Praxis - Leadership

L = Love; I work well with others and can show leadership in a friendly way. I need to work on offering my help in a leadership way instead of waiting for others to ask.

E = Energy; I try to start and end the day on an energetic note. I volunteer for a lot of things and help out wherever I can. Sometimes I get overwhelmed and can feel drained.

A = Audacity; being bold; when I am in a meeting, I'm not afraid to speak up and voice my opinion. At times, if I am in an unfamiliar situation, I can be more quiet and not offer my insight even if I have an idea.

P = Proof; I prove my leadership by actually doing it. I am an example for the other teacher that I share a classroom with. I also get done what needs to be done. I can be a little critical of others if they are not pulling their share of the load.

Example:
I am the head of my department and co-lead quarterly department PLC meetings. In those meetings, there are some very strong male voices that have been overbearing on the meetings. I have been working on being a stronger voice in the meetings  by offering my input frequently. I bring good ideas to the meeting and make sure we stay on task and follow the agenda.

AGAPE - Relationships (Have Dots and Have Nots)

Zoe is a student in my 9th grade Introduction to Engineering class. She is also a student in the AVID program. She is very organized, sits in the front of the class, listens attentively, and is very polite. However, she does not interact with any of her classmates. She comes into my class before the bell and sits and reads until class starts. During class, she gets her work done, and that's it. She is a model student except that she is very quiet and doesn't interact with anyone else. I am a little surprised that she is taking my class since we do many group projects.

1. What actions am I taking?

I have been talking to Zoe at the beginning of classes to get to know her better. I asked her questions about the book she was reading this week. Today, I looked at her work and looked through her organized binder and talked about helping her with an assignment.

2. What impact am I having?

I feel like I am getting to know her a little better. It's a little challenging for me since she is very quiet.

3. What questions are being generated?
How do I get her to interact more with other students? I think I need to do some group/pairing work so she can work on her skills of talking and working with others.

What other ways can I get to know Zoe better?

Why is she in my class - is she interested in engineering? Are her parents engineers? Does she want to become an engineer?


December 19:
1. What actions am I taking?
I've been continually interacting with Zoe in the classroom.

Zoe is in the Avid program. I plan to observe her in one of her Avid classes after Winter break to see her in a different classroom setting. I couldn't get it scheduled before Winter break starts. This will also give me the opportunity to see an Avid classroom and to see how I can help support the learning in that classroom.

2. What impact am I having?
Zoe has become more talkative with me and with other students. I see her interacting with other students more which is so good to see.

3. What questions are being generated?
What else can I do for Zoe, or should I move on to another student who needs more help at this time.


I read this article about giving feedback to students. It's a quick read and provides 19 words that we should say to each student when giving feedback. Although this doesn't completely apply to building relationships, it still has an impact on students' performance when giving them feedback and talking to them.

These are the 19 words we should say when giving feedback:

I’m giving you these comments because I have very high expectations and I know that you can reach them.


http://thetalentcode.com/2013/12/13/the-simple-phrase-that-increases-effort-40/


Feb 14, 2014:
This is sometimes harder than I think. I feel like class flies by, and I haven't had the chance to connect with Zoe. She missed the entire week of finals and then was trying to catch up at the beginning of 2nd semester. I was supportive with her and helped her with her assignments and making up her final. However, I struggle with the personal side of it. I talked to her Avid teacher about attending her Avid class, but unfortunately, it's the same time that I teach. I'll keep thinking of ideas to make connections with her.

I would like to switch my efforts to a different student in my 9th grade class. We are struggling with our relationship this year. I don't think he enjoys coming to class, and he continually acts out in class. Next week, I want to talk to some other teachers about how to connect with him.

Action Research Journal

Nov 22, 2013:

1. My action research stresses me out! I feel like I'm not doing enough. I don't feel like I am accurately tracking my action research with my class.

2. I switched classes that I am tracking my action research for, and it seems to be working better.


Dec 2, 2013:

1. I'm feeling better about tracking the other class. I have completed interviews and the survey. This week, I will be tracking engagement using the Class dojo app on my ipad.

2. I am still a little apprehensive about not having enough solid data to back up my action research. Some days I fluctuate between feeling okay about the data, and other days, I am not feeling okay. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed in trying to fit it all into the class time.


Dec 18, 2013:

I had my Alt Comp coach stop by my classroom today to help me track motivation and engagement among students while I was teaching. She walked around and took pictures using her iPad and emailed the data to me. It helped me see who was on-task and who was not on-task.

I also kept track of classroom engagement using the Class dojo app as well. I was surprised to see how many students were off task when I thought everyone was very engaged and motivated.

I changed my third data collection tool to tracking engagement using the Class dojo app and my alt comp coach.


Jan 10, 2014:

I'm still feeling a little behind with this project. I need to finish my second set of data collection tools and then I can do my third set in a couple of weeks. Wow! The time has flown by. I had my students complete a survey today. I'm not sure how legitimate the information will be since it was a Friday of a short week of the first week back from Winter break. It's amazing how the day and time period may possibly affect things.
I need to interview the three students on Monday and then track class engagement using the iPad Class Dojo app.


Jan 27, 2014:

No school again today, so hard to collect data. I meant with a friend for lunch today and explained my action research project to her. I was feeling very stressed about it. After I explained it to her, she asked some great questions, and helped me realize that I've done some good things based on my research and that it's okay to not have a concrete answer. As an engineer, I feel like I should have data that is concrete, but in this type of work, that's not always possible, and that's okay.

By the end of this week, I plan on having my student interviews complete and class engagement tracked during 3rd hour. Then I'll implement changes as necessary for about two more weeks, and then I'll collect data one more time.

Feb 21, 2014:
I still need to collect some more data. I think the data collection is the hardest part for me. It's hard to take a snapshot of my class and their engagement. I have one more round of data collection left that I plan on doing the first week of March. If I were to do this entire project again, I would narrow my topic by tracking engagement with only one type of technology, not many different applications of technology.

Action Research - Data Analysis

The Five Whys

LEAP Into Leadership

LEAP into Leadership

Love
Energy
Audacity
Proof

ROL Draft #3

Here it is . . . draft #3. I still feel like it needs help. This is hard!

ROL Draft #3