I
started working on my Action Research last academic year. A parent survey and a teacher “Google doc” survey
were sent out. During the summer I looked at results with two other teachers
and we used that information to create a plan that was more accurate to our
school’s needs. At the same time we realized that our focus had to change from
discipline to increasing student achievement in reading was necessary since our
school failed to meet AYP due to Reading. I have been researching and reading
about diverse ways in which the school community can get motivated and more
involved to help our students achieve literary success. Using all this
information we developed a final proposal.
The
proposal was presented to our school leader during the summer, she approved it
and we began planning for Open House night. We invited four community vendors
to visit our school that night, asked our librarian to help parents create
accounts, enlisted the literacy coaches into helping parents set up district
email accounts, and suggested teachers to provided agendas or written expectations
for our parents as they visited their classrooms that night.
We
have met with the principal to ensure that our fall literacy family night is
scheduled, we set a date and have Power Points in English and Spanish providing
information on how to help kids become better readers at home, as well as bookmarks
in both languages with questions stems for parents. We are meeting next week
with the parental involvement committee and literacy committee to assign
responsibilities and formalize activities taking that night.
I
am also participating next week in a district staff development that will
provide valuable tools and information on how to support our ELL students as
they increase Reading and Writing skills. Afterwards, I will have to present
the information during a faculty meeting to the rest of the staff. It will
provide support for all teachers and hopefully provide ideas and suggestions
for parents to help out from home too.
