Brainstorming Ideas for Action Research

     My conference with Mr. Silverman, my principal, was quite interesting and very successful. We discussed a problem that we have noticed more prevalent as time has passed. Our bilingual program does not have a clear definition in terms of goals and objectives per grade level. What I mean is that the percentage of English and Spanish taught throughout content areas are not cohesive from grade level to grade level. I mentioned to him that students are coming into 3^rd and 4^th grade without the ability to transfer knowledge, which is expected by this time. We discussed the lack of teacher proficiency in either English or Spanish as well. In addition, we talked about the type of professional development that might benefit some of the bilingual teachers on campus. His opinion about this topic was that it was a good, but not a great topic for me to begin an action research study on, because he feels that I’m already very knowledgeable on the matter.

     We also conversed about the low Science scores on Curriculum based assessments and state assessments. We specifically talked about our Hispanic students scoring lower than the White and African-American populations. I mentioned about some ideas for possible solutions that I have been brainstorming. I asked him what his opinion was about choosing our strongest Science teacher and having him co-teach alongside other teachers in order to provide modeling for teachers who could benefit. I also mentioned that this teacher could be in charge of observing other teachers while they teach, not with the intention of criticizing, but with the purpose of providing feedback. Since this might be intimidating for some teachers, it could first be provided to teachers who actually yearn for guidance. I explained to him that I have had a teachers sent to my classroom; one by our Bilingual Coordinator and another by the Reading Specialist. For them it was a positive experience because I shared my ideas, my resources or materials, and I modeled my style of teaching. Both of these teachers were very pleased and unthreatened by the experience. One of the teachers was from another school in our district, and to this day we share ideas and resources. When I reminded my principal of this, he seemed to be more open to the idea of selecting an effective Science teacher to share the knowledge with others. Mr. Silverman shared with me how difficult it can be to wear so many hats as a principal. He said this might be a good opportunity to select someone else to do what might be an overwhelming for him. We talked about the duties that make-up most of his day. Handling discipline issues, answering phone calls, talking to concerned parents, and lunch duty. All of these things take away time that he could dedicate to modeling effective instruction and conducting longer walk-throughs. He thought it would be a good idea to have Mr. Hanberick, our most knowledgeable Science teacher take the lead in raising our scores, although he understood it might be somewhat uncomfortable to some individuals on campus.

     The last thing we discussed was a problem that he and I have discussed before. Our students tend to have difficulty producing a cohesive piece of writing. This is a weakness we are seeing in all grade levels. I believe that Mr. Silverman mentioned this topic of study because he knows how much I enjoy teaching Language Arts. He wanted me to know that he is not only concerned about the 4^th grade STAAR assessment, but more than anything, concerned about the quality of writers we are eventually sending to middle school and so on. We spoke about ideas fro professional development, the deep connection between reading and writing, and finally about how teaching with a passion can have a great effect on our students. Although I have not yet researched this deeper, and I have not conducted any data analysis, I have an idea on motivating both teachers and students. I shared some of these ideas with my supervisor and he was very interested. Because my supervisor demonstrated deep concern for this issue, I decided that this will be the topic for my action research project. I look forward to learning through my inquiry and making a difference on my campus. I plan to use my findings to benefit whatever setting I may lead in the future.