Week 5 Update

I decided to conduct a survey with high school English teachers about their current writing instruction. I used surveymonkey and created survey with five open ended questions. I emailed my department chairs and had them forward the survey link to their department teachers. My plan is to leave the response window open until Friday of this week. Hopefully, the teachers will take it seriously and provide some insightful feedback on writing instructional practice that I can use to in the ongoing development of my action research plan.

Week Three Action Research Plan

Action Research Plan: Writing Workshop in Secondary English Language Arts Classrooms

Goal: To determine the impact of the Writing Workshop model will have on student achievement in the area of written composition and classroom writing instruction

1. Discuss Action Steps with site supervisor using district data and internship plan (ongoing)

2. Create 3 year view of 10th grade assessment data for district and targeted campus (March 2011)

3. Research articles, books, and Internet for information on Writing Workshop model at secondary level (February - March 2011)

4. Observe the Writing Workshop model in an elementary classroom (March 2011)

5. Form a curriculum team with teachers from district high schools to review data and determine focus of curriculum shift to writing workshop. (March 2011)

6. Set dates for curriculum team to meet weekly to evaluate and revise current district curriculum to correlate with writing workshop model (March - May 2011)

7. Set up wiki so that curriculum team can correspond with each other as curriculum is rewritten to incorporate components of writing workshop (March 2011)

8. Present writing workshop model to campus department teachers along with curriculum revisions (May 2011)

9. Conduct grade level meetings every six weeks to review effectiveness of writing workshop and preview the components of the upcoming six weeks (Fall 2011 - Spring 2012)

10. Compare 2011 TAKS data of target group with 2012 TAKS data to judge success of writing workshop implementation (Spring 2012)

Week Two Lessons Learned

During this week, I learned the importance of narrowing the scope of the action research project. It is imperative to stay focus on the ultimate goal or purpose of the inquiry. This will prevent the project from getting derailed by aspects that will hinder the outcome.

About Action Research

Action Research is an effective way for an administrator study the instructional and organizational practice at his or her campus site. The initial process begins with the examination of current practices and the identification of a need that requires action. It is important that once the need is identified, that inquirer begins a thorough study of literature that correlates with the topic of inquiry. In addition to the literature review, campus data should be reviewed to determine the associative connection to the research contained in the texts read. Using the campus and the relative components from the literature review, the leader can then determine the course of action needed to address the need raised in the initial examination. The course of action is developed through a collaborative effort that involves the school community leaders. Since teachers are integral part of the organization, it is important to include them in the planning of changes that will impact instruction. It is t this point that all resources for successful implementation need to be determined and allocated. Also, the team needs to determine what tools will be used to assess the effectiveness of the implementation. During the course of the implementation, the administration need to review and revise components of the plan to adjust to the conditions of the campus.

I can use this process to research the role of writing workshop in secondary classrooms. In effort to cover the literature required at each grade level, writing sometimes is relegated to the backseat of language arts instruction. As a result, students are not fully exposed to the modes of writing that will adequately prepare them for a world outside the four walls of their middle and high schools. Through the literature review and the collaboration of several secondary English teachers, I hope to create an action plan that will address this concern and improve the written communication skills of secondary students.

Education leaders can use blogs to gather feedback from the school community about topics of inquiry. It provides a way to publish one's thinking and learning to others within and outside the organization. Blogs offer a way to establish a two-way collection of data that is directly related to the inquiry process. In addition, it will once illustrate how important learning is to the instructional leader of campus by reinforcing the skills being taught in the teacher's classrooms.