Hey, I'm in Graduate School!

September 8th, Round One: Developing an AR Question for my Research

2009-10-11T14:29:00.000-07:00

This was a document I originally created on September 8th as school kicked off and I pondered what approach to take with my Action Research...

AR Question: How can I get teachers to “care” more about their students?- develop meaningful relationships to assist students who are struggling as opposed to “loving those who are easy to love (highly motivated, hard-working)”.

AR Question: How do we create a culture shift where teachers do not allow students to fail but provide a system of support that help students learn?

AR Question: How do we switch the focus from teachers focusing on what/how they “teach” to focusing instead on whether students learn as the driving force behind their planning/curriculum?

Action Research Question: Can we as a school decrease the number of students receiving D/F grades (and leaving the school) by creating a system of interventions to support student success?

What does the data tell us?

1. Since 2001, we average a 5% yearly attrition of our student body (approximately 50 students per year).
2. Data from our D/F reports reflect that in some core classes between 20-40% of students receive D/F grades in a semester (math, science, theology in yearlong classes, social studies in semester classes).
3. Students report in course rating questionnaires that many teachers are not accessible for help, do not offer timely feedback, and that some teachers do not forge strong positive relationships with students (use sarcasm, belittle, or are curt).
4. Overall student achievement data (ACT, SAT, PLAN scores) are stagnant over a 5-7 year period.

Approaches:

Curriculum Mapper
Continue use of Curriculum Mapper to help teachers begin collaborating within departments to map out their course with the goal to identify redundancies and gaps in curriculum.
• Better alignment of curriculum from year to year.
• Begin agreement on common language, standards- what are the skills/content we want students to know.

Focus on Learning
Begin using data to inform instruction

My Sibelius Project- #19

2009-10-05T10:10:00.000-07:00

I was up until 12:30, messing with Sibelius. It took me two separate times to download it, when I finally did, I was totally stumped trying to manipulate the program. My only experience with music was a few years of piano lessons. My ability to read and manipulate notes was scant at best. I tried to plonk down notes in a variety of instruments, just trying to put together something that sounded halfway decent- mostly my attempts sounded a bit dark in a horror movie kind of way.

When I finally settled on one (after 18 previous "compositions"), it was a reasonably flowing piano and bass piece. I immediately thought of trying to find my way through the "fog" of learning something new- not quite knowing where I am going, just trying to push ahead. The first thing that came to mind was paddling my paddle board through a thick fog, the only thing being the paddle banging against my board. I downloaded my Sibelius composition into GarageBand, added the paddling background and put it into a slideshow with photos of my trip up the the Oregon Coast (lots of fog).

Anyways, I can't believe I actually made something...

Feeling Better

2009-07-17T14:10:00.000-07:00

Spent most of yesterday trying to troubleshoot the Lego challenge. I felt pretty good picking up the programming piece- we've moved pretty far and our original design has morphed. But I feel a lot better than yesterday with my contribution. I noticed that I seemed more motivated in the days activities because I felt more integral to our team. We were also given the task of beginning development of our personal websites which presented me with some significant challenges and frustration around my lack of artistic vision and experience with website developing tools. I'm going to need to ask for help from my cadremates for this one.

The fatigue from the days activities was quickly replaced with our whole groups excitement around going out for dinner at Paradise Cove. We followed that up with drinks at Sunset with a smaller group of cool folks from our cadre- it was great to unwind and talk to folks on another level. Of course it helped to grease the social skids with alcohol and a blues band with resulted in dancing and a serious hangover for the next day.

Thinking About Community

2009-07-15T19:08:00.000-07:00

We were asked to reflect on our thoughts about community today. Having spent the full day- I didn't feel like I brought a lot to the group I was working with. The Lego challenge and the Iron Chef left me bereft of ideas- thank God J came up with some good concepts. I found it hard to get moving and could only offer tidbits here and there. Hell, I'm the master when it comes to food, but to represent community- all I could come up with was a carrot train!

When I think about a community of learners I think about everyone pushing themselves into the new: experimenting, taking chances, thinking outside the box to make the group better. I could come up with none of that. It made me a little intimidated and worried about any upcoming group projects for this program. I feel a little bit like I let the others down- I was a team player for sure, but not in the idea department. Maybe a cocktail will kick the mind into gear?

The First Day

2009-07-14T19:10:00.000-07:00

Coming here- not sure what to expect. Just wanting to make it to Malibu on time, find my place, get comfortable. The phone call on my way down with the financial aid office put me off a bit- this is an expensive proposition. I arrive. Pepperdine is awesome and beautiful- I'm in grad school! I went and bought a Pepperdine sticker for my car- cheesball. I'm committed.

I know what I want out of the MALT program, or at least I think I do. I think a lot about my interview/conversation with Dr. Riel- she made me think about what I believe in about learning. I think I know what I believe in and think about learning- but it's always changing, I'm always changing my mind. Why can't I just pick something and just stick with it- am I indecisive or am I professionally weighing all the options?

I liked the ideas that were shared by Paul, Margaret, and Bill: focus on self-reflection, focus on learning, the ability to share half-baked ideas to make yourself better. Being better for the world. These things resonate with my values, but I'm just not sure where to start. Action research- I thought I knew what it meant, now I'm not entirely sure. I'm nervous about what I'm supposed to produce and learn- but I know I'm willing. I really want to leave here with a clear idea for modeling self reflective, active learning that I can bring to Moreau.

The people in my cadre all are very different, but very cool. Lots of distinct personalities, experiences. I'm curious what they want out of this experience. I don't know many of them yet- just met about half of them. Searching for commonalities with them. I'm excited that we'll have to work together- just working briefly with Jason and Joella was a great icebreaker.

I really want to push myself to change, to move from being a skeptical observer, to continue to learn. As a school leader, I feel like I'm supposed to know, people expect me to know. I'm not sure what I'm going to write in my welcome back staff letter- what direction do I want the school to take itself. I hope I get a better idea in the coming days.