Update on My Action Research Project

My action research project is in it’s beginning stage.  After speaking with my science teacher who will be providing the testing material, we decided to hold off on creating a control group until the end of the 1^st nine weeks of school.  We chose to do this so we can get base line scores to have something to compare  as this project progresses.  I have gathered test score data as well as daily work scores so I can track the progress of both the control group as well as the non control group.  Together, the science teacher and I have also decided to look at the data gathered for far so we can split our control and non control groups evenly based on the students’ individual academic progress so we can compare the data more accurately.  The first action I took to get my action research project under way was to meet with my 4^th grade science teacher to make sure she was fully prepared to incorporate music into her daily routine with her different science classes.  I have also begun to incorporate the same music in my music classroom during the students’ music time so when the same music is played in their science class, the students will be familiar with the music, and should not be much of a distraction.  This should allow the students to focus more on their daily work and tests.  I have spent roughly 8 hours worth of work on my action research project so far.  The first 4 hours were spent in selecting the playlist the students will begin listening to in their science classroom.  “Fur Elise” by Beethoven, “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” by Mozart, and “Take Five” by Desmond are just a few of the selections I have chosen.  The rest of the hour have been spent meeting with the science teacher and going over data that has been collected.

Week 4 progress of action plan revisions

I am happy to report that I have no new action research plan revisions!  I want to thank all of you who have posted on my wall to give me the wonderful ideas.  With your ideas from earlier last week, I was able to revise my plan and show it to my new principal who has agreed to be my site supervisor, and she likes it!!  So, I am just going to re-post my plan. 

To start the process of my plan, I am meeting with my 4th grade science teacher when she gets her student rosters to discuss which of her classes will be the control group and which ones will be the non-control group.  After that, we will discuss what type of music will be played, and determine how loud it will need to be.  Then on to when we would like our data testing days to be.  I must admit I am super excited to get this project under way! 

Goal:  To find out if playing music in the background while students are testing has a positive effect on their test scores.

ACTION STEPS	PERSONS RESPONSIBLE	TIMELINE:  START/END	NEEDED RESOURCES	EVALUATION
1.  Start playing music in control classes during work time.	Science teacher	Aug 2013/May 2014	Cd of various composers, and cd player, student roster, objectives for the day	Will ask teacher to record students’  reactions and responses to music being played in classroom
2.  Begin recording daily assignment scores.	Science teacher	Aug 2013/May 2014	Record book or log book	Look at both the control group and the non-control group and compare scores to see if there is any effect.
3.  Send home survey to parents/guardians and give survey to students to fill out in class.	Mary Young, myself	Sept 2013	Survey given to kids to take home to parents,  and surveys given to students	Survey will ask parents if their child likes listening to music, and if so, what kind.  Survey will ask student what they think of having music played in the background during their work time.
4.  Begin testing control classes with music playing in the background.	Science teacher	October 2013/May 2014	Cd of various composers, cd player, test material	Compare the scores of each group
5.  Collect test scores from both groups and make a chart showing the scores of each group.	Mary Young, myself	October 2013/May 2014	Test scores	Using the collected scores, create a graph to give a visual of the data collected and write a reflection of data found.
6.  Give presentation to 4th grade science teacher and school principal about the finding of the project halfway through competition.	Mary Young, myself	December 2013	Data collected up to that point	Power point presentation to show how the data is being collected and what my findings have been up to this point.
7.  Send home another survey to the parents and give another survey to students.	Mary Young, myself	Feb 2014	Survey given to students to take home to parents, and survey given to students for them to complete themselves	Survey will again ask parents if their child likes listening to music, and if so, what kind.  Survey will also again ask student what they think of having music played in the background during their work time and add in test time
8.  Continue to collect daily assignment scores and weekly test scores.	Mary Young, myself	Aug 2013/ May 2014	Assignment scores and test scores from both groups.	Using a chart, I will be able to easily see if there is any difference in scores between the two groups and write reflection on data collected
9.  Compare daily test scores and weekly test scores of the control and non-control group and give end of year presentation on project to principal and science teacher.	Mary Young, myself	May 2014	All data collected throughout the year.  Test scores, assignment scores, survey input	Power point presentation to principal and science teacher to show if music had an impact of the test scores and daily assignment scores by doing a side-by-side comparison of the control and the non-control test group.  I will also pull information from the surveys to see if playing music at school had any impact on the students

REVISED Action Planning Template

After some thought, and taking some feedback in, I have decided to revise my action planning template.  Please tell me what you think!

ACTION STEPS	PERSONS RESPONSIBLE	TIMELINE:  START/END	NEEDED RESOURCES	EVALUATION
1.  Start playing music in control classes during work time.	Science teacher	Aug 2013/May 2014	Cd of various composers, and cd player, student roster, objectives for the day	Will ask teacher to record students’  reactions and responses to music being played in classroom
2.  Begin recording daily assignment scores.	Science teacher	Aug 2013/May 2014	Record book or log book	Look at both the control group and the non-control group and compare scores to see if there is any effect.
3.  Send home survey to parents/guardians and give survey to students to fill out in class.	Mary Young, myself	Sept 2013	Survey given to kids to take home to parents,  and surveys given to students	Survey will ask parents if their child likes listening to music, and if so, what kind.  Survey will ask student what they think of having music played in the background during their work time.
4.  Begin testing control classes with music playing in the background.	Science teacher	October 2013/May 2014	Cd of various composers, cd player, test material	Compare the scores of each group
5.  Collect test scores from both groups and make a chart showing the scores of each group.	Mary Young, myself	October 2013/May 2014	Test scores	Using the collected scores, create a graph to give a visual of the data collected and write a reflection of data found.
6.  Give presentation to 4th grade science teacher and school principal about the finding of the project halfway through completition.	Mary Young, myself	December 2013	Data collected up to that point	Power point presentation to show how the data is being collected and what my findings have been up to this point.
7.  Send home another survey to the parents and give another survey to students.	Mary Young, myself	Feb 2014	Survey given to students to take home to parents, and survey given to students for them to complete themselves	Survey will again ask parents if their child likes listening to music, and if so, what kind.  Survey will also again ask student what they think of having music played in the background during their work time and add in test time
8.  Continue to collect daily assignment scores and weekly test scores.	Mary Young, myself	Aug 2013/ May 2014	Assignment scores and test scores from both groups.	Using a chart, I will be able to easily see if there is any difference in scores between the two groups and write reflection on data collected
9.  Compare daily test scores and weekly test scores of the control and non-control group and give end of year presentation on project to principal and science teacher.	Mary Young, myself	May 2014	All data collected throughout the year.  Test scores, assignment scores, survey input	Power point presentation to principal and science teacher to show if music had an impact of the test scores and daily assignment scores by doing a side-by-side comparison of the control and the non-control test group.  I will also pull information from the surveys to see if playing music at school had any impact on the students

My Action Research Plan

Action Planning Template Goal:  To find out if playing music in the background while students are testing has a positive effect on their test scores. ACTION STEPS PERSONS RESPONSIBLE TIMELINE:  START/END NEEDED RESOURCES EVALUATION 1.  Dividing groups into 4 groups, Group 1 will listen to music every day during math work time and during weekly math tests. Myself and Ceclia Floreke, 2nd grade teacher Beginning 1st day of school  2013 and lasting until the last test of the school year 2014. List of students, list of student to teacher ratio, cd with various composers, cd player, list of weekly objectives, weekly math grades, testing materials for math. Compare results from beginning of the year to the end of the year.  Also compare results between all the groups to see which has the better scores. 2.  Group 2 will listen to music during math work time every other week and on every weekly math test. Myself and Rachel Flores, 2nd grade teacher Beginning 1st day of school 2013 and lasting until the last test of the school year 2014. List of students, list of student to teacher ratio, cd with various composers, cd player, list of weekly objectives, weekly math grades testing materials for math. Compare results from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.  Also compare results between all the groups to see which has the better scores. 3.  Group 3 will only listen to music during weekly math tests but never during instruction. Myself and Judi Charlton, 2nd grade teacher Beginning 1st day of school 2013 and lasting until the last test of the school year 2014. List of students, list of student to teacher ratio, cd with various composers, cd player, list of weekly objectives, weekly math grades, testing materials for math. Compare results from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.  Also compare results between all the groups to see which has the better scores. 4.  Group 4 will never listen to music during math work time or during math weekly testing. Myself and Sara Collins, 2nd grade teacher Beginning 1st day of school 2013 and lasting until the last test of the school year 2014. List of students, list of student to teacher ratio, weekly objectives, weekly math grades testing materials for math. Compare results from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.  Also compare results between all the groups to see which has the better scores.

Week 2 Reflection

From this week, I have learned that if you are going to do an action research project, you cannot do it by yourself and be successful.  From the videos to the readings, for every action research that everyone talked about, they all stated how people on the campus or in the district worked together to have the outcome they wanted.  This makes me realize that it not only takes a village to raise a child, but it also takes a village to seek out ways to make improvements for that child(ren).  I am excited yet nervous at the same time going into this action research project.  I know there are not going to be "right or wrong" answers, but putting something in place to see if it works or not.  And that is what I am most fearful of....what if my action research project doesn't work like I want it?  Then I am going to constantly be thinking, "what could I have done differently?"  However, on the flip side, I will be jumping with joy if it does work!  Oh the roller coaster of emotions I am on!!

Analysis of how educational leaders might use blogs

Educational leaders can use blogs for many different things. They can create a blog site for the faculty to use to help with communication, answer questions, and even get feedback. They can create a blog site for members of the community to give them information about what is going on in their school such a music programs, fundraisers, or information on how they can help support student achievement. I would think that blogs are a great resource to use to make sure that everyone is up to date with information, because as long as you follow, you should be kept in the loop.

What have I learned about Action Research and How I might be able to use it

From my understanding, action research is a tool that anyone can use to find out any information they are looking for by using what is around them.  It allows for a sense of unity and allows for members of the research team to "buy in" to the research by allowing them to get their hands dirty to find the answers.  It is also a good way to allow yourself to ask for the help of others who are or have been in the same situtation.  Action research can be molded to fit what you need.  It is not a cookie cut research.  When doing an action research project, you are typically wanting to bring some kind of change to your school.  Therefore, it has to be more personal and more fitting to your school's needs.

I would like to use action research to determine whether or not playing music in the background while students are taking tests have any effect on the scores.  To find out this information, I plan to do a series of tests throughout the course of the year for a specific grade level.  I will have a controlled group that will listen to a preselected set of songs and a non controlled group that will not have any music at all.  By the end of the year, I hope to have enough evidence to determine if there is any effect on the test scores.