My Action Research Plan

Please leave feedback comments...I will gladly accept any advice!!  Thanks!!  =)

Action Planning Template- H. Pool
Goal:  Increasing Parental Involvement
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Meet with Site Mentor to discuss possible action research topics.  Meet again to narrow down topics and have final discussion to seek approval from Site Mentor.	Site Mentor: Felicia Donaldson Action Researcher: Hanna Pool	October 2012	Meetings, discussions, notes, and Action Research Plan draft	Note taking/ Journaling on meetings Presentations of Action Research Plan to site mentor for any final revisions
Survey parents on “Technology Use” Survey on current usage on technology at home	Hanna Pool Staff/ Faculty Students Parents	October 2012-November 2012	Create a survey in Word Doc, Technology parents are currently using	Analyze what form of technology  the majority of parents use and read data
Hold a training for parents to learn the “ins & outs” of Parent Portal online	Hanna Pool Felicia Donaldson Administrators Kay Cruze	October 2012-June 2013	Computer Access TxConnect Software Registrar Info on Parents & Students	Meeting Agendas Parent Sign-In Sheet Number of parent login- Access surveyed each month Parental Involvement check
Create an App for school district, better communication to parents, students, and staff through App, estimating cost for App, research the cost and time needed	Hanna Pool Felicia Donaldson Lonnie Massey Donna Kistner Tech members in District	October 2012-June 2013	Online tech companies that help create Apps, tutorials, budgets for creating technology tools for district, smart phones, iPads, tablets	Journaling through staff/tech meetings on if this idea is possible, Discussing with Principal if this is best, Executing App creation
Research the use of the Event Link program, Get faculty, staff, and administrators on board with Event Link and start using the program,	Hanna Pool Felicia Donaldson Administrators Faculty/ Staff Lonnie Massey	October 2012-June 2013	Event Link Program, Smart Phones, iPads, tablets, downloading app on equipment, training agenda, tutorial sessions	Hold a training for “how to” use Event Link program, check after a couple months of use if this is successful and working
Create a Facebook page for our junior high school, have important info for our school that parents & students can access to get information	Hanna Pool Felicia Donaldson Lonnie Massey	October 2012-June 2013	Facebook, computers, instructional handouts	Successful Facebook page with many followers that can get information from the school, page that is updated daily/ frequently
Researching other school districts forms and policies on parent communication/ involvement, also parent communication through the use of technology	Hanna Pool	October 2012-November 2012	Internet, school newsletters & findings, other school’s websites	Analyze data and record stats on a document, gather a summary of ideas on technology uses found in other districts, Create a spreadsheet of all the information found in detail
Conduct a successful training night for parents & staff on Technology ideas: App, Event Link, and other ways to communicate	Hanna Pool Felicia Donaldson Staff/ Faculty Parents	October 2012-June 2013	Computers, projector, handouts, software training handouts	Registered people in Event Link, downloaded Apps, created Facebook page and have them join, big successful turnout

My Topic for my Action Research Project

Coming up with my Action Research Topic:

I have thought about researching many different things. 

Three topics that are at the top of my mind are:

Ø  Increasing Parental Involvement

Ø  Motivating Teachers & Staff

Ø  Understanding and Decreasing Truancy Numbers

My site supervisor and I discussed the different topics and really weighed the affects and impacts of each one.  We discovered any of the three topics would be beneficial for our school, but one really stuck out as a true need right now!  Plus we decided that having a technology aspect to my topic would be even better.   

Increasing Parental Involvement is super important in all aspects!  We are coming up with ways to directly interact with parents, bring them to tutorial classes geared for parents, have internet time (for those not fortunate enough to have a computer/internet), and all new fabulous ways to increase parental involvement in any way.  I can’t wait!!

Thoughts on Educational Leaders using Blogging

Educational leaders in the world today are already using blogs and tools available on the internet to teach, learn, and share insights with everyone.  Blogging is a fantastic way to shed insight and collaborate with other educational leaders and also serve as a stepping stool for striving educators working on leadership.

Perspective on Action Research

I have learned that action research is the process an administrator or principal uses to take action and try to make change for the better.  The principal will research different things to try to improve the status of the problem by posing questions or curiosities to the problem.  Action research is where you deeply look into the problem and research ways to improve it.  Action research differs from traditional educational research by the way and how the research is performed.  For instance, action research is research someone does where they are looking into a problem more in depth; maybe they are researching different aspects of the problem.  Basically it is taking the problem and all the information you already know and going out to actually research different areas of the problem and how you can make that problem better to improve it.  This is different from the traditional research we all used to use in school, where you just research information only slightly related to the topic and then siting it and calling it a research paper.

I think I will be able to use action research throughout my educational leadership journey.  It will help me gain insights on campus improvements and other problems that need improvements.  Although, I do not enjoy general research and writing, I am hoping action research enlightens me and I will gain a new appreciation for the word ‘research’! 

Welcome to my blog!!

Hey y'all!!  Welcome to my blog...my name is Hanna and I am going to share my Action Research Adventures with y'all!!