Research Action Plan

Goal: To determine what improves teacher morale at the school and how this effects others in the school and their motivation and willingness to go above and beyond.
Action Step(s)	Person(s) Responsible	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Discuss topic of interest with the principal and get her approval.	Annabell Villarreal	July – August 2010	None	None needed
Put a committee together that will work with this area of need.	Annabell Villarreal	August 20th – August 27th, 2010	None	None Needed
Meet with the committee to talk about the needs of our school and teachers.	Annabell Villarreal, Principal, Committee members	September 3, 2010	OHI Results	None Needed
Find different articles on morale and its effects on the work environment.	Annabell Villarreal, Principal, Committee members	September 7th – September 22nd, 2010	Internet and Professional Magazines	None Needed
Research which types of motivators boost moral and why.	Annabell Villarreal, Principal, Committee members	September 7th – September 22nd, 2010	Internet and Professional Magazines	None Needed
Survey teachers on what they feel the school is lacking in order to improve moral.	Annabell Villarreal	September 22nd – September 29th, 2010	Survey Monkey	Data Collected through Survey
Committee meets to Study the School’s Organizational Health Inventory and Survey and make plans on how we can start improving teacher morale.	Annabell Villarreal, Principal, Committee members	October 4, 2010	Survey Results, OHI Data, and articles found	Data Collected by all members of the committee
Implement Motivators and morale boosters at the school level.	Annabell Villarreal, Principal, Committee members	October 18, 2010 - April 22, 2011	Resources found from articles and committee suggestions based on survey results	Teachers are more productive, show genuine feelings of happiness, work harder, and less complaints
Survey teachers on if the motivators and morale boosters made a difference.	Annabell Villarreal	April 25th - 28th, 2010	Survey Monkey	Data Collected through Survey
Committee reviews current Organizational Health Inventory and surveys to determine if scores have improved and to determine teacher satisfaction with the current year.	Annabell Villarreal, Principal, Committee members	May 9, 2010	Survey Results, OHI Data, and articles found, teacher retention rates for the last 4 years	Data Collected by all members of the committee and teacher retention rates have improved

Research Reflection: Week 2

“The Passions That Drive Your Journey: Finding a Wondering” is the title of Chapter two in the book entitled Leading With Passion and Knowledge: The Principal as Action Researcher by Nancy Fichtman Dana was extremely informative. It talked about making sure that you, as an inquirer are prepared mentally before you begin any form of inquiry. We must have a positive attitude and be willing to make changes. It tells us that we need to begin by considering the following phrases: "I wonder...," "I think...," and "What if...?"

The chapter continues on the nine related areas of passion that may help you with finding your wonderings. The nine areas are Staff Development, Curriculum Development, Individual Teacher(s), Individual Student(s), School Culture/Community, Leadership, Management, School Performance, and Social Justice. The nine related areas of passion overlap each other, but are individually described at length throughout the chapter. Each area also has samples of how other have used inquiry in order to help them in developing their wonderings, which lead to much needed research. Furthermore, each individual section ended with exercises that one can use to help them delve deeper into each area. Chapter two ends with some cautionary notes and tips to the reader that can help them to achieve success.

Educational Leaders Using Blogs

Blogs can be used in a variety of ways by Educational leaders. Blogs can be used as another means in which educational leaders can communicate with stakeholders and the community. Blogs allows everyone to keep track of what is going on in the school, without having to attend any meetings, which is important since not all parents can attend meetings because of their different work schedules and always lose out on important information. Blogs can be useful on both ends because they not only allow parents to keep up with current events, but allow them to post comments on the blogs. These comments can be beneficial to the school. Administrators can see what outsiders are thinking by the comments posted, which allows the school to have a different outlook on what was discussed on the blogs and helps them decide if any changes might be necessary. Blogs can also be used to conduct book studies in the school, with in vertical teams, or with other schools. This is perfect because participants would not need to be tied down to a schedule. By conducting a book study through a blog, all participants can work on their own time and it does cut into school or home time. Participants can log onto the blog at any time and post comments and reflections to questions that were posted by the book study leader. Leaders can also use blogs in order to communicate with other administrators. This is ideal because not all administrators are close by. It also helps them because they can communicate in this form and administrators can stay on campus since they do not have to leave to attend a meeting. Administrators can share problems or reflections with other leaders who can help answer question by posting comments or solutions. This is an ideal forum, especially for new administrators who may have many questions. Overall, blogs makes easy communication possible because they can be easily created, maintained and viewed at any time.

Action Research

As I read the book Leading With Passion and Knowledge: The Principal as Action Researchers and learned more about action research, I kept thinking in my mind "Am I truly a researcher?" in the back of my mind. I started to think about what it meant to be an Action research. The book tells us that an Administrator that participates in Action Research is one that is constantly thinking about how to go about improving their schools for the benefit of all involved.

The two books Examining What We Do To Improve Our Schools: 8 Steps From Analysis To Action and Leading With Passion and Knowledge: The Principal as Action Researchers have helped me understand what it means to be an Action Researcher. It defines Action Researcher or administrative inquiry as administrators who engage in a systematic investigation by examining data, asking questions, and requesting information. This investigation is done for the purpose of looking and reflecting on their current practices. It allows administrators to look closely at their leadership role and their school improvement efforts. Administrators will pose questions that will help them with reflection. These questions will help them gain insight by allowing them to critically analyze the data, and read literature on their "wonderings". Everything is done in order to make changes based on the information gained from the research.

Action Research can be used in several ways. I can use it in order to help in making the decision of what project will lead to the best solution and how to implement it into the school. We can use “wonderings” in order to further delve into the problems that are facing our school and how to solve them. The use of Action Research will help me become a better principal because it will keep me thinking and reflecting on the practices on my campus. Action Research can be used to develop Leadership Teams who share problems and decision making, which in turn starts to create a culture of collaboration within the school. You can also use Action Research to create Professional Learning Communities with your faculty The Professional Learning Community or the staff can use action research to better their teaching techniques by engaging in studying, learning, and reflecting on effective teaching strategies that work with students. Overall, Action Research can be used in a variety of ways. What is important is that we all not only conduct the research, but implement it and make any necessary changes. In the end everyone in the school should work together to achieve results that will show school improvement.