Friday, August 9, 2013

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

Friday, August 2, 2013

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

Thursday, August 1, 2013

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.