Floresville High Scool and Its Effective Classroom Teachers
As I was involved in looking at the failure rate for the nine week grading cycles, I noticed that some teachers were at the top failure rate list on each grading cycle. Some of these teachers had a really high failure rate compared to other teachers within the same content area. This started to bother me and I started to dig deeper within data to see if there was a direct correlation between this data and other data such as discipline referrals and TAKS scores. I noticed that these teachers seem to be at or below average in regards to checkpoint assessments, previous years TAKS scores, and discipline issues in the classroom. My vision was to review data, conduct interviews with Instructional Facilitators and students, and to determine traits of an effective classroom teacher. Once this was established, I would then interview and observe these effective teachers to get firsthand knowledge of how and what they were doing differently in the classroom. My goal was to get these teachers to have positive interactions with the teachers who were having problems in the classroom to create a positive change and help them become an effective classroom teacher. A measurable goal that I would focus on would be to see if the “ineffective” classroom teachers’ checkpoint scores, discipline referrals, and TAKS scores increased, decreased, or remained constant after the interaction with the effective teachers. The decision making process in conducting this action research plan was difficult at times. First off, it was a difficult decision in choosing this topic in discussion with my site supervisor. It was easy to label some teachers as effective, but extremely hard to label others as ineffective. My colleagues in EDLD 5301 helped me to change that course of thinking by stating the action research differently. The decisions involved in conducting my action research involved my site supervisor, instructional facilitators, and me. Decisions such as how to conduct the action research, what data to analyze, and what teachers on our campus are considered effective classroom teachers were discussed. According to a website I encountered, “becoming an effective teacher takes practice and special guidance from mentors and administrators”. This is one reason I felt like my action research would help get teachers to interact with others that would ultimately help produce more effective classroom teachers at Floresville High School. I communicated my vision of the action research plan to my site supervisor and other administrators in a meeting. When I was given approval, I communicated my vision to the teachers at a faculty meeting which was surprisingly welcomed by the teachers. I took on most of the responsibilities in completing the action research. I did enlist the help of a coworker to video some teachers in the classroom. Some of the interviews with the Instructional Facilitators were done via email which saved time for everyone. I was able to analyze the data myself but solicited the help of the testing coordinator and PEIMS clerk to pull the data for me. This research required me to visit classrooms to observe, video, and interview teachers. For this reason, I always took student achievement into consideration. I never went into a classroom during testing or when students were giving presentations. I made sure that I was not a distraction to any student trying to learn. It was my responsibility to set priorities when conducting this action research. I first looked at the data in which I accumulated and determined what I needed to do first. Did I need to focus on the teachers who were having trouble or focus on the teachers who were doing an effective job in the classroom? I decided that finding the problem would be the initial step in finding a solution. I was able to build consensus amongst the teachers in participating my action research for the simple fact that the results were ultimately going to help students succeed. I made it clear from day 1 that I was not in the business of wasting anyone’s time and that I had purpose in what I was researching. I did not want anyone to feel as though I was labeling them as “ineffective”, rather I was helping to find strategies and techniques that would benefit all teachers at the high school. This helped in alleviating any conflict that might have arose during this research. Communication with teachers was mainly done via email, although I would schedule appointments with the Instructional Facilitators and Administrators when needed. This action research was not specifically developed to help the special needs students and students with diverse backgrounds. This research was meant to help increase the number of effective classroom teachers at Floresville High School. For this reason, the more teachers who are positively affected by this research, the bigger the student population who will benefit from this research.
Note: I will not be able to share the results of my action research with my audience (teachers) until the end of the 2011 fall semester or the early part of the 2012 spring semester. I was supposed to share my results during a teacher in-service day in August, but since we switched to the C-scope curriculum, the day will now become a C-scope training day.
Effective Teacher. (2005-2011). Retrieved from http://www.online-distance-learning-education.com/article_info.php/articles_id/31
