The first part of the project was
started up last year with myself and a few other teachers who were admin
assistants and we came up with questions to use for when we were shadowing
students whose needs at school weren’t being met. We used the research questions to collect
data or information and we reported back to our principal with a report on what
we found out. After that we as a team
had to make a presentation to our faculty on what we were doing and why.
The second part of my action plan
was to see about getting the media involved with the community. The particular situation happened this past
summer when we as a school staff was spilt up into teams of 3-4 and we all went
around to the incoming freshmans homes to give them a gift bag and some school
supplies and the local tv stations joined in with us and reported us on the
news.
As for the third piece of the
puzzle, a few incentatives have been created for the students and by student
council on selecting gifts to give to students who have maintained perfect
attendance during the six weeks along with the entire school year. Each six weeks all the names are thrown into
a pod and one lucky winner is given a special incentive prize. At the end of the school year, we are going
to draw for an iPad in each grade level.
Towards the end of the school
year last year administration and counselors got together to see where some
problem area students were and assigned teachers to be their mentor. We are still in the process this school year
in seeing if the whole mentoring will benfit students or not.
For the fifth piece of the
puzzle, I was able to talk to our lead attendance clerk and help my
understanding in how important attendance is for students and for our school
when receiving grant money. What the
lead attendance clerk has done was create a way of having teachers take
attendance during the class time. She
explained the importance of accurate attendance and why we had to keep such
records. This part of the project will
be something that will continue to be worked on throughout the school year.
As for the rest of the project,
the 0 & 9th hours of having students come in for tutorials paid
dividends somewhat this past year, but not like what we as a school had hoped
for. 0 & 9th hours are no
longer a part of our schedule, so students aren’t being asked to stay after
school or before for EOC prep. What has
happened is that teachers have been asked to change some of their normal
assignments from last year and co-teach some classes this year. Core teachers have been taken out of their
normal duties from the previous few years and have been asked to step into a
new role and help promote student success.
Along with new teacher assignments, new circulum personal has been hired
to help these teachers further along their skills in helping students become
successful.