Summary of Progress of my AR Project

I purchased a book called “Flipping Your Class”.  It is very inspiring and by reading it, I find myself more excited to implement my project and flip a class.  I have observed a fellow teacher who has flipped her math class.  I plan on observing her class again before I put my own plan into action. 

I have researched the flipped classroom model online and started following the blogs of fellow teachers across the country who are also beginning the same journey. 

A teacher at my former campus records her lessons and posts them to her Edmodo page for students to view later at home.  I watched her video to see what the students would see.  My instructional coach used Microsoft Movie maker to record her voice as she progressed through a power point slide show.  She then sent the link to her video to me and explained how easy it was for her to do this.  I am again intrigued and excited to begin myself.  I have had a few obstacles to overcome.  One very big obstacle has been the fact that I was teaching two grade levels.  My normal job became two jobs!  Finding the time to plan with each team of teachers proved to be a struggle for me.  One grade level plans two days each week.  The other team plans two days each week.  The only day left for me to complete tasks at school was Friday!  No one wants to stay late on a Friday!!  Finding time to complete my assignments in my Lamar courses was difficult as well.  Just finding the time, which became later each night, to read, watch the videos and work on assignments was creating more stress in my life.  Couple the work with the grad course, followed up with two teenage sons with homework and sports practices, a husband who works out of town, and you have one tired lady who was functioning on less than 5 hours of sleep each night.

Thank goodness for my day that contained 186 students and my department chair realizing how crowded my classes were!  This led to our campus hiring new teachers to help the overcrowded classrooms!  I was teaching 2 grade levels, and I had more students than any other content area at our school.  My department chair was shocked when she came into my room and asked the principal, “have you seen Scharla’s room lately?  She’s crammed like sardines with those kids.  How in the world did she get 186 students in a day and I only have 140?”  This led to the hiring of new staff, which resulted in my schedule being changed.  With my schedule change came the loss of  teaching 6^th graders.  I now teach only 7^th grade science.  This has alleviated some of my stress each day and will allow more time for me to implement my project.  My original plan was to flip a 6^th grade class, but I will now flip a 7^th grade class.

I will begin my project by sending information to parents about my plan to post videos on Edmodo for students to view.  I will explain the process and ask for comments and questions.  I plan to involve the parents as much as possible so the students are successful.  I will survey the students and the parents regarding the access of computers at home.  I plan on recording my voice talking through a slide show presentation in the beginning.  I will provide students with notes or guides while they are viewing.  I will encourage questions by the students and discussions on the class Edmodo page.

After flipping a class and providing a hands on activity for students the following day, I will then survey the students and parents again.  I will ask again for comments and questions to determine the success of my first flip.  Based on the comments I receive, I will make any necessary changes and record another video for students. 

It is my hope that I can become more efficient with practice and incorporate this model into each of my classes.  I would love to incorporate the flipped model with my students to introduce each new unit we begin.

Web Conference 9/16/12 summary

Well, this has been an interesting beginning of the year!  We are 3 weeks in and so many changes already!  I still teach two grade levels (6th & 7th), but not for long!  I prayed for an influx of young people to descend upon our zoning area to hopefully lessen my load of students, and my prayers have been answered!  I found out about two weeks ago that I teach a total of 186 students!!  More than any other content area teacher in the building!!!  No wonder I was feeling overwhelmed!  They have hired a new science teacher to help take some of the students from 6th grade, so next week I will be teaching 7th grade only!  I'm not really sure if I'm THAT excited :/
Since this class is my 3rd, I can say that time really has gone by fast.  The summer courses flew by and I thought it was because it was summer.  But this class has also flown by very quickly.  I feel overwhelmed at times and I have to take a step back and regroup my thoughts so I can logically finish and turn in an assignment.  The Mid-Term Exam really worried me!!  It wasn't until I read the information about using notes and reviewing the slides that I felt a little better.  It wasn't difficult because, thankfully, I had already looked over and read much of the research and slides from each week.
This past week's web conference is the first one I have been able to attend due to the time each session has been scheduled.  Saturday mornings at 9am and Sunday evenings at 6pm just seem to be busy in my house!  This past Sunday I was able to hide in my bedroom and log on to the site.  
Here's what I learned on the chat this week:
We need to submit our Assignment 4 to Tk20 by Oct. 1st as a FILE.  That is helpful!  The last time I had so much trouble.  It was nice to see the comments from classmates about calling the Tk20 office and having them walk you through the steps to make sure you turn things in correctly.  
While discussing the various projects of classmates, I was able to jot down a few websites to check out and a few community-partnership organizations to share with my campus.  Since we are brand new our district has set partnerships, but our principal is looking for ideas of how we can "make our mark" and show the other schools in the district "how exceptional we are" and how we utilizes our resources around us.  
The last but not least important bit of information I gathered from the web chat was the information about ILD and the note about looking at Region 4 service center.  I was concerned that I literally wouldn't have time to take this ordeal on this semester and it's nice knowing I won't have to just yet!  Small steps - I keep telling myself!  Take small steps and complete bits at a time and it doesn't seem overwhelming!!  

Action Planning Template

Action Planning Template
Goal: Evaluate student motivation and engagement in science class using the Flipped Classroom model in 6th grade science.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Research the Flipped Classroom Model to gain more information for use in my classroom.	Scharla Taylor	August 1, 2012 – August 27, 2012.  Research of the model will continue after the beginning of school if more information is needed prior to implementation.	Internet sites relating to the flipped classroom model.  Sites such as: flippedclassroom.org flippedclassroom.com (other sites to be cited in later documentation as they are discovered.)	Gain information on how to implement the model in my classroom and how to instruct students to view the videos and post questions afterwards.
Survey 6th grade students in on the following:  their enthusiasm about science class after a traditional lecture first grading period has ended, their interest in watching videos about science topics outside of class; the availability of computers with internet access at home.	Scharla Taylor	On or about October 8, 2012	My 6th grade students, pencil, paper.	Review the student surveys.
Determine the class period that contains the most students who have computers with internet access at home.	Scharla Taylor	October 9-10, 2012	Student surveys from October 8, 2012	choose the class period with the most students who have computers and internet access at home.
Determine the grading period in which the research will be conducted; to coincide with my supervisor teaching my class for her research purposes.	Scharla Taylor and Dr. Imelda Medrano, Principal, Seven Lakes Junior High	TBD (presumably during 2nd six weeks, October 2012)	Calendars	Review schedules and determine the grading period in which the research will be conducted.
Record the lecture portion of an objective on video.  Load/post video on Edmodo for students to view.  Provide notes/questions for students to answer after viewing the video.  At the current time, this is projected to be done once or twice per week for the duration of the grading period.	Scharla Taylor	TBD  (presumably during 2nd six weeks, October 2012)	Video camera or Flip Camera Computer with internet access Edmodo.com Student notes/worksheet	Students will be instructed to view the video and post comments or questions after viewing on Edmodo. Next day in class, students will turn in the notes/worksheet they completed.  We will conduct question/answer session regarding the video and review.
Survey students at the conclusion of the grading period on their views of a “flipped” science class, their understanding of the concept at home, their ease of watching the videos at home, their questions after watching the video at home, and their enthusiasm for the activity on the following day.	Scharla Taylor	TBD (presumably at the end of  2nd six weeks, November 9, 2012)	Student surveys and comments	Evaluate the student responses to determine the effectiveness of conducting the flipped classroom model in a 6th grade science class.

Action Planning Template

Action Planning Template
Goal: Evaluate student motivation and engagement in science class using the Flipped Classroom model in 6th grade science.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Respons-ible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Research the Flipped Classroom Model to gain more information for use in my classroom.	Scharla Taylor	August 1, 2012 – August 27, 2012.  Research of the model will continue after the beginning of school if more information is needed prior to implementation.	Internet sites relating to the flipped classroom model.  Sites such as: flippedclassroom.org flippedclassroom.com (other sites to be cited in later documentation as they are discovered.)	Gain information on how to implement the model in my classroom and how to instruct students to view the videos and post questions afterwards.
Survey 6th grade students in on the following:  their enthusiasm about science class after a traditional lecture first grading period has ended, their interest in watching videos about science topics outside of class; the availability of computers with internet access at home.	Scharla Taylor	On or about October 8, 2012	My 6th grade students, pencil, paper.	Review the student surveys to evaluate their current enthusiasm for science, their interest in watching science-related videos outside of class; and the availability of computers with internet access at home.
Determine the class period that contains the most students who have computers with internet access at home.	Scharla Taylor	October 9-10, 2012	Student surveys from October 8, 2012	Evaluate and choose the class period with the most students who have computers and internet access at home in order to determine the class period in which the research will be conducted.
Determine the grading period in which the research will be conducted; to coincide with my supervisor teaching my class for her research purposes.	Scharla Taylor Dr. Imelda Medrano, Principal, Seven Lakes Junior High	TBD (presumably during 2nd six weeks, October 2012)	Calendars	Review schedules and determine the grading period in which the research will be conducted.  This will also be the grading period in which my principal will conduct her action research of returning to the classroom for a period of time.
Record the lecture portion of an objective on video.  Load/post video on Edmodo for students to view.  Provide notes/questions for students to answer after viewing the video.  At the current time, this is projected to be done once or twice per week for the duration of the grading period.	Scharla Taylor	TBD  (presumably during 2nd six weeks, October 2012)	Video camera or Flip Camera Computer with internet access Edmodo.com Student notes/worksheet	I will first view the video on Edmodo to make sure it is completely loaded and ready for viewing. Students will be instructed to view the video and post comments or questions after viewing on Edmodo. Quick Edmodo poll asking students who watched the video. Next day in class, students will turn in the notes/worksheet they completed.  We will conduct question/answer session regarding the video and review.
Survey students at the conclusion of the grading period on their views of a “flipped” science class, their understandin g of the concept at home, their ease of watching the videos at home, their questions after watching the video at home, and their enthusiasm for the activity on the following day.	Scharla Taylor	TBD (presumably at the end of  2nd six weeks, November 9, 2012)	Student surveys and comments	Evaluate the student responses to determine the effectiveness of conducting the flipped classroom model in a 6th grade science class.  Determine if the model was successful.  If so, present the findings to other teachers in the building.  If not, conduct subsequent surveys of students to determine their reasons for the model being unsuccessful to improve the model for the future.  Consider reorganizing materials, content, and conduct the research again.

My Research Action Plan - the beginning of the journey

After stressing about the fact I was having trouble meeting up with my supervisor, we finally talked today!  
I spoke to my co-supervisor/assistant principal early in the day.  Her idea was for me to somehow incorporate a certain model using technology; specifically using the Flipped Classroom model.  I was a little hesitant.  I had researched this on my own before proposing the differentiation strategies plan to them.  It seems like a ton of work to prepare ahead of time, but it also seems like it will be less work for me during the school day.  For those of you not familiar with "flipping", it's basically this: I would post a video lecture on the teacher web or Edmodo for the students to watch outside of class.  They would then return to school hopefully with the background knowledge needed to complete the activity I have prepared.  Those that have not prepared by watching the video are not ready for the activity, but those that are prepared don't need me to stand up and lecture all day.  Seems easy, right??
My hesitation in doing this is due to my upcoming schedule - teaching 3 class periods of 7th grade science students followed by 3 classes of 6th grade science students, all while simultaneously working on my Master's Degree. After explaining my hesitation to my assistant principal, she told me to go talk to the principal because she had an idea of her own that would work for all of us.
I went to talk to Mrs. Medrano.  She was busy (about to go into a principal meeting)  and asked me to send her an email of our talk.  She could sit in the meeting and reply to my emails.  So I did :).  I asked for her thoughts, comments, and suggestions.  She then responded with her idea.  I could "flip" my classroom for a certain period - just initially so I don't feel overwhelmed.  She told me about another teacher in the building who had flipped her class last year and the students loved it. She told me I should go observe her during the year to see how it works.  While I am observing the other teacher to learn more about flipping, she would teach my class.  At first I thought "what???"  She said she has been out of the classroom for a number of years.  She was an elementary teacher, an elementary assistant principal, an elementary principal and now a junior high principal.  She wanted to refresh and regain her passion for classroom teaching.  While she and the assistant principal were discussing my plan they came up with a way for both of us to reach our goal.  I will be able to flip my classroom and gather data from another core subject teacher. She will be able to return to the classroom and hopefully be able to pass her "research" on to other administrators.  
We discussed the rationale - I will pick one class period to begin the plan.  I will conduct my research (Flip the lesson).  During a different class period with a traditional lecture or activity day, she will come in and teach while I observe another teacher.  She was very excited!  "Scharla, it's a win - win situation for both of us, and we can strive to inspire so many other students, teachers and school leaders!"  How could I say no to that?  While I am still a bit anxious, it is after midnight here and I am still online researching Flipped Classrooms.  My journey has begun....

Determining my action research in times of transition

I almost don't know where to begin with my post this week.  Dr. Abshire said for us to make comments, revisions, leave thoughts, etc.  So here I go.....
I have yet to sit down face to face with my supervisor, or her 2nd in command, my co-supervisor.  Both are very busy.  We are moving into a brand new school.  My principal is literally doing walk-throughs of the building, evaluating the paint job, whether the door locks work properly, and trying to allow teachers to move in at the same time.  It has been a big ordeal!  The administrative team moved in and allowed teachers to begin moving in last week.  This week they are attending district required principal meetings.  Several times we have just missed each other in the building.  While I am in and out moving my school belongings, she is in an out attending meetings or getting last minute things completed and approved.  She is a very busy person and I don't envy her position right now.  
We have communicated via email since July and most everyone took their vacations.  She has tentatively approved my action research plan, but says she has other things in mind.  She would like to meet face to face so she "can see the reaction on your face when I tell you what I'm thinking".  She's funny.  She's done this to me before - in April.  She asked me to teach a split schedule in August - half the day 6th grade, the other half 7th grade.  And she said "I wish I could see your face when you just took that breath".  I wish I could have seen my face also.  I'm sure it was stark white with big, huge eyes!!
I have sent my other ideas/topics to my other/co-supervisor.  She has also said that she has ideas.  All three of us were having a hard time in the beginning of my course to come up with an issue on our campus - because we don't have any issues - there aren't any students in it yet! :)  We decided to take some time to think, reflect and most off all use Google to search for topics that are relevant and will not only help me in my research, but help the overall school as well.  While I'm a bit apprehensive to meet with them next week, I am also ready to get things going.  I will be teaching two grade levels, lesson planning with two different teams on two different days, managing a home with two teenage boys involved in sports (neither of which can drive himself yet), and trying to keep up with my husband who travels for business on a weekly basis.  Oh, and there's the graduate degree I decided to start...what was I thinking? Hopefully everything will go on without any major issues and I will complete this project and be able to give my findings to others that will affect my school (and maybe others) in a positive way. 

Action Research

When I enrolled in this course, I was not very excited by the title "Research".  I thought to myself "how am I going to find the time to research some sort of topic in education in addition to working full time, driving my two boys all over town, and remaining a sane person".  I was not looking forward to this class at all!

After reading a little of the two required textbooks, communicating with my peers in the discussion board and participating in the web conference, I have a different mindset.

Action research is a term used when a person (teacher or administrator) seeks to grow professionally by defining a problem or issue that needs improvement in his/her school.  The two textbooks that helped me understand action research are: Leading with Passion and Knowledge - The Principal as Action Researcher, and Examining What We Do To Improve Our Schools - 8 Steps From Analysis to Action.

Action research can be used to solve school-wide issues as well as allow teachers to improve upon their teaching practices.    

There are many ways educational leaders can use blogs. First, educational leaders can use blogs to collaborate with other leaders who are in similar situations.  They provide an outlet for discussion and sharing with others.  Blogs can provide a discussion board to address hot topics in education immediately instead of in monthly magazines and yearly conferences.