Calendar

Saturday, May 17, 2014

5/20 Session Three




Mills Chapter 03 from Glenn E. Malone, EdD

Tonight's 5/20 Discussion:
Guest Research Dr. Mark Knight 
Blog Check & Assignment Adjustment 
Scholarly Article Critiques
The Research Process
A Matching Activity
Types of Research

Homework due 5/22:
Article Critique #1 DUE
Read Galvan 4 & Model Literature Review B (p. 129)
Read Mills 4
Post a reflection on this blog & Comment on someone's post

Next Class 5/22:
Data Collection Methods

31 comments:

  1. I have a MUCH clearer understanding of action research after listening to Dr. Knight. Have slideshare as a visual and his personal narrative really clarified things for me.

    Big thanks to Emily for giving me excellent feedback to my article critique.

    Lastly, a big thanks to Dr. Malone for removing the Inquiry Design project and allowing us to focus our energy on skills that will contribute to writing strong literature reviews.

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    1. I thought this discussion tonight was great! I feel like this would have been helpful on night one! Although, now I want to change my topic!!

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    2. I thought Dr. Knight did a great job with his presentation tonight. It was great to see the whole process of his research action plan. Agreed on the thanks to Dr. Malone with the Inquiry Design removal!!

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  2. Great night. Dr. Knight was awesome. His study of student voice was thought provoking. The amount of work that went into that action research project is hard to wrap my head around. You could tell that Dr. Knight had a real passion for his topic. Too bad the systems he put in place in Fife didn't continue on after he left.

    Another bonus...no Inquiry Design assignment! Thanks Glenn!

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    1. It is amazing how influential the leadership of administration is on staff development. And change.

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    2. I would really be interested in seeing this process happen. I want to know if he had an actual document for teachers to use as they moved through the protocol. I also wonder if there is a way to simplify the process without removing an important elements so that it can be a more normal part of teacher reflection and planning.

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    3. Its interesting about the lack of continuity with Coaching 4 Design. That was one of the first questions that came to my mind. It makes me think about the sustained systems discussions we had last semester. I wonder about the likelihood of the program continuing to be implemented (after he left) if Dr. Knight had been stayed in Fife for another 5 years.

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    4. I believe there is only a few of us in the class that had to go through the whole TPA process in order to gain certification, part of which was a student voice section. TPA classified student voice as a way for students to show what they know/express their feelings. I feel that with the implementation of the Common Core, student voice is going to rise up as a bigger issue. I wonder if they will go back to Dr. Knight's program if this occurs?

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  3. Things I learned today:
    1) From Dr. Knight: We do research to be better leaders. Research both precludes action research and happens during. It helps educators and leaders make decisions about resources, programs and instruction. With research we are allowed "purposeful abandonment".
    2) From Dr. Malone: Research papers should be putting us to sleep. No cutesy articles. Don't worry about our grades. Just do our best and focus on the objectives.

    Thanks Dr. Malone for another great class!!

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    1. Amen Alyssa! I find research papers incredibly boring! The frustrating part is that it is on purpose.

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    2. Alyssa, there are some not so boring research articles out there. I find qualitative research more interesting because they tell a story from the perspective of those being studies. Quantitative - not so much. I also agree that research is a necessary evil in any profession, especially one that we are responsible for the learning of someone else.

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  4. After today I really like the idea of action research projects as a large part of my professional career. Thank you Dr. Knight!

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    1. Nathan - I do, too!! It would definitely help actions be very purposeful, wouldn't it?!

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  5. After tonight's class I feel like I have a clear idea of what action research is and how it's done, but I'm also seeing how this could be a much longer process if we had more time. This "puzzle" is CRAZY!

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    1. Hahaha! I love the puzzle comment. Thank you for editing my paper.

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  6. Great example from Dr. Knight regarding action research! It was nice to see how he narrowed his thought process to focus on a particular area, and I especially appreciated his sub-problems beneath his main problem. It helped to have a walk-through!

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    1. Yes, the way he walked us through the process was very well done, I also enjoyed the discussion that we had before hand where we got to look at our current practice.

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  7. A lot of info tonight but it's all starting to come together. The power points have been VERY helpful. Is anyone else having difficulty posting on the blog? For some reasons my posts don't go through and I have to rewrite them.

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    1. Yes, when I post from my Ipad is doesn't go through either :( I tried several times in class. I am not sure why it isn't working. I noticed you use an Ipad for class as well, perhaps there's a connection there?

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  8. This discussion was definitely helpful. I am still having problems narrowing my topic, partially because with what I currently have I am not getting very many adequate references. My current topic is a comparison of leadership styles of principals around the world.

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  9. One thing that Dr. Knight’s research study made me think of was issues related to student voice in my own school. Since I teach at an elementary school, student voice and student-teacher relationships looks a little different than it would in a high school. My school has begun PBIS over the past year and I think this is also related to PBIS. Brittany and I talked about the rate of referrals in school, rather than teachers just dealing with small behavior issues in their own classroom. I believe that a student should be dealt with in their own classroom unless the issue is “really bad”. Does anyone have any insight into referrals and PBIS?

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    1. Lisa as an RTI coach part of my job is PBIS. We use SWIS data to track major and minor behavior refferals. I would say that we have incorporated student voice by building classroom behavior matrix that the students help build. I have some great examples of these that I can send to you. Another great resource would be to look up DR. Greg Benner. He is the persona who has trained a lot of people in district and our RTI team meets with him at the beginning of the year. I love PBIS. Last year we had over 1600 office ref and to date we have only 852! :o)

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    2. I'm sorry about the typos. I have the worse time typing on this blog. My keyboard freezes and won't delete!

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  10. Tonight was great!! I enjoyed Dr. Knight's presentation and I am really interested in his Coaching 4 Design Process. I thought it was great that students had the opportunity to voice their opinion on the hard topics to teach. This would be great for my math classroom. I am feeling a little better on the article critiques, but the APA action still freaks me out!! See you all on Thursday!!

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    1. I'm with you Zach...still trying to wrap my head around APA. By the end of this class we will be APA masters!!!! It was reassuring to have a reminder from Glenn that he is willing to "show us some mercy" when it comes to learning APA as we go. Thanks for your contribution during the "Problems of Practice" part of the night. I found your "lunch tutorial" issue to be interesting.

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  11. Although focused on higher education, I found Dr. Knight's topic very interesting and thought about how to connect it to college and university settings. I also found the research portion interesting especially the using focus groups and using One Note as a form of staying organize. I am definitely going to be trying that as a method in the future. Thank you!

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  12. Dr. Knight was amazing! I feel empowered to implement action research in my future profession. What an inspiring way to have a community excited about improvement! With my critique done, I am feeling much better about the workload.. even if I can't get an A.... sigh.

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  13. I am sorry that I missed class! I enjoyed the AMS recording. I enjoyed listening to the guest speaker for his experience on the process of going through an entire Action Research project from beginning to end, In particular, I thought that his action research as a natural response to what he was seeing was really valuable. I am enjoying the process of finding research studies and thinking about how to expand my understanding of my topic. See you Thursday!

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  14. Class was great!! Dr. Knight's presentation was great as many others have stated. I particular like the opportunity that we got discuss a current problem of practice, from there his presentation made more sense to me. Action research is a powerful tool that can help improve our current practice. Learning about the different reasons as to why leaders should conduct research in their school was powerful, in particular to evaluate old/new programs. Working in a Dual Language school, I am always asking my self,"Is the program is being effective or not?", or "what is the data that backs up our claims that we have gathered from research about dual language instruction?". Looking forward to gather more tools to do my own research in my own classroom next year!!

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