action research plan. After having to change it, so far I have met with my firld supervisor and other importat leaders in  my school about my plan. I have put in a combined total of 10 hours, just talking about my ideas and brainstorming the best ways to collect the data.

Action Research Plan Update!

I had to recently switch my action research plan. I was originally doing a plan based off a computer program being used at the elementary school I was teaching at. This summer I learned I would be moving up to teach 7^th grade TX History, which meant I would have to change my actions research plan. I have met with my site supervisor  almost weekly trying to decide on a new research plan. We narrowed it down to two things: how bring involved in extracurricular school events has an effect on student’s academic success and whether the “flipped classroom” concept has a positive effect on students success. After three teachers (2, 8^th grade teachers, 1 7^th grade teacher) have chosen to “flip” their classroom, I became really intrigued with the idea of a flipped classroom and whether it would be beneficial or not. This has led me to my decision of making the flipped classroom my focul point of my action research plan. My goal is to gather test data from a teacher using the flipped method and one who is not and see if I can see a definitive difference between the test scores. I also want to survey students to see what their opinion is of having the flipped classroom versus not having it.

            I had worked a lot of hours gathers data for my original action research plan. After having to change it, so far I have met with my firld supervisor and other importat leaders in  my school about my plan. I have put in a combined total of 10 hours, just talking about my ideas and brainstorming the best ways to collect the data.

New and Improved Plan

Based of the feedback I received from my peers (YOU amazing people), the CIS on my campus and my site supervisor, below is my new and I hope, IMPROVED action research plan. I have made adjustments to my timeline, giving myself the summer to bring all the data together and develop a presentation. My plan is to present my findings to the third grade teachers, our CIS and our Principal(my site supervisor) during work week in August. Please let me know what you think of my plan. Comment any suggestions you may have, because there's a good chance I haven't thought of everything. Thank you all so much for being so helpful throughout this course!! :)

Megan Marks’ Action Research Plan
Goal: To discover if using the program Istation is beneficial to our third grade students.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Research the Istation Program and the effects it has had in other elementary schools	Myself	March 2013	-Internet	Compare the research from multiple schools and type up a summary of my findings
Meet with third grade teachers and develop a plan to get students on Istation for at least 90-120 minutes per week.	Myself, Third Grade Teachers	March 2013	-A meeting place -Access to third grade’s daily schedule	Develop a new schedule, including Istation time for each student.
Collect and analyze data from students’ initial placement test on Istation.	Myself, Third Grade Teachers	April 2013	-Access to third grade teacher’s Istation accounts. -Excel	Make a spreadsheet of students’ initial placement test.
Collect and analyze data from students’ SRI tests before they began using Istation.	Myself, Third Grade Teachers, CIS	April 2013	-Access to third grade teachers’ SRI data for their students. -Excel	Add students’ SRI data to the spreadsheet
Assess students’ middle of the year SRI tests to see if there are any improvements.	Myself, Third Grade Teachers, CIS	April 2013	-Access to third grade students’ middle of the year SRI tests. -Excel	Track students’ progress on Excel spreadsheet.
Analyze students’ monthly data on Istation to see whether or not they are progressing.	Myself, Third Grade Teachers	April-June 2013	-Access to third grade teachers’ Istation accounts. -Excel	Track students’ progress on Excel spreadsheet
Interview third grade teachers individually. Ask whether Istation is helping their students and if they would recommend the program for other teachers.	Myself Third Grade Teachers	May 2013	-A meeting place -Interview questions -My iPad to track teachers’ responses	Write a reflection on teachers’ responses.
Create a binder with all data collections and findings, along with results	Myself	June-July 2013	-Data I’ve collected -Presentation Binder	Produce a final binder to present to the third grade teachers, CIS and Principal
Meet with third grade teachers, CIS and Principal to discuss the results.	Myself, Third Grade Teachers, Principal, CIS	August 2013	-A meeting place -Presentation Binder	Feedback from teachers, CIS and Principal on my findings.