Action Research Update

1) What is your current Action Research question? What coaching plan supports what teachers need most to be fully qualified and satisfied in the classroom?

2) When looking at your question, what areas did you investigate? I have and still am investigating the amount and quality of coaching the new educators have received in my school so far this year. I am also using data collected throughout the school year to analyze and reflect on the amount and type of coaching available. I am investigating the effects the coaching provided may have had on the classroom teacher based on classroom management, achievement, and observations.

3) What sources of data did you use to learn more about Question # 2? I answered this question in previous post for data collection.

4) What did you learn about your investigated areas?

Mentor Logs – I was hoping to use the mentor logs as a resource to get an idea as to the frequency of meetings between the NE/IC and the topics discussed. I found that most of the logs were incomplete and because of this, the logs did not truly reflect the relationship between the IC and NE. When I mentioned I was collecting the logs for this project, most of the IC/NE completed the logs, but it again was not truly reflective. The logs were probably not maintained as well as they could have been because of the lack of emphasis for keeping the logs at the beginning of the year. Again – had the expectations been completely laid out for all new members of the induction team, this may not have been an issue.

Benchmark Assessment Results – (Still collecting data)

# of Disciplinary Referrals/Types of referrals – (Still collecting information)

Classroom Observations – All of the teachers have shown improvement on the observations completed by the IC from the beginning of the year up to now. In the beginning all of our teachers struggled with such things as having smooth transitions, offering authentic praise, feeling comfortable with instructional delivery, asking higher order questions, providing corrective feedback, etc. At this point, are teachers are stronger in these areas.

Interviewing the instructional coach – This was very informative. I actually had the opportunity to talk to each of the instructional coaches and make plans for our induction plan. I am still reviewing the notes and reviewing the information gained from this process, but a few common threads between all instructional coaches is the concern for time, the opportunities they have available to them and letting them know these opportunities ahead of time, and having instructional coach meetings where topics and resources can be discussed between just ICs.