1. Doing Action Research to Evaluate Your WARE-RET Lesson WARE-RET: Summer 2013 Prof. Allan Feldman College of Education University of South Florida

2. Doing Action Research to Evaluate Your WARE-RET Lesson Thursday, July 12, 2012, 11:00am-1:00pm 11:00Introduction to Action Research 11:15Finding a starting point 11:45Action Research Plan 12:00Data collection methods 12:15Planning and next steps

3. Action research articles Making the case for action research (Saul and Launius) Action research: Expanding the role of classroom teachers to inquirers and researchers (Llewellyn and van Zee) Incorporating the SMART Board for Smart Teaching (Adrian) The benefits of formative assessments for teaching and learning (Bakula) How to create your own professional development experience (Milton-Brkich, Shumbera, and Beran) Example AR plans from last year

4. What is action research? Write a one sentence definition of action research. Go around the room to get people’s ideas. It is action because it assumes that the best way to find out about a complicated system (teaching and learning) and to improve it is by taking action and analyzing the results of those actions. It is called research because it is systematic critical inquiry made public.

5. Action research is similar to the "monitor and adjust" of good teaching. What differentiates it from your everyday practice is that it is systematic, that you open it to the criticism of your peers, and that there is the understanding that the results will be shared with a wider audience through publication in professional and research journals, or presentations at professional meetings.

6. Action Research Cycle Identify Starting Point Implementation Revise Action Plan Monitor Implementation Effects Implement Next Action Step General plan including possible actions

7. Action Research Cycle Identify Starting Point Implementation Revise Action Plan Monitor Implementation Effects Implement Next Action Step General plan including possible actions Write report

8. Finding a Starting Point: Do a “Free-write” on your vision for your WARE- RET lesson: Spend five minutes or so writing on “the gap” between what you currently do as a teacher and what you would like to see yourself doing when you implement your WARE-RET lesson.

9. The Analytic Discourse on your “Gap” Only Ask Questions Do Not Give Advice Do Not Swap Stories

10. AR Plan Problem statement: What are you trying to accomplish by teaching your WARE-RET lesson(s)? Motivation: Why do you care about the implementation idea and the results? Approach: How will you go about the implementation? Briefly describe the lesson(s). Results: What results are you hoping for/expecting? How will the implementation impact your teaching/learning and your students’ learning? What data will you collect to evaluate your results? Conclusions: Are there broader implications of your results for yourself, your students, your school community?

11. What is data? It is a representation of events that can be passed on, stored, and made accessible to others. It provides relevant evidence. It can only represent events selectively. It is “pre-interpreted. It is static.

12. Types of data Existing archival Lesson plans Student work Observations Observing as you teach Outsider observations Audio recordings, video recording, photographs Interviews Conversations Structured or semi-structured Focus groups Surveys and questionnaires Multiple choice Open-ended Web-based

13. Developing a data collection plan First write down a statement of your problem, question, or needs. Then answer the following questions: 1.What do you need to know? 2.What types of data will provide you with the information that you need? 3.What types of data are already available to you (existing archival sources and other artifacts)?

14. Developing a data collection plan Then answer these questions: 4.What types of data do you need to generate? 5.What instruments will you need to generate and collect data?

15. First write down a statement of your problem, question, or needs. Then answer the following questions: What do you need to know? What types of data will provide you with the information that you need? What types of data are already available to you (existing archival sources and other artifacts)? What types of data do you need to generate? What instruments will you need to generate and collect data?