Thursday, March 8, 2007

What I Have Learned - Stacey Brown

1) Question Formation: What do I need to learn? Based on the revised version of the "What I Plan To Study", I need to learn more about the orientation process. What is orientation? What are the components of an induction plan? Who should be involved? How does the culture of our shool influence the induction plan? Shared vision between staff members - is this the place to start when creating a new induction plan?

2) Literature Search: What resources have I identified to learn this new material? Up to this point, I have researched the Induction Plans from other school districts in the state of Pennsylvania through the internet. I have also read an artical from Educational Leadership - Improving School Culture, Synthesis of Research on Effective Schools. I found a website called Building A Shared Vision developed by the Bonner Curriculum. I have gone back through my notes from the previous school year when I attended the Induction Plan Training with HRD and reviewed my notes and the comments our previous team had made. I am still researching, reading & learning. I believe that all of this is helping me reflect on the process and develop a strong action research that will truly have an impact, but the more I look through information I am finding, the more overwhelmed I am feeling. ????

3) Question Formation: How has my action research question/focus changed? My action research focus has changed quite a bit (hence the two different "What I Plan to Study" blogs). Reviewing the Induction Rubric, reflecting on school procedures set in place concerning induction this school year and speaking with my administrator my action research has become somewhat more focused. I also believe that the action research has become more focused because of Richard Sagor's book and the probing/reflecting questions asked through Chapter 3. I felt and sometimes still feel that my action research is too broad, so after reading Chapter 3 and reflecting on the problem formation, I think I am more on the path of accomplishing something. What has helped me the most to narrow the field of research and begin to think about data collection has been the answers to these questions: Who is effected? Who or what is suspected of causing the problem? What kind of problem is it? What is the goal for improvement? What do we propse to do about it? Once I answered these questions in my journal, I was able to develop research questions such as: 1) How will meeting as a Leadership Team to create an induction plan influence other members of our school? 2) What components should make up our induction plan? 3) How does creating a shared vision as our leadership team creates the Induction Plan affect the attitudes of teachers?

Please note: This is still in the planning stages and I welcome any and all feedback.

4 comments:

amy said...

You are engaged in the process of Action Research! Using a variety of resources including out of BCPS, district resources, within your school,and within yourself, I'm understanding that Stacey Brown can move site-based Induction from the work of one person to the work of a team, a shared vision, and influencing attitudes to build capacity. You're moving ahead! This is exciting!

bagasuga4u /aka/ Denise Roberts said...

The three questions you decided to focus your AR on cover plenty of ground. Do you believe you will be able to address these three questions within one school year?

tm said...

1) How will meeting as a Leadership Team to create an induction plan influence other members of our school? 2) What components should make up our induction plan? 3) How does creating a shared vision as our leadership team creates the Induction Plan affect the attitudes of teachers?
Do you see a relationship, similarities, overlaps in your 3 questions? Can you work on induction components before you have the leadership team in place?

Cynthia M. Fowler said...

You are well on your way to establishing a learning culture at your school through the action research process. Continue thinking, reflecting and blogging . . . it is an impressive read.