I Feel...

I feel...tired, confused, and a little crazy. I have had so many thoughts on what to do my action research plan on.  But, I have kept the same idea for over a week, so I think that solidifies it, I am going to investigate the use of tablets with kindergarten students.  At first, and still my main objective, I want to see if their test scores improve.  But now I also want to look at the desire to learn using the tablets.  Can I find any intrinsic motivation?  I don't know how measurable that will be, but I just want to see. Maybe I look at for curiosity, but I think that students listen and pay attention more often with technology than with out it. When I taught Pre-K there were times that I would turn the document camera on me so I would be displayed. They listened so much better. I am planning on resting this Spring Break, but also reflecting on parts of the research plan.  Have a great week everyone who is reading!!!!!

Kindergarten and Tablets

I believe that technology can be very instrumental in education.  Our teachers their Promethean boards when instructing the students, but I want to give students the power.  So, I have narrowed my action research plan down to integrating technology, more specifically tablets, in a kindergarten classroom.  I plan to use a pretest and a post-test as part of my data collection.  My hope is to find applications that can be used by students in a small group setting during rotations.  I will be focusing on reading and math.  My administrators are also interested in this research plan.  We have had many discussions to determine if we should buy tablets for the classrooms.  My goal is to determine if using the tablet would increase the academic skills in a kindergarten classroom. 

How Can Educational Leaders Use Blogs?

I enjoy blogging on a personal level, but I have not given much thought to it at the educational level. You can take ideas or lessons plans that you have created that have turned out great and share them with others. I believe STRONGLY in "why recreate the wheel?" Sharing ideas with others is the first, and if I am truly honest, and only way I thought you could use a blog for education. But, after reading the Dana text and writing and rewriting this particular bog I have thought of a couple more ideas.

1. Document a meeting-Have a person at the meeting become the blogger. If everyone follows that blog you can them comment and have an ongoing record of the meeting and the ideas that come from it.

2. Suggestions-If your courtesy committee is looking for suggestions on activities you can post a blog and have staff members offer suggestions in the comments section.

3. Skip a meeting-I know that we all have 1,000 things that we need to do and going to a meeting is the last thing I want to do at the end of the day. If you created a blog you could post a question or situation and the members would need to respond within the week. Just like we do for our discussion posts.

4. Class Blog- You could set up a class blog where students AND parents would be able to interact about information that is presented in class. The students could help each other through problems, the teacher could post homework, the parents could see that they DO have homework or ask a question.

I think blogging could be a very valuable tool used in education. Now to find time to do so...

Action Research

Administrative inquiry, or action research can be a very useful and meaningful tool.  From my understanding, action research is intended to bring about a change. The change may need to be in student performance, the work environment, student-teacher relationships, etc.  By developing an action research plan you are committing to gathering evidence and collaborating with co-workers to determine the best solution for the situation.  You, and the group that you are working with, are active participants in the action research.  

In traditional education research, you are given the data and are expected to analyze it and apply to your current situation.  With the administrative inquiry, all of the information that is gathered is directly related to the situation or problem that you are trying to improve. As stated in Leading with Passion and Knowledge(Dana), action research benefits school leaders, improves campus cultures, and improves student performance.  

Now that I have a better understanding of action research I would like to look at the use of technology in the classrooms.  Our school is very lucky to have the amount of technology that we have.  As I walk around room to room, I see far less teachers using the technology that is there.  By observations, data collection, and surveys I would like to find out how often technology is being used by the teachers and the students.  If the teacher is not using technology to its fullest potential, I need to find out why.  Do they need more training? Are the intimidated? Do they not have enough time?  My hope is to evaluate the situation and then come up with a solution to get technology used in the classroom more often. 


Dana, N. F. (2009). Leading with Passion and Knowledge: The Principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press

All About Super Me!

Here is the start to my Diary of a Super Educator!  This is my 14th year teaching.  I have taught  special education, preschool, speech therapy, and now in technology.  I love what I do!