Reinforcing Effort & Providing Recognition - McRel Video

Setting the Objective & Providing Feedback - McRel Video

Workshop Series Part 1 & 2 - Setting Objectives &Providing Feedback and Reinforcing Effort & Providing Recognition

Setting Objectives & Providing Feedback

Reinforcing Effort & Providing Recognition

* Teachers will identify tools and resources necessary for effectively setting objectives & providing feedback in their classroom.  Teachers will participate in activities that reinforce effort and provide recognition.

• Review of the 9 Classroom Instruction That Works
• Goals & Anxieties

Setting Objectives & Providing Feedback:

• Verbal & Written
• I can… Statements
• Anchor Charts
• Tasks Lists
• Rubrics
• Menus

Reinforcing Effort & Providing Recognition:

• Class Dojo
• Pause-Prompt-Praise
• Rubrics
• Prompt Posters (anchor charts)
• Affirmation Cards

• I am willing to try ______________________________________ to set objectives and provide feedback.

• I am willing to try ______________________________________ to reinforce effort and provide recognition in my classroom.

Working Agenda:

• Review all 9 strategies
• Have teachers share goals and anxieties about CITW
• Share/discuss items for Setting Obj
• Review to agenda being a tasks list (How many of you have already started checking tasks off?)
• Show example of menu and have teachers select activities they would choose if they were the student and had been given that menu.
• Class Dojo should be up and running from start of class.
• Share/discuss reinforcing effort & providing recogn. Items listed
• Have teachers create a social skills prompt poster/anchor chart
• Affirmation cards – who has the most dojo points gets set of affirmation cards.
• Note about praise: abstract praise is more effective than tangible.  What ways is the campus providing concrete/tangible rewards?  Beginning level students need abstract praise more (through gestures, verbal, pantomime.  High level students want you to explain in detail their academic achievement.
• Any questions? Continue giving points for anyone discussing or sharing posters/ideas, etc.
• Conclusion statements – teachers complete.  As teachers complete, give dojo points. Who has most points – gets prize!

Overview of CITW

The first session in the workshop series is the Overview.  Below are the presenter notes from this session. The title at the top of each box is of course the instructional strategy.  The addition text in each box are notes as to the activity the participants would do or what they would write or discuss at that time. At the conclusion of these notes, 18 participants were randomly given a card with notes or a strategy.  Playing "I have..., Who has..." participants reviewed all 9 strategies once more.


And if you would like to use the "I have..., Who has..." cards here is the link for that document:

Workshop Series

Now that administrators have received the training for CITW and the walk through tool, we can begin collecting data on campuses.  Some administrators would like to wait just a bit longer because their teachers have not had training in the nine effective instructional strategies.  As their instructional coach, I will hold workshop series that target CITW.  In small group settings during period by period or during collaboration time, teachers will receive 30 minute overviews of each strategy.  The first will be introduction to all nine followed by 9 sessions looking more deeply into each strategy individually.  As I present these strategies I will post session agendas.  Perhaps they can be of use to someone wanting to implement these in their own classroom, on their campus or in their district.  In addition, as I post agendas, McRel has videos on You Tube with explanation for each strategy and these will be posted, too.

Visit from the Author

Today district administrators from the curriculum team and campus administrators attended Part 1 of the 2 day training with the author, Elizabeth Hubell.  She co-authored the second edition of Classroom Instruction That Works.  Below are my  unedited notes from the day:

Purpose of informal evaluation:
to provide educational leaders data to maximize student achievement through improved instructional practices.

Unlike formal observations, informal observations are quick “snapshots” of the classroom.  An individual observation is not particularly telling of a teacher’s practice, but over time, the data will begin to show trends.

Refer to flow chart of CITW - any initiative or activity they are rolling out in the classroom/campus fits into one of the strategies.

Refer to google site on strategies - https://sites.google.com/site/brazosportisdmcrel/

Walkthrough process:
Best Hopes - begin in groups so that everyone is consistent, seeing similar levels of blooms and practices, gives you data on what staff development is needed in your building, climate of growth for teachers, goal setting from teachers,

Creating the Environment:
Setting obj & providing feedback - specific but not restrictive,  allow for creativity, communicate learning obj to students,  if it is not posted 9 out 10 times the students can’t tell you what the obj is, connect learning obj to previous and future learning, engage student in setting personal learning obj

what will you see/ what will you hear when you walk in - kwl charts, learning obj vs agenda, checking for understanding, stating before and at end, restatin obj, rubrics, goal setting, surveys

providing feedback - simply telling a student an answer is right or wrong has a negative achievement on learning. give them data the same why we like to receive data, addresses what is correct and elaborates on what the students needs to do next, appropriately in time time to meet student needs, check for understanding against criteria such as rubrics or directions, engage students in the feedback process (self, peer, or revision)

what will you see/what will you hear when you walk in - self rubrics, meaningful conferences with teacher, verbal correction, graded work, verbal correction and encouragement, polls, peer feedback, formative assessments (dry erase boards, response cards), receiving feedback from educational games, discussing & commenting on quizzes or assessments,

reinforcing effort & providing recognition recognizing hard work, not so much asocial efforts. enhance students understanding of the relationship between effort and achievement by addressing students’ attitudes and beliefs about learning.  some students attribute success in school to luck, ability, or even other people, such as their friends or their teacher. some attribute to natural ability or born with it. students have the most control over their effort.  

teaching students about relationship between effort and achievement, providing students with explicit guidance about what it means to expend effort, asking students to track effort and achievement.

what does it look like/ sound like - exemplary work/non exemplary, student teaching, stamps/stickers, growth mind-set, sincere praise,

Refer to articles - “How not to talk to your kids - new york magazine” and “mind-sets and equitable education (NAASP)”

cooperative learning - (cooperative learning and homework have changed the most) cooperative groups are NOT more important than pairs or small groups, using of a variety of criteria to group students in small groups, including both positive interdependence and individual accountability, applying cooperative learning consistently and systematically.

scaffolding grouping - time control!!, assigned roles, projects, groups working on tasks, accountability
rubrics for cooperative learning - google uw stout cooperative learning rubrics, 1st link that appears
true definition of cooperative learning - including both positive interdependence and individual accountability

Developing Understanding
cues, questions, focusing on what is important, use of explicit cues, asking inferential questions, asking analytic questions, enhancing student ability to retrieve, use, and organzie what they already know about a topic, q/a discussions with and between students are moving up blooms
advance (not advanced) organizers - given prior to learning, anything to engage and introduce new learning, hook/wow factor/engagement, setting the stage for learning by engaging students.  animoto videos, media, demonstrations, experiments,

NLR - creating or using graphic organizers, students creating/using physical or virtual models and manipulatives, students using their imagination or senses to generate mental pictures, drawing pictures, illustrations, or pictographs, engaging in kinesthetic representations.

Summarizing & Note Taking - Enhances students’ ability to synthesize information, teaching students rule- based summarizing strategies, using summary frames, matched to the explicit types (Summary Frames) discussing essentials of specific information, summary frames actively used as an advance organizer, podcasting, book reports, or outlining, cornell notes, multimedia summary.  note taking enhances students’ ability to organize information in a way that captures the main ideas and supporting details.

Providing Practice - designated time to work on skills, practicing in many different ways with rich feedback,

If students are testing, cleaning out lockers, taking attendance, regrouping in room - then we mark “no research based instruction” because no instruction is happening...it’s not a bad thing, unless we begin to see a pattern.

Extending & Applying Knowledge
Identify similarities & differences - sorting or classifying fall under this category, creating metaphors, creating analogies
Generating & testing Hypotheses using a variety of structured task to guide , high level applications of learned concepts, students using knowledge in “real-world” context, student overheard saying “let’s try this”, student brainstorming and/or troubleshooting, systems analysis - look at all parts, what happens if one part is missing or not working, experimental inquiry - run test to check, investigation - historical or current, , problem solving - solving real world issues

“What if...” questions

Bloom’s vs Webb’s Depth of Knowledge (DOK)

Technology - Teacher directed technology
        Brainstorming/idea mapping software; inspiration

Instructional interactive; virtual manipulative

        Instructional media;  movie/ ppt /song/ podcast
        Interactive whiteboard
        Kinesthetic technology;  cbr
        Multimedia creation; teaching making
        Non-educational use;
        Student response systems
        Word processing
  clickers
science probes
display tool - interactive whiteboard in use w/o software, document camera,
interactive whiteboard
non-educational use (watching movies w/o purpose)
webquests
virtual investigations/manipulatives
Kinesthetic technology (GPS systems, Wii)
calculator
multimedia creation
student response systems
word processing


Federal Programs to order books.  Study guide is on ascd.org for the book
www.ascd.org
click on books and publications
browse books
search under dean
click on Classroom Instruction that Works
At bottom says resources and study guides

It's a Process with PROGRESS!

My Action Research Progress Update:

August 15, 2012 was the kick off date of my action research plan.  The instructional coaches and curriculum coordinators presented the district initiatives at the principal’s meeting.  Included in this presentation were the Effective Instructional Strategies.  Since then the Curriculum and Instruction Team has participated in training from McRel (Marzano’s original company when the first edition of Classroom Instruction That Works was written).  We have been trained on conducting classroom Power Walk-throughs that primarily look for effective instructional strategies.  The instructional coaches have 3 goals this school year that tie to our district strategic plan and one revolves primarily around my action research plan.  The first step we did in preparing teachers and training teachers on effective instructional strategies was to map out in what order we would present the strategies.  We were very excited during our training with McRel to learn that the order we had planned to train teachers was the same order that McRel presents the strategies during their training.  Even though some strategies have a higher yield of improvement than others, you must start with creating the learning environment.  The other progress we have made on the action research plan is setting dates and beginning what we have called “Workshop Series”.  Some campuses have set the workshop series to be twice a month during common time (30 minutes, whole staff).  Other campuses are holding their workshop series during conference times once a month( 45 minutes, just one grade level at a time).  On November 1 we will begin our initial round of Power Walk-throughs to gather our initial data on effective instructional strategies happening in the classrooms.  At this time I am very pleased with the progress and track that I am on with my action research.  I would have liked to have my initial data by November 1 rather than just starting it November 1 but this allows administrators to receive the training as well which I will be able to add their data to mine which in turn will allow me to gather data more quickly than I would alone.  

Progress Hours to Date:

Training that I have attended: 12 hrs
Preparing for trainings and presentations I conducted: 6 hrs
Conducting trainings and presentations: 18 hrs
Practice Walkthroughs: 3 hrs

TOTAL HOURS: 39 hours

Power Walkthroughs (PWT)

I am very excited about the progress I am making on my action research plan.  On September 14, our Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment Team participated in the training from McRel on Power Walkthroughs (PWT).  Using their walkthrough tool, we conducted a few practice rounds with videos on checking for effective instructional strategies.  After lunch we headed into the classrooms at the high school and conducted live walkthroughs.  These walkthroughs were very similar to Dana Center walkthroughs the instructional coaches have done the past 3 years but now we can FINALLY look at the effective instructional strategies because the teachers are being told by their administrators to incorporate them in their lesson plans and teaching, it is a district initiative, they are not leaving them to the wayside any longer!  The data will be erased at the end of our training because we have not populated our accounts with teachers but it is coming.  Campuses administrators will have the opportunity to participate in a 2 day training at the end of October.  Day 1 will be Effective Instructional Strategies, Day 2 will be using the PWT tool.  On November 1 our teachers will be uploaded into our accounts and we will begin live walkthroughs.  This will be our initial data. The best feature of the PWT tool is that anytime any administrator walks into the classroom to conduct a walkthrough, the data is collective for our entire team.  This means that I will be able to have initial data more quickly than working alone to gather data as we have in the past.

The two diagrams below are observable evidence of Blooms and CITW (Classroom Instruction That Works).  During PWT, the observer carries these tools with them to ensure they are marking the appropriate evidence.

Web Conference Reflection

This weekend I was up bright and early, determined to find a quiet spot in my houseful of kids and husband so that I could participate in a web conference targeted to helping students through this weeks assignment.  The web conferences are always helpful in answering and clearing up details about weekly assignments.  The main concerns from this weeks conference seemed geared more towards documenting our hours and reflections of our course embedded activities and TK20.  I was surprised at the number of students still struggling with TK20 - I was under the impression that we were a cohort meaning we have entered a few items already into TK20 for other professors and our field supervisors.  I did learn during the time in the web conference that I am behind in my reflections for various activities I have completed as part of my intern plan.  

This week, I went into the web conference with one question for the week.  Do I need to prepare a presentation in addition to my outline for a presentation.  Apparently there were others in the group with the same question.  Dr. Abernathy was not positive at first whether we needed to or not, but felt that it was not required.  Thankfully another student had the assignment in front of her and was able to quote the requirements for us.

Sunday evening's conference was a bit more enlightening.  Even with technical difficulties with my computer speakers and being in a coffee house trying to listen without headphones because that was what caused my speakers to go out, I was able to pick up bits and pieces from various parent/school community projects other students were doing.  I was surprised at the number of other schools that participate in Backpack Buddies or something of the same idea.  I wish I could have heard more of the conversation on the ones sharing about helping students keep clean by providing the gym showers early each morning because they do not have the means to shower at home or wherever they are living.

As helpful as the web conferences are for students, there is a bit of difficulty participating.  Students arrive at different times and will ask the same questions over and over again.  You could hear the frustration level in Dr. Abernathy's tone after awhile.  When I first started the program, I attended the web conferences without fail - even leaving my son's baseball game to ensure I was there for a conference.  In the past few classes, I have slacked on attending because some professors will want each person on mic to speak and the conferences can get lengthy.  The lag in technology causes confusion as well in the discussion.  The web conferences that have worked best for me, since being in the program, are the ones that has a student or 2 typing responses for those who do not have audio.  Students typing in questions in the chat box, the professor responding to questions and being the only person on mic.  They are productive and effective.

With everything there are pros and cons but thank you Lamar Academic Partnership professors for providing a way for students to interact with you!

Mapping Out the Strategies

When the coaches began planning for this upcoming school year, we already knew we wanted to grow and develop reflective teachers.  Our resource for this would be Marzano's Becoming a Reflective Teacher.  We also had the charge to ensure instructional strategies are relevant, engaging, and incorporate 21^st century learning skills based on research based effective instructional strategies.  With both the knowledge of the high yield strategies and the design questions from Becoming a Reflective Teacher we created a timeline for a focus each month.

Did You Know?

Marzano's 9 is not really Marzano's 9.  Interesting little fact we learned recently during professional development.  Our district has an initiative this school year - everyone will instruct with effective instructional strategies.  Part of that process was to seek staff development to help administration and district leadership to fully understand Marzano's 9 so we brought in Elizabeth Hubbell with McRel from Colorado.  Dr. Robert Marzano was initially with this company before he left and started out on his own.  While he was with McRel, he developed the 9 Effective Instructional Strategies; however, when he left the company the Marzano 9 stayed with McRel so instead of Marzano's 9 they are Classroom Instruction that Works - research-based strategies for increasing student achievement.

source

 Recognize this book? It is the first edition of Classroom Instruction that Works.  This is the research based strategies that Marzano was apart of.

source

This book? It is the 2nd edition of Classroom Instruction that Works.  If you look at the authors, Marzano is not part of the 2nd edition.

Why the 2nd edition?  Initially in edition 1, the strategies are the high yielding instructional strategies.  Those that yielded the highest gain were put at the top of the list as important.   However, there is a particular order that the strategies should be implement into your instruction.  Take for example "Setting objectives and Providing Feedback."  This strategy only yields a 23% gain.  "Summarizing and Note Taking" yields a 34% gain.  One would think the higher the gain the quicker I need to use it, but can you summarize and take notes prior to setting your objective?  Makes sense, right?

Our instructional coaching team had already sat down prior to this professional development and mapped out the strategies in the order we wanted to focus on them each month with our teachers.  After a pat on the back, we were pleased to announce that we only needed to move one strategy in our order to match the order that McRel recommends in Classroom Instruction that Works: edition 2.

This is the recommended order of emphasis for this research based instructional strategies:

Step 1 - Create the Environment for Learning

• Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback
• Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition
• Cooperative Learning

Step 2 - Helping Students Develop Understanding

• Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers
• Non-linguistic Representation
• Summarizing and Note Taking
• Assigning Homework and Providing Practice

Step 3 - Help Students Extend and Apply Knowledge

• Identifying Similarities and Differences
• Generating and Testing Hypotheses

Back To School

With my contract I begin work 3 weeks before teachers.  The first day back we had our big kick off meeting with curriculum coordinators and all the instructional coaches.  Using our district strategic plan, we created goals for our team, activities for each goal for the coaches as a team, and left with the assignment to use our data from campuses to create individual goals/activities.

Our curriculum goals as a team (based on the district strategic plan which can be seen here) are:

1) Design, align, and implement a comprehensive and rigorous K-12 curriculum.

2) Provide innovative educational opportunities to address individual students' needs.

3) Equip teachers with strategies necessary to support students' learning.

Our role based on goals is to:

1)                  Develop classroom teachers with consistent district wide instructional methodology based on Marzano Nine.

2)                  Ensure instructional strategies are relevant, engaging, and incorporate 21^st century learning skills.

3)                  Assist the teacher in understanding the depth & complexity of their TEKS meaning, verb level, & method of assessing.

4)                  Develop opportunities for understanding and implementing the framework of the K – 12 Curriculum.

5)                  Assist the teacher in the application of new programs and knowledge gained from conferences & professional development workshops.

6)                  Actively support and monitor the activities initiated in response to the curriculum audit.

7)                  Develop teacher leaders and provide opportunities for growth.

8)                  Support the district wide initiatives and collaborative teams.

Goal #3 (Equip teachers with strategies necessary to support students' learning) was easily addressed during our planning time.  It was my action plan.  I shared the plan with the rest of the team and we were set.

We are ready to get the year started off on the right foot - providing teachers with the tools they need to engage students and make learning relevant, as well as, developing classroom teachers who use effective instructional strategies.

Week 5 - Quality Indicators

While my reflections may have gone a bit deeper than you would be interested in, I thought perhaps I would post about the Quality Indicators discussed in Week 5. I truly believe the indicators gave validation to what I am doing through my action research, but also to help see the plan as an ever revolving blueprint.  We were asked to read Chapter 6, The Continuing Journey as “Head Learner,” in the Dana text, and carefully review the section “What Are Some Quality Indicators for Practitioner Research,” pp. 179 – 186.

My thoughts on the Quality Indicators:
Quality Indicator 1 is Context of Study. When sharing my action research, it is important to include details that relate to the context of my study, such as the school, teachers, students, curriculum, and of course the content of the action research. As an instructional coach assigned to 3 campuses where my action research will take place, it is important to show these details because each of the three campuses vary in student populations and grade levels so I would expect to see varying results between the campuses.

 Quality Indicator 2 is Wonderings and Purpose.  When the action research is presented by the researcher, the topic must make a relevant case to the needs of the school and be connected to pertinent literature in education.  When reviewing the questions to ask as the researcher, I was hesitant at first that perhaps my action research was to “prove something” but when one reviews any literature by Dr. Robert Marzano on effective strategies implementing they can see that effective strategies is not about proving something, it is about impacting the teaching so that students are successful.  This case is relevant to the campuses based on data already obtained through our district wide curriculum audit.

Quality Indicator 3 is Principal Research Design (Data Collection and Data Analysis).  As the researcher for my action research project, I believe this is a quality indicator I have covered very well.  Data in an action research project can be collected in the form of student work, test scores, field notes, or even interviews.  As I conduct my action research, data is collected daily through classroom walkthroughs looking for evidence of effective instructional strategies.  Interviews/Surveys will be completed to gain an understanding of teachers who may have a better grasp and understanding of Marzano’s 9, and student work and assessment scores will be the data that is reviewed to see the impact the teaching had on their success.  An additional step in my action plan is to analyze data with teachers so they can see areas of need and together we can discuss suggestions to improve those areas.  All participants can see the timeline that is embedded within my action research plan.

Quality Indicator 4 is Principal-Researcher Learning. Once the action research plan is complete, the principal researcher must present the findings of the inquiry. Included in this report should be statements- supported by data- discussing the findings, as well as any discrepant data.  Through out the report, the researcher should weave reading and other experiences that relate to the topic and/or about the process of inquiry research.  It will be interesting to see what findings I discover on perceptions teachers have about effective instructional strategies and the CARA cycle as they participate with me in my action research project. 

Quality Indicator 5 is Implications for Practice.  When the current research is complete, the researcher should determine what changes have taken place because of the research and what future change will occur because of these implications.  I like to believe that my action research plan is based off another initial action research.  This past school year our district participated in an outside sourced curriculum audit.  Based on the findings and implications from this audit, I was able to create my action research focused on one finding – implementing effective instructional strategies.  Through my action research plan, teachers on my campus (with my support) will be able to reflect on previous teaching and make impactful changes to help students be successful.  As we work through my action research plan, my wish would be that teachers see the importance of effective instructional strategies, see how students can benefit from them and would wish to change their own practices to grow themselves professionally.

Happy Week 5!  Let the ACTION BEGIN!!

* Dana, Nancy Fichtman (2009). The Continuing Journey as "Head Leader." In Leading with Passion and Knowledge: The Principal as Action Reasearcher (pp 179-186). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Marzano's Instructional Strategies - Cues and Questions

Marzano's Instructional Strategies - Summarizing & Note Taking

Where It All Started

Evidence of Teacher Use of Effective Instructional Practices

January 2012

Instructional Strategy	Percentage of Classroom
Specific learning goals/objectives	11
Corrective Feedback	10
Reinforcement of effort; recognition	33
Well-constructed cooperative learning	2
Cues and prompts	12
Advance Organizers	4
Non-Linguistic representations	7
Kinesthetic activities to increase student acheivement	2
Mental Pictures (by students)	0
Physical models of concepts (manipulatives)	7
Summarizing	3
Note-taking	6
Time for practice, review, application	21
Homework with a clear purpose	0
Comparing, classifying, metaphors/analogies	3
Generate and test hypothes (students)	0
Clearly explain hypotheses and conclusions	0

• Reinforcing and recognizing students’ efforts was the most common strategy.
• Giving students time to practice, review, or apply was the next most common strategy; however, this consisted of giving students seatwork in the form or worksheets or workbooks or other low-level assignments.
• The remaining strategies were either not observed or found in fewer than 10 percent of the classroom visits.

UPDATED: Action Research Plan - Implementing Effective Instructional Strategies

Based on conversations with our district assistant superintendent and the principal from campus of my target population, revisions to my action research plan are included below (in red). I encourage each of you to post comments as I continue to describe the process and progress implementing the plan over the upcoming months. Thank you each in advance for your comments and critiques.

 

Reflections of Comments

Below are reflections based on comments I have received from others concerning my action research project.  Thank you all for joining me on the journey and please continue to comment as we all move towards progress with our action research projects.

“Figuring out how to help our middle school students be successful is very important.”


• This commenter couldn’t say it any better. We must find the tools to put into students hands to help them understand the learning and to engage them and make them eager for the information we have for them. The diagram below shows how students respond when we use certain instructional practices. Which are the most effective? Where do you as teachers want to be?

“Your blog is very well-written! I also think you bring a very valid point up by stating that if you are not interested it will be unsuccessful. Great job!”

• Thank you for your kind words. I believe that in anything we do, if we are not interested we already prepare ourselves for failure in whatever endeavor it may be. One peer from my cohort was surprised by the challenges that most interns were experiencing were teacher resistance – that is most likely a cause of not being interested in the change being presented. I also mentioned to them that some are just teacher leaders, others aren’t. I hardly ever receive resistance from teachers who are ready to impact their teaching and to help students be more successful rather than making excuses why something is not working.

“I am positive that I could have benefited from someone in your position when I first began teaching and sometimes even now when I am at a loss of what to do with certain TEKS, etc. I am interested in seeing how your year comes along. I know as a classroom teacher, we often get in a rut and we do tend to give out an excessive amount of worksheets - sometimes from lack of knowledge of how to use a hands on approach with certain skill areas. Good luck!”

• I love what I do and love working with willing teachers because they do want fresh ideas. It’s tough when I get to the reluctant teachers and the teachers who see me as just an evaluator who is out to get them and knit pick the negative. The curriculum is my favorite part. As I change over to just 3 campuses this year because we added additional coaches, I'm looking forward to building relationships by assisting more with questions about the standards rather than jumping straight into classroom walkthroughs. Your comment is just proof that not only do the new, first year teachers benefit from my position, but sometimes it is the veteran teachers that need our support, if not more.

“As teachers we are sometimes un aware of the ineffectiveness of teaching relying only on worksheets. In our Montessori curriculum we teach students from the concrete to the abstract providing them with hands on learning. Education is changing rapidly and the state has issued us as educators a mandate TEACH WITH MORE RIGOR!!! We can't be effective teachers and expect our students to excel if we're watering down instruction with meaningless worksheets.”

• Last week I trained a group of teachers on using Thinking Maps. For at least 20 minutes we debated on why Thinking Maps are not graphic organizers. When I was finally able to get them to give me a chance and at the end of the day if they still didn't believe me, we could continue the debate. By the time the afternoon session came and I had them applying Thinking Maps to their own grade level content I kept hearing comments such as, "My kids can't do this!" One teacher in particular that had started the earlier debate I asked, "But they could do graphic organizers?" It was like a light bulb came on - she got it!!  We can't keep saying, "our kids can't do this." We have to give them the tools they need to dig deeper into their learning. After a brief conversation when we all came back, they finally understood why Thinking Maps are a thinking tool to put in the hands of the kids and why they provide a deeper level of understanding. It's not a context but a thought process which is where we hinder so many students because we keep falling back on, "I've always done this, they can do this, they can't do the higher rigor stuff" i.e. watering it down. To say I was stressed out from the morning thinking I wouldn't get through to them would be an understatement, but I could not have asked for a better "ahha" moment from the teachers. They wanted to know if all the teachers in the district would be required to take the training!

* Two of the above comments came from my blog and two from the discussion board. While the two blog comments did not lead to revisions on my action plan, I did realize some areas that needed to be included on my plan based on the discussion board comments and from reviewing other peers plans. One revision I made based on the discussion board comments was “Lunch and Learn.” Lunch and Learn is short sessions to share effective instructional practices so that teachers have fresh ideas to implement in their classroom. By modeling one quick practice through a 15-20 minute session while they eat lunch, they can take that back to their classroom to use in instruction. It is one practice, not multiple as they receive in a more formal staff development setting. Another revision I am making to my plan based on reviewing other blogs is to survey my teachers on what they feel are their strengths and weakness are and to gain an understanding of their knowledge and experience of Marzano’s Framework of Effective Instructional Practices.

Action Research Plan - Effective Instructional Practices

Lessons Learned

Does it have a purpose? Who is going to benefit? Are you focused?  Are you interested?

As we narrowed down our decision on a final action research plan we needed to answer at least the first two questions, but once you dig into it a bit deeper, you can't help but ask yourself, "Are you focused? Are you interested?" If you are not interested in your action research project then you will lose focus and once you lose focus, you lose sight of your purpose.  If the ones who are supposed to benefit from the project do not see the value through you, they, too, will lose focus or interest and how are they supposed to benefit from that? 

An action research project's purpose combines 4 elements.  The purpose:
1. tells of a problem or goal.
2. is focused.
3. is reasonable and feasible.
4. is ethical.

The beneficiaries of you action research are you key stakeholders - the students, parents, teachers, campus administrators, district level leaders, school board, and the community at large.  At the completion of an action research project, the stakeholders will be better off.

While I kept these questions in mind during my selection of an action research project, I was able to narrow my action research down to Effective Instructional Strategies.  This action research can combine previous trainings through the Dana Center, a tool our district instructional coaches will use this upcoming year - Marzano's Becoming a Reflective Teacher, and our district guidelines for peer coaching on our assigned campuses. Even though I have an extremely high interest in researching implementation of Web 2.0 tools and technology in the classroom, it ultimately came down to the fact that technology is an effective tool when used in the classroom.  So with a slight tweak, I can incorporate two choices into my final decision of researching Effective Instructional Strategies.

EDLD 5301: How Educational Leaders Can Use Blogs

Blogging - a powerful collection tool.  Blogging - a way to capture thinking over time.  Blogging - a personal pensive to store thoughts.

As administrative leaders, you can use blogging for many purposes including:

* Data collection - collaborative comments, combine text, images, and links to other sites.
* Capture thinking on your own practices.
* Model a love of writing with students on your campus
* To share and encourage the use of  instructional strategies.

By administrative leaders using blogging as they lead, they are bringing inquiry into their practices.

EDLD 5301 - Action Research and How I Can Use It

There is a difference between the traditional research and action research. Action research is leaders and teacher navigating a change. Educators study and reflect on student learning as related to their own teaching. Action research is a process as an effective tool for improving teaching and learning. As teachers reflect on their own teaching strategies, their teaching is strengthened. They gain self confidence and self efficacy. Action research should be seen as the extension of good teaching, validating effective teaching practices used in the educational setting. The primary goal of action research is to improve student learning by developing and refining the skills of teaching.


The steps of action research include:

1. Educational leaders or teachers identify a learning problem
2. A collaboration of learners develops and implements an action research plan.
3. Data is collected and analyzed so that a change can be implemented. Teachers are ready to take action!
4. As results are noticed, they are used and shared to continue improvement to student learning.

Action research is a process that requires facilitation and coaching. As an instructional coach my day-to-day focus is providing instructional assistance to teachers, assist in curriculum writing, and work with teachers and campus administrators in the use of student assessment data for instruction, and work to increase vertical and horizontal communication and teaming. Currently in my position, our team has two research techniques we are using that follows the basic steps of action research. We have used the Dana Center Walk Through CARA cycle where a leader will collect data on instructional strategies and practice occurring in a classroom. The coaches analyze the data then we reflect with the teacher group on the data. As a collaborative group, an action plan focused on student achievement is created. The cycle is repeated after the teachers have had ample time for implementation of changes in their classroom. Recently, Dr. Robert Marzano released a book entitled, Becoming a Reflective Teacher. Focused on 41 areas and/or practices of teachers in the classroom, teachers reflect on their own teaching so that they can set a plan of action for change into place in their classroom.

As our district moves forward with addressing findings from a recent curriculum audit, an action research will be the tool that we need to begin addressing those findings. Two findings in the forefront of my mind as I work with teachers daily will be Effective Classroom Strategies that Engage Students and Implementing a Plan to Guide Design, Deliver, Monitor, and Evaluate the Written Curriculum.