August 15, 2013
It's that time of year again- back to school! I don't know if the whole state goes back on the 19th, but it's right around the corner. I am on the 5th week of my EDLD 5352 course. One more class for some of us and we are almost done! Congrats, Cardinals!

Web conference reflection for EDLD 5352:
I like what Mr. Humphrey said about the content distribution occurring at home and the skill and practice taking place in the classroom if an educator uses Flipped Learning correctly. I am toying with the idea of having students do much of the reading this year for my English 2 class at home so that we aren't wasting crucial class time on reading out loud or silently when we can be having informative and intellectual conversations about the reading during class time. I'm sure that that are concepts that need to be taught face to face, but students can brush up or get a small taste of a lesson at home the night before they come to class to actually learn the material.
I also liked the way Mr. Littles said that he is going to go back and incorporate LiveBinders, PBL and Flipped Learning into his internship plan because of this class. I think that's a great idea that I might follow suit on.
It's always nice to hear the point of view of a teacher from another school/subject/economic area that doesn't think that a tool will work in their class or campus. Ms. Jimenez mentioned that the flipped classroom wouldn't work with her Life Skills students, but that she can see how it would work with other courses. I think that one of my weak points is trying to apply all that I am learning for this degree to other areas than the one that I teach. I always apply everything to the department that I work in (English). As an administrator, I will have to focus on the big picture.

Draft Action Research Project Progress Report

a.    The Effect of Freshmen Orientation on the Experience of a High School Freshmen

b.    The need was determined because of the lack of freshmen participating in the following: extracurricular activities, UIL academics, PreAP classes, etc. The lack of discipline and dress code violations as well as lack of respect for rules and authority were noted as needs to have an orientation early on so freshmen would know what to expect.  99.8% hispanice males and females.

c.    I want to find out if an annual freshmen orientation in the spring while students are still in the 8^th grade will help them to assimilate into high school easier. Students need to be made aware of rules, dress code, clubs, sports and extracurricular activities that they can join to stay out of trouble and be part of the school in a positive way. We want to decrease the number of referrals, dress code violations, absences, etc. by making the incoming freshmen aware of the rules at our campus.

d.    The research that I have conducted so far has revealed that this is a best practice in many successful districts and high schools. I still have a lot more research to do. The decision making process happened between my principal, dean and myself. I proposed it and they thought it would be a great addition to our campus. We also considered me doing a research project on pregnant teens at our school and preventative measures that could legally be taken at the school level.

e.    I communicated the vision of my action research project to staff, parents, students, and community members through an email to staff and teachers. Parents, students and community members were kept informed via a pamphlet that I made and through the school website. I also had the school put our event on the marquee outside on the main road in front of school. We called students and teachers the week before to make sure that they would attend.

f.     For the first round of my orientation, the dean of instruction and the testing coordinator both helped me to delegate responsibilities and find phone numbers for the teachers and students that we needed to be in attendance.

I put myself in charge of making posters and getting the area ready for everyone to show up and set up their stuff. I also made a lot of phone calls and made the pamphlet for the incoming freshmen. The dean made the color copies for us to hand out at the middle schools before the 8^th graders got out in May 2012. The teachers were in charge of bringing visuals for the students to see and the librarians did an awesome job at bringing prizes to give away. The dean and testing coordinator had goodies to give students as a drawing for showing up.

g.    Our priority was to get as many students up to school as possible. We had sign in sheets and got the students name, ID #, phone number and addresses. We also had sign in sheets at every table so students could sign up to be contacted if they wanted to be in volleyball, UIL, PreAP, etc. or be called in to the counselor’s office if they needed to be in a medical class as part of their graduation plan.  We had a built in consensus that we would divide the orientation into three groups: the tour/counselor meet and greet, the club fair, and the principal orientation.

h.    I think that the research project will and was beneficial to these students because they got a tour of the campus before they had to attend it. They had a chance to meet their future teachers, principals, and counselor. I think that this meets the needs of our community because we have a lot of students that choose to go to other high schools as part of their magnet programs instead of going to our school. I think that this orientation might show them the enthusiasm they need to make the choice to stay local and go to Lopez. We have so much to offer. 

My freshmen orientation for the spring is coming along well. I decided with the help of my mentor that we will need to have the orientation in the spring before the students are out for the summer from school. The lack of transportation and availability of sponsors to attend were our main reasons in changing our dates. We might also have a follow up orientation at the end of the summer for students who are transferring in from other middle schools. Hope everyone is having a great semester!

The progress towards my next freshmen orientation is coming along very well. I am making connections at work that will ensure the next orientation comes together better and we will have a much larger turn out.  There was miscommunication with my first installment of the project. The administrator I was working with to set everything up changed the details a week before we were putting it on. She made it part of a Summer Bridge program that was going on in order for students to regain credits.  We did have those 200 kids go through the orientation, but that’s not a very good turnout considering there are 700 freshmen this year. I want to make it mandatory for students to attend the orientation in order to get their schedules for the next year. Some of the teachers that I invited changed their minds or something came up the day before the event. The teacher/coach/club sponsor turnout was good besides the cancellations.  I am using all of the feedback that I got from the first event to engineer the next orientation into something that I will be much prouder of and hopefully see better results from.  A huge problem this year was also the conversion to a 9 period block schedule as opposed to the 8 period schedule we had been used to. The counselors were way behind on schedules and we were short two counselors as two quit or moved over the summer. These were all problems that I hadn't foreseen or known about since I was on a road trip during the summer break. I have big plans for the next orientation. 

Hi Everyone,
    I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer.  We all know the old joke about the three reasons that people become teachers: June, July, and August! hehehhe
    I wanted to keep everyone updated with my Action Research Plan.  I ran the first part of it yesterday at my campus.  I did a freshmen orientation for the incoming 9th graders.  It went well but the problems that I forsaw weeks ago were the major problems that I faced.  The teachers that had signed up to present didn't show up in some cases and we only had about 100 of the 500 incoming freshmen show up.  The administrator I was working with on this said she thought it went really well considering it is the end of our summer break.  We are going to try to make it bigger and better during the school year to reach all of the freshmen.
   That's it for now.  Enjoy your last few weeks/days!

July 7th
Whoohoo, I am on the eve of the completion of my second course! Below, I have posted some of my reflections about this course that are also part of the Week 5 Assignment.  Congrats, everyone.  Enjoy your week off.

I like the way that Week 3 was a step by step guide on how to write an action research question, choose a topic, etc. My sister is working on her Lamar masters in the same area and she is a year ahead of me and has already changed her topic 3 times.  I like the way this week made me reflect and really think about what I wanted to research for the duration of the class so I won’t be in the situation my sister is in.

I really enjoy using the blogs.  I know that I don’t update it as much as I should, but it is wonderful having the opportunity and knowledge now to be able to have my own blog. I used to think you had to be super computer savvy in order to have a blog.  Turns out I was very mistaken.  

When it comes to the discussion boars, I enjoy reading what other people are going to be doing there projects on and how they plan to put them into action. Once or twice I have commented to a classmate that their plan seems hard to implement, but that is the joy of discussion boards. Everyone is allowed to have their own opinion.  I wish more people would comment on my action research plan so I could get some feedback.

I have also come to the conclusion that you have to be very flexible and willing to help your staff as a principal.  My principal has been answering emails and text messages from me this summer and I know that she doesn’t have to do any of it.  She could be like some administrators and be unavailable to her staff during the summer months, but she’s not.  She’s being very supportive and helpful in helping me with my action research project and plan. 

I know I am posting this a little early, but I am on a vacation road trip so I've been working on my classes ahead of time when I actually have internet.
I spoke with my site supervisor and we are still in agreement on my Action Research Plan.  I will be conducting an incoming freshmen orientation at my campus on August 1st. Sheesh! Feels like it's almost here.   We have consulted over the questionnaires that will be my main evaluation tool and we also discussed me using the Nominal Group Technique to question the adults participating and see what feedback I can get from them.
I hope everyone is having a great summer!