Final Project LEADS for the Fall Semester

This is our finals week at school and we are having two Project LEAD classes. The one tomorrow I had originally planned to do a lesson on career choices but because of the recent tragedy in Connecticut I decided to change my lesson to "Courage". I feel that it is important that students understand, "what courage is?" It will be important for teachers to really take the time to have students discuss and identify "heroes". 

On Thursday, students will complete an end-of-semester survey to evaluate how the Project LEAD classes are going and if they have any suggestions. Until 2013 and implementing our student id program.   

Digital Identity

Monday was the last part of internet safety lessons. I had the students discuss how what the post on any social medias can affect their chances for college or future jobs. I had a video for them to review but because of the weather we were without power so all the classes had discussions. I think it worked out better. I had the opportunity to sit in on a senior class to listen to what they had to say. I could honestly see they understood the importance of their decisions. I could definitely see a mature level difference in them compared to their answers at the beginning of the year. Next week is the last week of the semester and the Project LEAD classes will meet twice. I am looking at doing a career choice lesson and an end-of-the-semester survey. 

December 3, 2012-Project LEAD

Monday's Project LEAD lesson was part 4 of 5 of the Internet Safety Lessons. This week we covered Internet Safety and Privacy. Students and teachers both learned what "cookies" were and what kind of information websites are collecting and if students really want to share their information with just anyone. Students also learned that websites should have a "Privacy Policy" and where they can find that. In talking with students, several of them didn't know what cookies were and what they do. Hopefully, they will be a little more cautious in the future. I even had a few teachers tell me they learned something new, so that is always a good thing. Next week, the last of Internet Safety, so stay tuned. 

Copyrights and Wrongs

On Monday in Project LEAD students worked on Part 3 of 5 on the Internet Safety Curriculum we have to complete. This section covered Information Literacy, so I felt it was time that we covered Copyright. Teachers presented the lesson I created where they explained the difference in copyright, fair use and public domain. Classes had discussions on how these are handled in the classroom and also reviewed videos provided by Common Sense Media.

Relationship/Community

Today in Project LEAD I created a leson that is tied in with our Internet Safety Curriculum; this is part 2 of 5. Students discussed with there teachers the reasoning for the pictures they post online. This included pressure, double standards, etc. that young people deal with when they post a picture.

4 Days of Project LEAD

Last week during our six weeks testing we decided to change up the schedule and we had four days of Project LEAD. During that time we were able to have class meetings for freshman and seniors, graduation plans for sophomores and juniors. I decided to start our five-part Internet Safety Curriculum. We spent two days on cyberbullying were students created a cyberbullying policy to present to our Campus Education Improvement Committee as well as cyberbullying survey for our student body to complete. I will update my blog on both of these activities to see where it takes us.

October Update

October Update: We only have two Project LEAD classes because of exams and early release this month. Our lesson on October 8th was simple. We saw the need to review the dress code with students. On October 15th students were able to do a report reflection over the 1st six weeks. I will use theses reflections to gather data on what students feel that need to improve their grades. We are going to look at these reflections again at the next report card cycle to see if there was any change. Hopefully, it will provide me with information for future lessons in our Project LEAD.

Week 3

Yesterday was week 3 in our Project LEAD program. Students completed a survey on test taking responsibilities. I wanted to see what students felt they were responsible for and what they felt the teachers are responsible for.  I also provided students with a handout on test taking strategies, which include before the test, taking the test and after the test is completed. In talking with some students they liked the survey but the strategies they found boring. In future lessons I need to think of a different way to present strategies.

Next week is an exam week, so there will not be a Project LEAD class but hopefully that will give me the chance to prepare the next few activities.

Week 2

Yesterday we completed our 2nd week of Project LEAD with our students. This week we had a variety of lessons instead of all the grade levels doing the same thing. The 9th grade received planners and shown by our Ambassadors how to use them effectively. The 10th-12th grade students did different activities on Time Management. We wanted them to evaluate how they spend their time during a day. We had them break down sleeping, eating, studying, etc. then how could they manage their time better.

In talking with some students they felt it was effective because they didn't realize how much they were wasting. So, hopefully this will be the first step in managing their time better.

Week 1

In getting ready for Week 1 of my Action Research I am still making adjustments. Program LEAD is now Project LEAD. I have all the teachers and students assigned to classrooms, so everyone has a place to go. We completed our first lesson yesterday. I called it "Linking Our Successes" and we created a paper chain for the school. We wanted to help students understand that every individual at HHS is an essential piece of the puzzle. I had every student and teacher write their name and two qualities they have to offer our school to become successful on their own link. I also gave them the options to decorate. Every advisory class created the paper chain then I had a member from each class come down to join our links together. At first the students were not to sure about completing this activity but they were very surprised and happy when they saw the finished project. I will be adding pictures soon.

Update on my Action Research Plan

As I start the 2012-2013 school year at Hargrave High School I am ready to put my Action Research into action. I am going to have to make some changes to my current plan but so far it is only minor. I have a teacher assigned to each grade level to help me oversee the assignments and gather data. We are going to call the character education program LEAD. LEAD stands for Loyal-Empathetic-Aware-Driven. We are incorporating this new program with our mission of Finding the Leader in Every Child. I am spending this week setting up the advisory classes and teachers and I will start planning the lessons next week.

The Future of My Action Research Plan

As my Research course is coming to an end my Action Research has only begun. I hope you will follow as my real journey begins in August when I implement my plan. I will post my progress, results, problems that I am faced with and hopefully success stories to share in May. I have learned in this course feedback is crucial and I hope that I will receive not just from my campus but my Research classmates.

In completing my assignment for my course I wrote a reflection of the highlights from the course and I included part of it below.

Between the discussions and blogs my classmates helped me with my Action Plan by asking questions that would be similar to what might be asked by teachers on my campus. I think in the way we were taught to complete the steps and help each other I was able to eliminate some potential problems just by others reviewing my plan. I think what is going to be more helpful than anything is that it doesn’t end just because we are at the end of this course.

I feel more confident in implementing my Action Research because I know that I will continue to share my progress on my blog and I will continue to get feedback from those who started with me and have been following from day one. In return I will be able to do the same with their Action Research plans.

Changes in Action Research

At this time I am not going to make any changes to my Action Research Plan. We feel that there is enough flexibility within the plan and that it is a work-in-progress. So if needed, we can address any issues and make the recommended change.

Action Research Plan

Action Research Plan
Goal: In what ways can a character education program be developed at my school to meet the needs of our students to help learn and grow into mature adults?
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Setting the foundation-develop and action research plan (character education program)	Julie Deen, Principal	June 2012-July 2013	Interview principal	Journal/reflection in blog
Analyzing data-research previous programs used; create outline of program	Julie Deen	August 2012-April 2013	Published resources; outline of weekly lessons	Journal/reflection in blog; feedback from staff
Develop a deeper understanding-document and observe lessons being taught.	Julie Deen	August 2012-May 2013	Weekly character/real-life lessons-documents; observations	Analyze sample of weekly lessons for data collection
Engage in self reflection-survey sample group to get a better understanding of program’s current progress.	Julie Deen, Staff, Students	August 2012-May 2013 (Monthly)	Journal Survey	Journal/reflection in blog
Exploring patterns of data collected	Julie Deen	August 2012-April 2013	Spreadsheet Graphs	Review lessons and surveys-analyze data collected;
Determine the direction-survey 1st semester lessons to make adjustments to 2nd semester lessons (if necessary)	Julie Deen, Staff, Students, Parents, Principal	January 2013-May 2013	Survey; observations	Journal/reflection in blog; monitor progress
Taking action-conduct interviews on progress and possible changes in Character Education program.	Julie Deen	March 2013-May 2013	Interviews	Update Action Research Plan
Sustaining improvement-present findings, updates and success stories to continue program the following school year.	Julie Deen, Staff, Administrators	April 2013-May 2013	Questionnaires, Spreadsheet, Graphs, PowerPoint	Present findings to staff, administrator and parents

Wondering Questions

This week I spent time learning about the nine passions of wondering. Wondering comes from one's own difficulties and concerns of real life experiences. Action research gives the opportunity to principals/administrators to explore what they wish. By asking wondering questions you drive your inquiry and then you can celebrate the completion. I like the idea of having the opportunity to explore my concerns.

Educational Leaders Using Blogs

Educational leaders can use blogs as a powerful tool. It is a great way to journal your ideas, complete surveys, an interactive format to post comments, pictures and videos, and receive feedback from people all over the world.  

Learning About Action Research

In this first week of class I learned the difference between traditional educational research and action research. Traditional is when you bring in outside experts, which is not the way I like top operate and I do not feel is practical in education today. Action research is where you are involved in every part of the research from diagnosing the problem, data collection, interpreting the data, how to resolve the problem and evaluate the effectiveness; this provides an interactive aspect for the principal, teachers and students. When using action research you are bringing change to the situation as well as ownership to your plan. Again, this is not something that happens in the traditional approach because you have outsiders come in and tell you what’s wrong, which they might not truly understand what the problems are or how to handle them when they are not the ones dealing with it on a daily basis.

I feel that I can use this because I am a hands-on person and being able to take the responsibility of addressing a problems and follow through with the steps to make a change for the better can be rewarding knowing I have made a difference. Also, with bringing in teachers and students to take part it provides for everyone to grow, be motivated and be successful.