Action Research Draft Plan

1.    Setting the Foundation: Through curriculum planning meetings and daily interactions with other math teachers it has come to my attention that there is a need for more engaging technology based lessons in the math classroom.

2.    Analyzing Data: Test or benchmark overall scores will be compared to results from previous years. Additionally, scores of individual class assessments will be compared to those of other sections in the same class.

3.    Developing Deeper Understanding: Interviews with district curriculum and technology professionals will be conducted in order to gain insights on using technology in the classroom setting and integrating it successfully into lesson plans. Interviews will also be conducted with students who are both excelling and struggling with the class material with the purpose of finding ways to scaffold their learning or create more challenging lessons.

4.    Engage is Self-Reflection: I plan on conducting interviews with several district and campus curriculum coordinators as well as technology professionals. In these interviews I plan to gain vital insight into how I need to change my teaching practices in order to successfully integrate technology into my daily lessons. Additionally, self-reflection exercises should take place both before, during, and after I complete my research. Constant self-evaluation should help me gain a better understanding of how to enhance math curriculum through the effective use of technology.

5.    Exploring Programmatic Patterns: After speaking with my site supervisor I have pin-pointed some things that I need to pay special attention to during my project. I need to make sure that I have an accurate timeline of when I need to conduct my interviews and how often I should give examinations to my students to determine the overall effectiveness of my lessons. Also I need to make sure that I have several different options of technology to implement for similar lessons because I have learned in my short teaching career that what works with one class may not work with another.

6.    Determining Direction:  I feel that I have created a research question that very clearly conveys the problem that I am attempting to solve. I will use collaboration with others by seeking out advice from technology professionals, curriculum coordinators, and my site supervisor. Through my conversations with these professionals I will formulate a timeline of when to implement different technology resources into my lessons, and will also derive an accurate plan of how to give writing assignments for evaluating student success. As I gain information based on my evaluations I will continue to collaborate with others to make sure that I am proceeding and making adjustments in the most efficient and beneficial way.    

7.    Taking Action for School Improvement: The results (or scores) of the evaluations will be compared with the written reflections that I receive from the students. Together they will be analyzed and a comprehensive report to be presented to the principal will be formulated. The report will include a proposal for action with respect to utilizing more technology resources in the math classroom.

Sustain Improvement: The results of the research must be shared with other educators in order for all students to achieve that maximum benefit. During the following school year the results must again be analyzed and evaluated with the purpose of continuing to find new methods of integrating technology into the math classroom.