Action Research Plan

Goal:  Increase physical activity during Physical Education class by requiring the students to dress in appropriate exercise clothing in order to receive full credit for the class.

Action Step(s)	Person(s)Responsible	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Ensure written documentation is provided to all students and parents indicating the new “dress out” requirements.	Self	August 2012 May 2013	Letters for parents	Analyze any feedback from  parents in regards to the new policy
Meet with the other coaches in order to explain the new requirements and ask for their assistance in gauging level of increased participation and physical activity.	Self	August 2012	Set up a meeting	Lesson plans will be evaluated every month to ensure strong curriculum
Monthly meetings with coaches to determine level of participation.	Self	August 2012 May 2013	Set up meetings with staff after school or morning	Analyze all written documentation from staff
Monitor the number of students dressing out for class on a daily basis.  Of those students, determine how many are actively participating in class.	Self/Staff	August 2012 May 2013	Create a spreadsheet in excel	Update excel spreadsheet on a daily bases.
Use my blog to share and communicate results/progress	Self	August 2012 May 2013	My blog	Analyze information from my blog

Common Targets of School-Based Action Research

This week, I have learned about nine of the most common targets/themes for school-based action research.  That was really interesting because it gave me some ideas for areas to focus on when I become an adminstrator.  An area that I found of particular importance was regarding the indiviual teachers area.  I feel that it is crucial that a principal knows how to relate, motivate, and develop his staff in order to create the absolutely best learning environment possible for his students. 

Action Research: What is It? How could I Use It?

I've learned the benefits of action research over traditional research. For example, action research allows you to more effectively engage with both students and staff in order to research a problem and develop best practices.  The increased interaction when performing action research can also serve to further motivate staff and students to perform action research of their own.  I was also interested to learn of the key role reflection plays when successfully performing action research.  I think many people have a tendency to try to “just hurry up and finish” a task.  This motivated me to take a minute to reflect on what I’m doing, why, and how to best proceed.

I believe I could use action research in a number of ways.  As a coach who will be moving out of the classroom and solely coaching P.E. and Athletics this year, I am interested in determining the impact that could be had by requiring students to "dress out" for the P.E. period.  Currently, many of the students stay in their regular school clothes and just visit with their friends during the period.  If students' grade was tied to whether or not they dressed out, would participation and physical activity thereby increase?  I think this is an excellent opportunity to employ action research while engaging with students and providing concrete motivation at the same time.

Educational leaders could use blogs to easily keep staff, students, and parents up-to-date on current events and happenings within the school.  Keeping a blog would be a great way to keep the lines of communication open…a must for any good leader!