Executing The Plan

Now that I have a plan set out it is time to start executing. The next couple of weeks will be used to read books and journals and any other useful literature I come across. To follow through with my action plan I am meeting with my site supervisor this Saturday to start planning for the school year. My site supervisor and I have communicated a lot over the summer and I think this is a crucial aspect of having a successful internship and action research experience. We will review various forms of advertisements and put together presentations that will be given to parents and staff members.

Attendance Action Research Plan

Inquiring About Attendance It Is

I found this week to be very enlightening and exciting. I always knew there were areas that could use some improvements at our campus but reading the various action research possibilities has truly refueled me with an incredible amount of energy and passion. After compiling my list of items that I would be interested in doing action research on and meeting with my site supervisor we came to the agreement that I would do my action research on investigating ways to improve the average daily attendance percentage at our high school. By choosing to research what steps can be taken to improve students’ attendance I think students, parents, teachers, administrators, and the community will benefit from my findings. If students attend school daily they are more likely to do well academically and less likely to cause discipline problems. I think raising awareness about why attendance is important and establishing good lines of communication will be extremely important if I plan to have a positive impact. Historically, our campus has teetered right around the required 90% for ADA and I want our campus to surpass this expectation with flying colors. During my meeting with my site supervisor she informed me that she would talk to our vice principal to see if I could get a period in my schedule to work with the administrator in charge of attendance. I think this will be an incredible opportunity and I will be able to see a lot of the inner workings first hand.

Why Blogs Are So Useful

Utilizing technology is no longer a thing of the past and leaders could benefit tremendously from using blogs as an interactive method to share ideas. Blogging allows educational leaders to share their ideas, concerns, and questions with other leaders around the world. Educational leaders can use their blogs as a place for reflection and a means to get their thoughts down on something more concrete than just storing them to their memory bank.

Utilizing Action Research

Learning what action research really is and the rewards it offers has inspired me to engage in action research regularly. Action research is not like traditional research in which an “outsider” is responsible for the findings, rather action research requires the principal/teacher to pose questions and work collaboratively to investigate and collect data. If action research is used regularly it is an influential tool that will improve student learning and the campus culture. Engaging in action research will help me to see things for myself and collect relevant data that will be useful when deciding what changes need to be made and how to make them. I want to be a “head learner” at my campus and lead by example and being an action researcher will show students and teachers that I care about them and I care about making positive changes. I will utilize action research to identify areas of weakness on my campus and use it as an opportunity to work with various staff members and students. I also plan to use action research as a means to gain insight about the different programs that are offered at my campus and how they are functioning. Further, I can use action research to obtain feedback from my faculty and staff to ensure that their voices are being heard and so that they know their input matters and is valued.