Updated Action Research Plan - An attempt to answer questions from Ms. Martinez

Action Research Plan:

Goal/Guiding Question:

What effect will involvement in an after school intervention program have on attendance, GPA, and behavior among at-risk students?

• Will students feel more connected to the school and community?

·      Will students’ self perception change as their skills improve and relationships deepen?

Community Garden

            Main Idea: Using community efforts and expertise as an intervention for at risk students.  Through implementing a new community garden for students to raise food for the nearby food pantry I will collect data that shows the effects of such programs on student behavior, attendance, and GPA.

Context:

         Quest Academy (Alternative School for RISD, Rockwall, TX): Choice High School is an alternative school that is purposed for students who choose to attend for personal and academic reasons.  DAEP is a separate program also housed at Quest Academy. Students are placed in DAEP program for behavioral reasons.  Both programs will participate but data will be primarily gathered from Choice students.

Original Curiosity/Wondering:

            I feel that students with diverse interests and passions and a sense of belonging in the community have a higher self-esteem and generally are more successful.  On our campus, I have been amazed at how many students have no hobbies, goals, or sense of belonging and although these are many issues without one answer, I wonder if schools can affect these deficiencies through intervention programs in which teachers and community members teach special interest skills with a real world end product. 

The Produce:

In this initial attempt the actual produce from the garden will be donated to the Helping Hands food pantry located near the school.  A portion of the produce will be prepared for students in the cafeteria for an official tasting.

           

Action Steps        Person(s)                  Timeline:           Necessary            Evaluation

                               Responsible            Start/End           Resources

Initiate Community Garden	Brian Rushing, Julie Farris, Nick Helge, David Thomas, GeriAnne Carrales	March 2013 – Summer 2013	Garden Site at Helping Hands Teacher/ Community Volunteers Fence materials and seeds	Actual Produce donated to Helping Hands
Entrance/Exit Program Survey	Brian Rushing Steven Davis	March 2013 – May 2013	Surveys gauging student opinions of school and self	Entrance/Exit Program Survey
Measure any shift in attendance trends	Brian Rushing Steven Davis	March 2013 – May 2013	Attendance records for months preceding and coinciding intervention	Attendance records for months preceding and coinciding intervention
Measure any change in GPA trends	Brian Rushing Steven Davis Laura Houghton	March 2013 – May 2013	GPA records for months preceding and coinciding intervention	GPA records for months preceding and coinciding intervention
Measure any change in behavior trends	Brian Rushing Steven Davis Laura Houghton	March 2013 – May 2013	Referral rates/Qualitative field notes for months preceding and coinciding intervention	Referral rates/Qualitative field notes for months preceding and coinciding intervention
Gauge value of program among share holders	Brian Rushing	May 2013	Note taking	Student and Teacher Interviews
Sharing findings, program, and evidence	Brian Rushing	May 2013	Blog Digital Pictures Video	Final presentation shared through teacher blog, power point, and wiki
Measure E2020 records to determine quality of work	Brian Rushing Laura Houghton	May 2013	E 2020 Access	Observing idle time, grades earned/ quality of work compared at different times in the day.
Community supporters acquired	Brian Rushing Daniel Nichols Julie Farris	March 2013	Community contacts; school personnel	Goal: three groups involved that are unrelated to RISD

EDLD5301 Summary

            Experience is a driving factor in learning.  Humans retain knowledge of what they do far greater than what they hear or read.  Through the course of EDLD 5301 I have been required to blog regularly about my action research plan.  Before the course began I had no experience blogging and had not heard the term “action research”; both of these valuable disciplines are now a routine part of my career.

            I was asked a couple of years ago to make a wiki for my classroom.  I did it well but once it was built and checked off the list I forgot about it.  I have no knowledge of the traffic it gets and I don’t use it regularly.  When we were required to make a blog for EDLD 5301 I expected a similar experience.  The great difference however is that for five weeks we have been required to make weekly updates to our blog.  I’ve heard that seven times makes a habit and while I don’t know the validity of that statement it has become a habit of mine to blog.  In fact, it has piqued my interest in my class wiki and I will be using both, in different ways, to publish my findings in my action research.

             Action research is a discipline that I have learned to love.  It has occurred to me as I’ve learned about it through the course of this study that I’ve been doing action research, albeit haphazardly, since I began teaching four years ago.  Having a clear protocol to flesh out my “wonderings” is invaluable.  Previously, had I wanted to begin a project like the current community garden I would have begun with a question: “I wonder if these kids would like to get out and do something with their hands?...I wonder if it would help their self-esteem?...Their sense of community?...Their grades?....Attendance?... Involvement in school?”  It wouldn’t have occurred to me to take specific data to learn and to prove before, during, and after that these efforts are worthwhile and impacting.  Now, after having gotten thus far, and having the action research process normalized, it seems like a self-cheating practice to pursue such lengthy endeavors without obtaining data to share with constituents, superiors, and shareholders.

            As a teacher, the theory has been re-enforced that quality work that a student is guided through is far more impacting than either lectures or readings.

            

Action Research Plan - The Community Garden

Goal/Guiding Question:

What effect will involvement in an after school intervention program have on attendance, GPA, and behavior among at-risk students?

• Will students feel more connected to the school and community?
• Will students’ self perception change as their skills improve and relationships deepen?

Community Garden

            Main Idea: Using community efforts and expertise as an intervention for at risk students.  Through implementing a new community garden for students to raise food for the nearby food pantry I will collect data that shows the effects of such programs on student behavior, attendance, and GPA.

Action Steps        Person(s)                  Timeline:           Necessary            Evaluation

                               Responsible            Start/End           Resources

Initiate  Community Garden	Brian Rushing, Julie Farris, Nick Helge, David Thomas, GeriAnne Carrales	March 2013 – Summer 2013	Garden Site at Helping Hands Teacher/ Community Volunteers Fence materials and seeds	Actual Produce donated to Helping Hands
Entrance/Exit Program Survey	Brian Rushing Steven Davis	March 2013 – May 2013	Surveys gauging student opinions of school and self	Entrance/Exit Program Survey
Measure any shift in attendance trends	Brian Rushing Steven Davis	March 2013 – May 2013	Attendance records for months preceding and coinciding intervention	Attendance records for months preceding and coinciding intervention
Measure any change in GPA trends	Brian Rushing Steven Davis	March 2013 – May 2013	GPA records for months preceding and coinciding intervention	GPA records for months preceding and coinciding intervention
Measure any change in behavior trends	Brian Rushing Steven Davis	March 2013 – May 2013	Referral rates/Qualitative field notes for months preceding and coinciding intervention	Referral rates/Qualitative field notes for months preceding and coinciding intervention
Gauge value of program among share holders	Brian Rushing	May 2013	Note taking	Student and Teacher Interviews
Sharing findings, program, and evidence	Brian Rushing	May 2013	Blog Digital Pictures Video	Final presentation shared through teacher blog, power point, and wiki

Action Research Week 2 - Are you interested?

This week the importance of passion in research was reenforced.  When I go to work I try to take all my passion and interest in life with me.  Otherwise, I'm working without living.  I'm not about to live a day with eight hours less than usual.  Life is too short and the work day is too long not to love your job.

In guitar class, I share the songs I'm writing.

In gymnastics, I do the tricks.

In my English classes I show the students my own journal.  I share with them the books I'm currently reading.  I tell them, "I teach because I love people.  I teach English because I love reading and writing.  When they are reading and journaling I remind them, "I don't ask you to do anything I don't do."

If I'm going to do action research it's going to have to be over a topic I'm passionate about.  Thankfully, my site supervisor and three out of three interviewed Lamar Doctorate holders agree with me.

I am passionate about student's experiencing life in the classroom.  I bring my personal interests to the classroom and encourage the students to create, build, design, and live their passions out at school.  What I have found at the alternative campus that I work at is that many of the students who continually have discipline issues and severe motivation issues in the classroom are the same students who cannot identify a passion, interest, hobby, dream, or any tangible hope for the future.  I try to get these students to build things, play guitar, learn chess, etc.  I spring a myriad of opportunities at them and hope something sticks.

I have decided to conduct action research on the relationship between outside interests and their effect on discipline and academic achievement.  In my internship plan I am developing an after school program that will extend my classroom efforts and give the students a safe and knowledgeable environment to learn new skills and hobbies.  As a researcher I will document the shift (if any) in their GPA and referral rates over the course of their involvement in the after school program.