End of the 1st Six Weeks

Things are moving well with my action research project.  The PLC has had its second meeting and I am still waiting on the first writing assessment to be graded by the members of the PLC that were chosen to grade the papers.  All of the members on the committee seem to be very involved and participate well during the meetings.  I have asked several times if there are any new or different strategies the writing teachers want to implement and I get blank stares...so I am not sure if I am asking the right questions or if they just don't of any writing strategies.  This seem a bit odd to me since all of the other teachers have many, many more years of teaching experience than I do.

I do have the 5th grade writing assessments back and they were pretty good.  The rubric gave them a maximum of 15 points possible.  15 of 39 students were at the 15 point level, which is pretty good.  The rest staggered down from there and I will keep a spread sheet with the data to track.  I will send out an email today to reminder the other PLC members that I need there graded rubrics.

So far, this project is going well and the members are helpful.  On to the next six weeks!!

Frist PLC Meeting...

My Action Research Project is officially up and running!  We had our first PLC meeting for the action research project.  All of the teachers involved are very supportive along with a super supportive principal.  I presented on what a PLC was, had an agenda for us to follow and was very mindful of the time and the other commitments teachers had after the PLC meeting.  After my presentation we talked out the goals and what we wanted to accomplish with the PLC.  We also set specific goals for what we want each grade level that is involved to be able to do by the end of the first six weeks.  2nd grade has the most basic goals and we expanded from their for each of the other grade levels up to 5th grade.  The best part is that I am not going to have to grade all of the papers that each student writes!!  We decided on our next meeting.  I have a couple of things that I have to type up and have ready next week for the PLC.  I need to type up notes from the meeting, I need to write up what the goals are for each grade level and I need to create a rubric that can be used to grade the writing samples.  I had several teachers and the principal come up to me and tell me what I good job I did leading the meeting and how prepared I was.  I hope that we get the results that we are desiring, but I know we will all give a great effort!

Week 5 Reflection...

   Here is my week 5 reflection   This really has been a great class.  I think that it started off a bit shaky not knowing how things were going to be graded and all the issues I had connecting with my LFS, but now that week 5 is half way over, I have really enjoyed this class.  Below are some of my reflections from different areas of the class.   Enjoy!!

           Lectures – The video lectures were kind of comical!  These two guys have great and wonderful ideas to discuss for us, but the camera angles make me laugh every time I watch one.  I am supposed to be focused on the man in back, but all I can focus on the man in the front with the close-up of his ear that moves when he takes a deeper breath! 

·         Readings – I have really come to enjoy the reading assignments each week.  The two books we have for this class are easy to read and follow and offer a lot of detail without being full of big words and ideas that are hard to follow. 

·         Searches (like electronic searches of topics and questions) – I did use the internet to look for research ideas, but in the end, I used a topic that could have an impact on my school – ways to improve writing abilities in students in an elementary setting.

·         Assignments and activities – the assignment I liked the best was week 3 when we actually put our research plan into “action” so to say.  I am a planner and I like to have a schedule.  This assignment was right up my alley.  I like to know when everything needs to be done.  Posting this assignment and getting comments on our blog was also very helpful.  My peers have so much insight and great comments. 

·         Discussion Board – Nothing stands out to me on the discussion boards for this class.  There were good prompts that made you think a bit, but overall not really different from the last class.

·         Blogs – This has truly been the best part of this class.  I have always wanted to have a blog, but did not really know where to start or if anyone would really want to read what I had to say.  Yes, this class and Lamar program gives you a built in audience, but I have already started a blog for my class and we are going to use blogs as part of our weekly writing assignments for my fourth graders this year.  I also think the blogs are going to be a great way to stay in touch with our classmates.  

Week 4 - Updates to Action Research Plan

This is going to be pretty short this week...

I have met several times with during this course with my site supervisor/principal.  We have been on the same page the entire time about what my project should be and how we should go about its implementation.  The only major change I have made to my plan at this time was the addition of the special programs teachers.  My site supervisor and I want lots of input in the PLC and we can improve the writing abilities of the students, but not too many teachers.  

Next week is week 5!  We are so close to being done.  I have learned so much thus far in the Lamar Ed. Admin. Program.  I am very happy!  :)

Below is my Action Plan.  I know it may need some updates, but it is really nice to see it in a timeline form.  I think this will also help keep me on track through the school year.

Action Planning Template
Goal: How can the use of PLC’s increase student achievement in writing and more specifically improve writing scores of 4th grade students?
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Create Writing PLC	Leigh Ann Howard Karen Decker, Principal	July 25, 2013 –August 1, 2013	Binder for each PLC member to keep agendas, PLC policies and other collaborative work.	Have PLC established by August 1, 2013 and set timeline for additional PLC meetings throughout school year.
First PLC Meeting	Leigh Ann Howard (4th) Karen Decker (Principal) Tammy Sanders (5th) Linda Vernon (3rd) Kyra Spann (2nd)	Sept 3 –6, 2013	Binders, need to establish guidelines for PLC and what is was created for, set timeline for collecting data	Make sure everyone is on board with PLC and why it was created.  All guidelines are understood and agreed upon.  Timelines for PLC were set.
Send out teacher/student survey to gain insights to how they teach writing/whether students enjoy writing	Leigh Ann Howard	Sept 9 – 13, 2013	Use Survey Monkey to send out surveys	Send out and collect data on teaching writing perceptions.
Administer writing benchmark to establish writing abilities baseline	Leigh Ann Howard Tammy Sanders Linda Vernon Kyra Spann	Sept 9 – 13, 2013	Create a benchmark that is grade appropriate and collect to get a baseline ability of students	Teachers administered benchmark and was graded by Leigh Ann to set a baseline of what student’s ability are.
PLC Meeting Talk about 1st benchmark and talk about what we can implement to improve writing skills	Leigh Ann Howard Karen Decker Tammy Sanders Linda Vernon Kyra Spann	Sept 30 – October 4, 2013	PLC Binder, Initial benchmark test that was administered	Reviews data from benchmark and decides what else to be implementing.
Administer end of 1st 6wks test	Leigh Ann Howard Tammy Sanders Linda Vernon Kyra Spann	Sept 30 – October 4, 2013	Administer 6wk test.	Grade (by Leigh Ann) and present data at next PLC meeting.
PLC Meeting	Leigh Ann Howard Karen Decker Tammy Sanders Linda Vernon Kyra Spann	Nov 4 – 9, 2013	PLC Binder, 6wk test that was administered	Reviews data from 6wk test and decides what else to be implementing.
Administer 2nd 6wks test	Leigh Ann Howard Tammy Sanders Linda Vernon Kyra Spann	Nov 11 – 15, 2013	Administer 6wk test.	Grade (by Leigh Ann) and present data at next PLC meeting.
PLC Meeting	Leigh Ann Howard Karen Decker Tammy Sanders Linda Vernon Kyra Spann	Dec 2 – 6, 2013	PLC Binder, 6wk  test that was administered	Reviews data from 6wk test and decides what else to be implementing.
PLC Meeting	Leigh Ann Howard Karen Decker Tammy Sanders Linda Vernon Kyra Spann	Jan 6 – 10, 2014	PLC Binder, 6wk test that was administered	Reviews data from 6wk test and decides what else to be implementing.
Administer 3rd 6wks test	Leigh Ann Howard Tammy Sanders Linda Vernon Kyra Spann	Jan 13 – 17, 2014	Administer 6wk test.	Grade (by Leigh Ann) and present data at next PLC meeting.
PLC Meeting	Leigh Ann Howard Karen Decker Tammy Sanders Linda Vernon Kyra Spann	Feb 3 – 7, 2014	PLC Binder, 6wk test that was administered	Reviews data from 6wk test and decides what else to be implementing.
Administer 4th  6wks test	Leigh Ann Howard Tammy Sanders Linda Vernon Kyra Spann	Feb 24 – 28, 2014	Administer 6wk test.	Grade (by Leigh Ann) and present data at next PLC meeting.
PLC Meeting	Leigh Ann Howard Karen Decker Tammy Sanders Linda Vernon Kyra Spann	Mar 3 – 7, 2014	PLC Binder, 6wk test that was administered	Reviews data from 6wk test and decides what else to be implementing.
Administer 4th grade writing STAAR Test	Leigh Ann Howard Karen Decker	Early April 2014	4th Writing STAAR Test	Administer Test and wait for results.
PLC Meeting	Leigh Ann Howard Karen Decker Tammy Sanders Linda Vernon Kyra Spann	April 1 - 4, 2014	PLC Binder, 6wk test that was administered	Reviews data from 6wk test and decides what else to be implementing.
Administer 5th  6wks test	Leigh Ann Howard Tammy Sanders Linda Vernon Kyra Spann	April 21 – 25, 2014	Administer 6wk test.	Grade (by Leigh Ann) and present data at next PLC meeting.
PLC Meeting	Leigh Ann Howard Karen Decker Tammy Sanders Linda Vernon Kyra Spann	May 5 - 9, 2014	PLC Binder, 6wk test that was administered	Reviews data from 6wk test and decides what else to be implementing.
End of year teacher/student writing survey	Leigh Ann Howard	May 26 – 30, 2014	Send out survey on Survey Monkey	Analyze results to see if student have a different perception of writing at the end of the school year as compared to what their views were beginning of year.
Administer 6th  6wks test	Leigh Ann Howard Tammy Sanders Linda Vernon Kyra Spann	May 26 - 30, 2014	Administer 6wk test.	Grade (by Leigh Ann) and present data at next PLC meeting.
Final PLC Meeting	Leigh Ann Howard Karen Decker Tammy Sanders Linda Vernon Kyra Spann	June 2 – 6, 2014	PLC Binder, 6wk test that was administered	Review all 6wk assessments; create chart/graphs to summarize data; create recommendation to school for improving writing achievement.