REFLECTION BLOG

June 30, 2004/Journal #10

Change over time in Educational Leadership

In learning the process of conducting action research, the past five weeks have been very compacted and full of useful information.  It is amazing that we accomplished what we have in such a short time.  I feel that we would be able to perfect the research if we only had more time.  I do believe that change does take a long time and is a time consuming process.  This I have become more aware of in this course.

My engine of change, seamless curriculum is an intricate web that will have to be more established as time goes on.  But I do hope that with the research over the last several weeks has given us a solid basis of what we  need to accomplish over the next year.  I do beleive that we can create a seamless curriculum that will be workable after the next year.  It is a realistic change engine and I am sure that myself and my change group will implement it successfully.

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June 24, 2004/Journal #9

The vision of change that my action research group feels is a necessary change is Seamless Curriculum.  Our engine of change encompasses several aspects.  I would like to focus on one particular aspect and that is cross content curriculum.  All schools talk about it but how many really make it work?  It would be so easy for myself a social studies teacher and the same level literature teacher to plan across curriculums if the time was given to us. 

For my students that are studying the Renaissance in World History to be able to read the plays of Shakespeare would be a great link to both subjects.  Or for my USII class studying Vietnam, be able to delve into soldiers stories of the war in their English class.  It seems so easy but if often never done. My research group would like to find out how a scenario such as the one stated above could be accomplished.  It has been done and is done in some school systems.  How can we perfect it is the question?

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June 22, 2004/Journal #8

Change

Systems were meant to be changed.  It is very hard to establish one way and of doing things in a district and it be so perfected that it never need change again.  It is important to always keep your vision in front of you and strive to achieve that vision or "engine of change". 

It is not easy to make change though, research must be conducted in order to find out where changes need to be made. Is it a personal change that you want to make or a change that your district wants to make or just your educational leader?  I have been involved in districts where the educational leader's vision and motives for change were not the same as the teachers reasons for wanting change.  It is difficult if leaders and their staff are on different pages regarding change.  It is hard for change to take place especially if the two are not in-sink.  It is a perplexing problem!

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June 18, 2004/Journal #7

When one conducts research according to Richard Sagor there are key questions that need to be answered to insure that the data is accurate. In the chapter focusing on "Making sense of the Data" He delves into the questions of the stories inbedded in the data and the factors that influence these stories.  When collecting data for action research much like we have been doing and will be doing in detail next year, one of the essential questions that first needs to be answered is:  Is the Data credible, has the "reporter" been in a position to know the facts and know them accurately.

It is helpful for teachers to be collegial in the action research process, in order to share their findings, research and data to help improve the school as  a whole.  The second question arisise if our research does not match or philosophies do we change our philosophies?  How does a school adapt to the research before them?  Teachers are creatures of habit.  They tend to not want change if it will change the "master plan". 

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June 16, 2004/Journal #6

It is essetial within a school district to establish the key issues that need to be discussed in order to implement change.  It is easier to tackle the problems that face a district if they engines of change can be broken down into two word catch phrases.  They include:  Seamless Curriculum (connections across content), Real Life(Authentic Curriculum ), Meaningful evaluation(Authentic evaluation), Building Citizenship , Teacher Teamwork, (collaboration) and Achieving Vision (Prof. Development) 

I may feel that seamless curriculum is the most essential change that needs to take place within a district.  Another administrator may feel that the real life aspect is the most important.  Every administrator has their field of expertise and is passionate about a certain topic.  A person's passion usually coincides with their philosophy.

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June 14, 2004/Journal #5

In thinking about the engines of change, I realized that it is a very timely process to create positive change in a school.  I discussed the key essential questions that our class made up with my supervisor today.  His response was positive but a bit discouraging.  My supervisor is a realist and is apparent in his philosophy.  He definitely feels that change is necessary but it is difficult to achieve.

The following are Bob's (Social Studies/English supervisor) response.

Q:  Often Professional Development has not been long term, how can we embed PD into the daily lives of teachers.

A:  PD must be ongoing and productive.  PD must monitor the needs of the teacher, i.e.:  classroom management strategies.  Also, districts must send teachers to workshops outside the district that may enhance their teaching.

Q:  Many times students do not find education meaningful and relevant to their lives, how can we change this mentality?

A:  Why should kids be left out of the decision making process.  They should be involved in curriculum possibly via student council.

Q:  Currently many people regard standardized testing as an ineffective tool for assessment.  How can we change assessment to be more effective and to better evaluate all students?

A:  Standardized tests should be less important, if you take out standardized tests than they must be replaced with an alternative assessment.  I do not feel that they can be entirely eliminated.  There has to be a national standard.

Q:  Criticism that students are not making connections across curriculum, how can we restructure curriculum to prevent disciplinary isolation?

A:  Interdisciplinary curriculum planning should be implemented in all schools.  Unfortunately it is not, because it takes planning that many schools are not willing to work into their daily schedule.  The links between social studies and English could easily be combined to effectively teach.

Q:  Teachers often feel isolated, how can we foster a more collegial environment in schools?

A:  Let teachers teach each other at workshops, in-service days.  It helps bridge the gap, it is difficult in HS because many teachers feel that they are elitist snobs and do not relay on each other.

Q:  Often district discipline promotes the exclusion of students who break the rules, how can we make the discipline policies more inclusive?

A:  Discipline needs to be handled by the teacher and not passed onto the administration.  Teachers should try to deal with problems in the classroom, before referring students.

In speaking with my supervisor he was able to give me his insight into the key engines of change that our cohort feels are essential questions and topics that need to be addressed.

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June 10, 2004/Journal #4

In meeting with our engine of change groups, we began to form an outline for key issues within our engine of change.  We came up with our catch name which is "Community Connections Across Contents".  Within this framework we wish to accomplish several key goals; they include:  creating an interdisciplinary curriculum, to encourage the learner and thinker creating and implement practical solutions, and to relate all levels of education to the community. 

As a cohort we established questions concerning our engines of change that we would be able to get feedback from our administrators.  The key questions were agreed upon and will be reflected in my next entry. 

By the end of the class everyone seemed to feel much more comfortable in their change groups, especially since time was allotted to brainstorm and get on the same page. 

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June 6, 2004

Action Research for Change/Journal #3

Action research is a great way to change or improve something in your school or district; but it must be something that a person is passionate about.  It may be difficult to get the support of the entire school in an action research project.  A great deal of time must be spent researching and developing a plan to implement in an accurate manner.

The action research process is a seven step system that includes:  1) selecting a focus, 2) clarifying theories, 3) identifying research questions, 4) collecting data, 5) analyzing data, 6) reporting results, and 7) taking informed action.  The process is very involved and requires a commitment to follow through on the implementation of the action plan.  In conducting research the best way is through a triangulation method, which enables the researchers to use multiple sources of data in answering each question.

For action research to work teachers need to be treated more like "white collar" workers rather than blue collar workers.  Sagor describes this idea, in which teachers much like executives need to collaborate on their ideas in order to serve the school as a whole.  Unfortunately, teachers as Sagor states are often isolated and more like "blue collar" workers, in a way that they do the same thing day in and day out without much collaboration with their colleagues.  Teaching is a learning experience and what better way to learn than to share effective methods with our colleagues.

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June 3, 2004

Vision and Change/Journal #2

Every teacher and administrator has a vision of what they would like their school to be like; their "ultimate" school so to speak.  But can these visions be a reality?  That is a very complex question.  In our class on Tuesday June 2, 2004 collaboration emerged; on the Engines of Change that we feel are necessary to improve and move our schools into the next century. 

As a class we each discussed what issues we were passionate about regarding change.  Many people surprisingly had similar views and interests.  For example a great deal of people chose Lifeworld as something that should be improved upon.  Lifeworld is a tremendous issue and would need to be broken down into smaller and more intricate parts in order to dissect what each member of the group meant by Lifeworld. 

Between Tuesday and Wednesday we as a group were able to list and discuss our personal "engines of change" which included the following ideas:  community centered curriculum, collaboration/collegiality, discipline, professional development, authentic learning, interdisciplinary curriculum and assessment and testing.  All of these issues are extremely important, but how can they be researched to actually institute change in our "old school ways"? 

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May 31, 2004

Action Committee's First Meeting/Journal #1

Our first meeting of the Action Research participants was on Tuesday May 25, 2004.  Discussed at the first meeting attended by the entire cohort, were our educational philosophies and beliefs in education.  The exercise in which all participants spoke candidly in front of their colleagues was very helpful.  The exercise enabled the participants to see how their views were similar and different to their colleagues.  It is obvious that all participants views were shaped by similar authors and professors.  But some participants reflected on different issues, and many of the members of the group had identical beliefs and philosophies.  Our meeting will continue tomorrow evening when our cohort will be split in half for the use of the computers. 

On Wednesday May 26, 2004 at the FDU campus the first meeting of school district's action committee took place.  As the Vice Principal in charge of discipline, I felt that a great deal was accomplished.  Titles were given to all the participants involved in the meeting.  This was the first meeting in a sequence of six in which action research will be discussed in our fictitious school district.    Our next meeting will entail the changes that we as a group, feel are necessary for our school district to be successful in the creation of a democratic learning environment for all students.

We as individuals and as a group have designed a hierarchy of the participants in which will be involved in our action research journey.  All of the members involved will be an integral part of the research process.  It is obvious that we must work together as a team in order to accomplish our goals for the whole.  The next small group meeting will take place next Wednesday at the FDU Teaneck campus at 4:30.