Action Research Plan

Action Planning Template
Goal:  To improve math instruction to provide students with better success in math comprehension
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Conduct a survey among teachers of mathematics at the school level to have a better understanding of teacher’s thoughts and own comprehension of mathematics.	Jessica Rivero	October 20 – 27, 2011	Teachers of Mathematics Survey	Analyze Results and Produce A Needs Report
Align GLEs to each grade level and provide teachers with a graphic source to show how each grade level’s GLEs impact the next level.	Jessica Rivero	Will be delivered and discussed by November 18, 2011	Math GLEs for each grade level, including elementary and middle school	Understanding of importance of alignment across the school level.
Provide teachers with professional development opportunities to provide students with a differentiated approach to learning mathematics.	Jessica Rivero, Laura Landry, Mike Juneau, Nicole Adaway	Differentiation in the math classroom – centers, tiered assignments, choice assignments – Delivered by December 16, 2011	Research on differentiated instruction.  Examples of center management and tiered assignments.  Examples of choice assignments for students.	Observations of teachers and assignments being given to students.
Provide teachers with professional development opportunities on various ways to teach math understanding to students.	Jessica Rivero, Laura Landry, Mike Juneau, Nicole Adaway	Strategies in the math classroom – Delivered by January 20, 2011	Research on the Hands – On Approach to mathematics, Singapore math strategies, and Mental Math	Observations of teachers and lesson plans.

Action Research Plan

Action Planning Template
Goal:  To improve math instruction to provide students with better success in math comprehension
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Conduct a survey among teachers of mathematics at the school level to have a better understanding of teacher’s thoughts and own comprehension of mathematics.	Jessica Rivero	October 20 – 27, 2011	Teachers of Mathematics Survey	Analyze Results and Produce A Needs Report
Align GLEs to each grade level and provide teachers with a graphic source to show how each grade level’s GLEs impact the next level.	Jessica Rivero	Will be delivered and discussed by November 18, 2011­	Math GLEs for each grade level, including elementary and middle school	Understanding of importance of alignment across the school level.  Focus groups with the grade level before and after each grade to discuss thoughts and observations on student’s math comprehension.
Provide teachers with professional development opportunities to provide students with a differentiated approach to learning mathematics.	Jessica Rivero, Laura Landry, Mike Juneau, Nicole Adaway	Differentiation in the math classroom – centers, tiered assignments, choice assignments – Delivered by December 16, 2011	Research on differentiated instruction.  Examples of center management and tiered assignments.  Examples of choice assignments for students.	Observations of teachers and assignments being given to students.  Discussion in PLCs (Professional Learning Communities) and Focus Groups (Blogs) with teachers of various levels about how differentiation is improving their student’s math comprehension and ways for more improvement.
Provide teachers with professional development opportunities on various ways to teach math understanding to students.	Jessica Rivero, Laura Landry, Mike Juneau, Nicole Adaway	Strategies in the math classroom – Delivered by January 20, 2011	Research on the Hands – On Approach to mathematics, Singapore math strategies, and Mental Math	Observations of teachers and lesson plans.  Discussions in PLCs and with Focus Groups (Blogs) about new strategies that are being found to teach a skill and ways to improve teaching skills to provide better understanding for the students.

Week 2 Reflection

After completing week 2's assignment, I feel more confident in completing my action research plan. Some of the examples I read helped me to feel that I could apply the same thinking and processes in my own research to be able to provide a practical, productive, and beneficial research plan. In addition, some of the examples from assignment 2, part 2 were eye-opening as to things that I need to think of anyway even though it is not a topic for my action research plan. I am now excited to start and ready to see the difference I can make at my school on the instruction of math and the students' understanding of math.

Administrators & Blogs

Blogging can be a very powerful tool if used correctly. Administrators can use blogs to keep parents and the community up to date with information about the school. In addition, blogs can be used as a tool for communication between administrators and teachers. The administrators could post new findings from data driven decision making and teachers would have the opportunity to communicate through comments. Then, the comments could be read, and through PLCs, the topic can be discussed and a decision can made on the best way to help the situation.

Action Research

When I first saw that this class was based on action research, the first thought in my head was, "AHHHH!! What have I gotten myself into? I don't have time for research!"
After researching more about action research, I realized that I do this on a weekly, even daily basis. I am a math teacher and I am continuously evaluating my students and changing and/or verifying the strategies I use in the classroom.
Now that I know more about what all action research entails: define an issue to study, review of professional literature, take action, and use and share results, I feel that I can effectively integrate action research into my weekly and/or daily practices. I can do more with what I discover from my informal and formal assessments. Not only do I need to continue my teaching method or reteach to some students in different ways, but I need to remember to research through professional literature to find more proven strategies to teach the skill. When finished with my research and collecting my data, I need to share with other colleagues so they may benefit from my research.