Setting the Foundation: Through a meeting with my site supervisor and lead counselor I will propose my study and my belief that students are motivated to make better grades when they are involved in extra-curricular activities. During this meeting I will set out my time-line and work on forming a student list to be part of my focus group from various grades in the school.
Analyzing Data: My data will include responses to interviews and questionnaires as well as shared information on my subject matter gathered from research from readings and searches on the internet. A very important part of data will be the responses from the students involved in the focus group and the study of their grade reports throughout the school year as I follow their progress.
Developing Deeper Understanding: Using the data gathered through interviews I will discuss the results with various administrators I know as well as teachers and coaches to get their opinions and views of my study. A big part of this will simply be their reaction as to whether they feel my results were surprising or in line with their preconceived perceptions on the subject.
Engaging in Self Reflection: When addressing my study through self reflection I feel that one of my motivations for doing this study relate to my disagreement with some school districts push to remove some electives such as the arts and physical education from school curriculum's. Questions include: Why do students like or dislike school? What do students look forward to when they are at school? What classes do students feel engaged in the most? In addition, another motivation for me is my curiosity in how the “No Pass, No Play” rule has affected student athletes toward making better grades. Or has it more or less just motivated to pass as opposed to truly excelling in their courses?
Exploring Programmatic Patterns: When discussing this with my site supervisor ideas started to be formed as to what other questions might come through the possible results of my study. If it is true that students are more engaged in their extra-curricular activities, how can we use this in other curriculum areas? Regarding “No Pass, No play”, what if it the results point toward simply passing and not excelling in class? Is this acceptable and just a product of an imperfect system? And if so, what can be done toward improving this imperfect system?
Determining Direction: After meeting with my site supervisor I feel that I have a clear direction for my study. I have developed clear questions regarding the objectives. I have identified the particular groups and people to help me administer and gather data. They are not only clear as to what I hope to prove but have added input that has assisted in my plan. The time line is appropriate and the plan for implementing and monitoring is reasonable. It is hard to tell at this point if my plan will be effective but it will become clearer as I go. According to my evaluation I will make adjustments as needed.
Taking Action for School Improvement: A written plan of action will be developed using resources available. Both a formative and summative evaluation will be done.
Sustain Improvement: The process of my study will hopefully transfer to future studies during my internship to become an administrator. Knowing how to use the resources and tools available to me and maybe see how they can be used toward studying potential issues in school districts will assist me in other areas during my personal professional development.
At one district I worked at the football coach implemented weekly progress checks for all football players. The weekly checks were different from the traditional grade check. The concern was not with the grade but the on task behavior for the week, the on time arrival to class, class attitude (coachability), conduct, and up to date on assignments. We rated the students in each of these 5 categories for that week only. We were not to consider previous weeks and the theory was that when all the above things were taken care of the grades should take care of themselves. As a teacher I loved these checks because if I answered no progress in any one of the areas and the student was an underclassman he would not receive a game jersey for that week. You wouldn't believe how many students I had in my room at lunch on grade check day to complete late assignments. And when a football player was acting up in class, all I had to say was that was considering answering no on his grade check. I think that in addition to not playing that week if the athlete fell behind or misbehaved in class, he "ran until he puked." Failure to turn in a weekly check resulted in the same consequence as turning in one with a no on it.
ReplyDeleteIt took some buy in from the teachers and an understanding that it wasn't about the grade in the class but more about their coachability, that the students and teachers both started to benefit from this program. It was a real risk on the part of the coach, as it might mean that he loses his starter for the week but it was a lesson that only took one time to learn. It was a win-win for the teachers and students and the coaches attitude about it really showed that academics came first.