New Link for my Project

Not sure why the other link won't work. Here is a new one.

http://prezi.com/yw_ybpoy4phx/present/?auth_key=jb1lmjy&follow=hb7jli0pugxm

Project Presentation for School Community Program

The following link will tak you to my presentation for my week 4 School Community Project

http://prezi.com/yw_ybpoy4phx/present/?auth_key=e8n32l9&follow=hb7jli0pugxm

End of Week 4 EDLD 5326

It has been a while since my last post.  I am finishing up my 4th week in the 5326 class.  With school starting as well as football going on 7 days a week it has been difficult for me to be on the web conferences because of my work schedule. I have been reading the chat logs and have enjoyed reading all the input from the students and professors.  It is not the same as actually being directly involved with the discussion but I have been kept informed of what is going on each week and what is expected of me. 

This class has really brought to my attention the urgency and necessity of getting more parents involved in our schools and in educating their children.  The more support we get from home and the more involved parents are with their children at school will allow us to reach the lofty goals that are set by the state.  We won't have to place as much anxiety and stress on our students to pass these state mandated tests if we can offer our students a complete educational experience.  If you look at the numbers on your tests that are broken down by sub-groups you will see, just like I did for my school, that the students that are performing well have great support system at home and have parents that are involved with what is happening at their childs school.

More to come later!!!

Week 5 EDLD 5301 Final Thoughts

Well as the last week of this class ends it starts a new beginning for me and my research project. I have learned many new things and have developed a new desire to find solutions to my research topic.  Reading comprehension is a growing problem not only in my school but across the nation. Why have we gotten away from teaching our students how to retain the information that they read.  My hope and my goal is to find ways to get back to developing reading comprehension for our future generations so that they will be able to find the success they search for.  The key to all these new State Mandated Tests as well as gaining entrance to college hinges on reading comprehension.  We shall see how this goes. Wish me luck!!! I will update as I get through this whole process.

Final Research Plan Approved by Site Supervisor

Please look over my plan and see what you think.  I am always looking for ways to improve my project. Feel free to leave comments and suggestions.

Action Planning Template
Goal: Reading comprehension is a nation-wide concern. Students taking college entrance exams are finding themselves forced to take remedial courses because they do not score high enough on these entrance exams. My school is no different than any other, our students struggle on the reading portion of these tests. My goal is to determine and suggest strategies or programs to improve reading comprehension in order to ensure college readiness.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Collect scores from the Accuplacer, ACT, TAKS, and EOC tests.	Jay Ragland	June 4-June 11 2012	Test Scores from tests chosen for this project.	This will give me appropriate information on reading comprehension.
Gather baseline data on the Accuplacer, ACT, TAKS, and EOC	Jay Ragland Shana Hallmark-HS Counselor Kathy Young-Accuplacer Facilitator.	June 12-June 21 2012	Scores from the past 2-3 years on students that took the Accuplacer, ACT, TAKS, and EOC.	This information should provide me with the data I need to compare to this school year we are approaching.
Discuss reading strategies, and discuss new ways to improve reading comprehension  with English Teachers and Reading Teacher	Jay Ragland English Department Reading Department	August 27-August 31	English and Reading Teachers	Look at what strategies are being used for reading comprehension and discuss new ideas to try and increase the comprehension level.
Research previous articles on reading comprehension	Jay Ragland	June-October 2012	Look at previous strategies that have been proposed and find several that can be implemented as well.	Apply reading strategies
Implement new reading strategies	Jay Ragland	August- 2012 to May-2013	New strategies for reading comprehension	Monitor the student’s progress by checking on test scores.
Survey Students that take the Accuplacer, ACT,TAKS, and EOC, look at issues they have with the reading portion of these tests.	Jay Ragland	August 2012	Completed Surveys	Find common problem areas listed in the surveys.
Analyze new test scores as they become available for the Accuplacer, ACT, TAKS, and EOC.	Jay Ragland	October- April 2012	Compare new scores after implementing reading strategies with last year’s scores	Look for improvements in scores from previous tests taken.
Survey students to see if new reading strategies helped increase their reading scores on the tests.	Jay Ragland	April 2013	Analyze new survey’s	Compare results with previous survey.
Present Findings	Using data collected present findings of my research.	June 2013	Final research product ready to present.	Evaluation by my site supervisor, school superintendent, and school board.

Final Revised Plan 6-30-12

Action Research Plan

Action Planning Template
Goal: Reading comprehension is a nation-wide concern. Students taking college entrance exams are finding themselves forced to take remedial courses because they do not score high enough on these entrance exams. My school is no different than any other, our students struggle on the reading portion of these tests. My goal is to determine and suggest strategies or programs to improve reading comprehension in order to ensure college readiness.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Determine what college entrance test to use for my research. (Accuplacer, SAT, ACT)	Jay Ragland	June 4-June 11 2010	Test Scores from tests chosen for this project. (Accuplacer, SAT, ACT)	This will give me appropriate information on reading comprehension.
Gather baseline data on the Accuplacer, ACT, and SAT s	Jay Ragland Shana Hallmark-HS Counselor Kathy Young-Accuplacer Facilitator.	June 12-June 21 2012	Scores from the past 2-3 years on students that took the Accuplacer, ACT, and SAT	This information should provide me with the data I need to compare to this school year we are approaching.
Discuss reading strategies, and discuss new ways to improve reading comprehension  with English Teachers and Reading Teacher	Jay Ragland English Department Reading Department	August 27-August 31	English and Reading Teachers	Look at what strategies are being used for reading comprehension and discuss new ideas to try and increase the comprehension level.
Research previous articles on reading comprehension	Jay Ragland	June-October 2012	Look at previous strategies that have been proposed and find several that can be implemented as well.	Apply reading strategies
Implement new reading strategies agreed upon by English/Reading Teachers	Jay Ragland	August- 2012 to May-2013	New strategies for reading comprehension	Monitor the student’s progress by checking on test scores.
Survey Students that take the Accuplacer, ACT, and SAT and look at issues they have with the reading portion of these tests.	Jay Ragland	August 2012	Completed Surveys	Find common problem areas listed in the surveys.
Analyze new test scores as they become available for the Accuplacer, ACT, and SAT	Jay Ragland	October- April 2012	Compare new scores after implementing reading strategies with last year’s scores	Determine if any new strategies may have helped to improve or lower scores.
Survey students to see if new reading strategies helped increase their reading scores on the tests.	Jay Ragland	April 2013	Analyze new survey’s	Compare results with previous survey.
Present Findings	Using data collected present findings of my research.	June 2013	Final research product ready to present.	Evaluation by my site supervisor, school superintendent, and school board.

Week 3 Action Research Project

Week 3 of my action research has started to see the whole plan come together.  I have taken it from a simple statement to putting it on paper and starting to get a better understanding of what this project will require.  Since I have never done an action research project before seeing this idea develope brings a new passion for me.  I want to find a way to help kids increase their understandings of what they read. I want our students to be successful in life after they graduate from our high school. I want them to be able to go to college and study in the area of their choice and see them make a difference in the world.  Hopefully the path this project will take us on will be one of great triumph.  I will continue to update each week as my project advances.

Week 2 Reflections

Looking back on week 2 I realized the importance of selecting an appropriate topic for action research.  I explored many different areas looking at what would be beneficial to our school.  While discussing ideas with my site mentor we had many different areas of concern with our school.  You need to find a topic that you have great interest in. When we had to list action research ideas for the nine different areas I was surprised that I could come up with topics.  The ideal of action research was something that I did not think would be appealing to me.  After looking at different ideas and then finding one of great interest to me I have a new outlook on doing this project.  It will be interesting to find answers to my questions.

How Educational Leaders Use Blogs

Blogs can be used for collaboration where many can give input to one specific area.  It allows you to collect text, import images, and give links to other blogs. The ability for others to make comments on your blog and offer new ideas or solutions allows for a greater learning opportunity. New ideas will bring in new ways of approaching a problem or offer a new way to look at a situation that you might not have thought of before.  Blogs can also allow your students to broaden their thoughts on certain topics that will inhance thier higher level thinking skills.

What I have learned about Action Research

Action research is a way to provide individuals with answers to problems that they may be facing in any place of work.  It is used quite often in the education field where teachers and administrators face challenges on a daily basis.  The idea of action research differs from the old ways of research.  With action research you find specific solutions to your problems you are doing the research on.  You are not wating for other people to tell you what your problem is and how to fix it.  Action research is a hands on approach. The first step is to take a problem in your area that is of concern to you.  Then you will design, develop, investigate, and research to find a solution that will help you solve the problem.  Using this type of research will give you an answer to your problem that best fits you.  You are not looking at data, or other peoples findings to try and fit their solutions to your problems.  When I first saw that I would be doing research the old way of thinking immediatley came to mind.  I had to find a topic, find resources for my topic, cite specific quotes from my resources, and finally write a paper.  Doing that type of research just gives back information, it does not solve a problem. Action Research allows you to find real solutions to problems and offer ways fix them instead of just showing you how others might do it. 

This blog will follow the path of my action research project and is named appropriately. There will be lots of trials and errors along the way, but for me the ideal of reasearch is a terror. So I figured I would combine the two and find a way to get through this project and actually make a difference. I will make errors but I will overcome the terror of having to do research.