Progress

My action research plan consisted of giving students a vocab list on Monday and a quiz on Friday, where students would have to study on their own. I did this for three weeks. After those three weeks I continued to present the students with a vocab list on a Monday and a quiz on a Friday, but during the week I had included vocabulary strategies. I then repeated those two steps with a separate set of students and words but used the same strategies. After combing averages and scores I noticed an improvement in their grades. I have discovered through my action research project that vocabulary does lead to student achievement and students become better readers. Concerns I had about vocabulary was due to the percent of low income families at my school. Vocabulary is not as rich at home and students are not reading at grade level. Vocabulary strategies help improve study habits for not just their middle school career, but for the future. I observed that repetition, which is part of rigor, shows it can improve scores. If repetition can be done with vocabulary and it helps improve scores, it can be utilized in other areas of instruction as well.  The terms I used were for future units. This showed that the strategies truly worked because if the words were being taught that week I wouldn’t been able to observe if the strategies helped improve scores or if it was the lessons during the week. Now if these strategies were being used on terms being taught for the week then score could really improve because that means more repletion to due to the strategies and lessons. 

Reflections!

When reviewing my comments, I came across the question of  how many words I plan on using each week. This is something my site supervisor and myself has talked about when developing my plan. I started with 5 words a week, but after looking at all the content, we decided that 10 words a week is not too much to be asking. Other than that the viewer thought my plan was well thought out and having the students illustrate their terms was a great strategy. There was a comment that stood out to me when reading another student’s plan. The comment was about how she was interested in vocabulary strategies at first, but after sitting down with her campus supervisor they decided that vocabulary wasn’t a problem at their school so they decided to go a different direction. I thought that was interesting that someone had the same idea as me. Every school has their own problems due to different factors that create the problems, which is why she changed her plan. I feel very confident in my plan and this is why I made no changes to my research plan this week. I sat down with my campus supervisor about six different times when creating my action research plan and we both feel that this is the best approach. We are both excited to see the results because we feel that this can be beneficial, if positive results are found, for my department and hopefully the entire school one day. In addition to my campus supervisor feeling this is the best approach, I have had positive feedback on my blog and my discussion posts about how vocabulary is important to effective teaching and instruction. 

 We concluded that the best approach was to pick two different sample groups at different times of the year and compare their results. Each sample group would be researched over 6 weeks.  We both agreed about picking a topic that is going to have the most effect on my teaching and the topic should be worth my time. The topic that my site supervisor and I agreed upon is: How does rigorous vocabulary strategies in science improve overall grades? We both felt that this topic can be something that the whole department could utilize at some point. Science scores need to improve and we both felt that this topic would be a beneficial strategy to instructional progress.  We discussed how most of our students do not have good study skills and this could be effective for them because a lot of them come from low-income homes where support is not always there. We did not make any revisions to the plan this week because we both felt that this is the best plan to implement. We did discuss that while I am implementing the plan I may find areas that should have been revised and to document it to use for future research plans.  I feel confident in my plan and ready to see the results and conclusions. 

Action Research Plan

Action Planning
Goal: The goal is to improve vocabulary quiz scores and overall grades through rigorous vocabulary strategies.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
1. Assess sample group without changing any methods of teaching. Every Monday students will be given a vocabulary list and Friday they will be given the quiz. Students will have to study on their own.	Teacher	4/22/13-5/10/13	1.Vocabulary   Quizzes 2.Vocabulary Lists	1.Quiz grades 2. Averages of the students from the three-week period. 3. Observations of student’s participation in studying. 4. Reflections on what I have observed. 5.Student Work
2. Introduce the vocabulary strategies to the sample group. Monday- Define Vocabulary Words Tuesday- Create original sentences using vocabulary words. Wednesday- Create illustrations of vocabulary words. Thursday- Play an interactive matching game with the vocabulary words. Friday- Vocabulary Quiz	Teacher	5/13/13-5/31/13	1.Vocabulary   Quizzes 2.Vocabulary Lists 3.Vocabluary Strategies	1.Quiz grades 2. Averages of the students from the three-week period. 3. Observations of student’s participation using strategies. 4. Reflections on what I have observed. 5.Student Work
3. Repeat action steps 1 and 2 with a separate sample group in a different grading period.	Teacher	10/7/13-11/15/13	1.Vocabulary   Quizzes 2.Vocabulary Lists 3.Vocabluary Strategies	1.Quiz grades 2. Averages of the students from the three-week period. 3. Observations of student’s participation using strategies and participation in studying. 4. Reflections on what I have observed. 5.Student Work
4. Combine the averages and quiz scores to compare the two different sample groups.	Teacher	4/22/13-11/22/13	1.Grade Book 2.Reflections 3. Observations 4. Student Work	1. Creating charts and graphs to compare the set of students.

Lessons Learned about Action Research

A lesson that I learned this week about my action research is that my project should be something that will be the most beneficial to myself. I had great conversations about different project ideas with my supervisor and we came to the conclusion that the topic I choose should have the most effect on my teaching and the topic should be worth my time. It  made me think about what I am really passionate about and came to the realization that I am interested in vocabulary. My site supervisor and I both felt that this topic can be something that the whole department could utilize at some point. Scores need to improve and we both felt that this topic would be a beneficial strategy to instructional progress. 

How educational leaders might use blogs?

Educational leaders can use blogs as a way to reflect on their research.  Educators can then take their blogs and use it as effective data for their research plans by putting thoughts and ideas together. The reflections can be texts or images which can be linked to others to gain feedback and ideas. Educators can come back to these blogs to refresh their minds and give them new understandings.

What is Action Research?

I have learned that  action research can be effective for an administrator or any practioner trying to improve school quality. Practioners are able to study practices and then take action to change these practices if need be. They are the ones to ask questions, collect, and analyze data to make these changes in educational practices. Action Research can be an important device for administrators because they can analyze issues at their campus and reflect on their data to improve the issue.This type of research gives administrators the chance to change issues in the school from the inside, rather than people guessing what needs to be done. 

I would be able to use action research to investigate issues that I am passionate about. I have always had a curiosity about vocabulary and the impact it can have if it is utilized consistently. I would  like to research using vocabulary strategies to improve scores through a grading period. I would then like to use the same procedures and test it on a whole new group of students and grade level and compare the similarities and difference.