Week 4- Thanks for the Input!

I was very excited to hear the responses from my site supervisor, who was positive and thought that the action plan was a very good topic and the topic would hopefully affect other issues in a positive way such as improve student behavior, improve test scores and improve classroom performance.

She was also very interested to learn of the outcome of the various analyses of data, surveys, interviews and actions from the students and teachers. She also suggested that when I finish the readings suggested by my peers that I share those with my team and give her a brief book review. She agreed with me that this research isn't just about increased student achievement on STAAR, it is also about better serving our student population and making them more successful. The results of this research can only make us a stronger staff. 

Also, thank you fellow bloggers for all of your suggestions! Not only does it save me some time, but it also helps me look for things that others in teaching have found interesting and beneficial. Some of the suggestions were a book titled “How to Teach Kids Who Don’t Look Like You.” The purpose of the book is apparently to "take teachers and place the mirror of bias, categorization, and prejudicial thinking before them in order to bring underlying issues about race, gender, culture, SES and so forth to the forefront". In the majority of the research I have read, it suggests putting down judgments and making the kids trust you. I also liked the suggestion to us this as a book study for PD. This type of PD might help me continue any success my research has. Another book was, “What Is It About Me That You Can’t Teach.” I also received some great suggestions about ways to come up with my own data. I hadn't thought of before. I’m a little skeptical, just because I feel like by doing that I will have less buy in from my peers (yes they can be...difficult) ultimately I want to see them try and implement some of these strategies so that all of our students can be successful. I have also decided to open up my research more to include low SES and ESL students. I think I was too focused on my two sub populations making it more difficult to find resources.