Last class

I have been through this journey and can honestly made me think differently about education. I know I am ready to get out of the classroom and become an educational leader. But I question so much about the system and is it working. Teachers are made to do more and more with less and less for what? We are never appreciated and never compensated for the work we do each and every day. So I question if I am to become a leader what could I do to really assist teachers?

5352 Week 5 Posting

My name is Jamelah Roberts-Hassan. I have been teaching for over 10 years. I have taught in Houston ISD and Fort Bend ISD where I am currently working as a 8th grade math teacher. I have had the opportunity for 3 years of being a Math Instructional Specialist for an assigned campus where I assisted all math teachers by coaching, mentoring, and assisting. I feel that my passion is to be out of the classroom and assisting not only students but teachers as well. My true passion is curriculum and its development and flow. I am working on my master’s at Lamar University to have the credentials in becoming an instructional leader soon. I have one gorgeous son and a wonderful supportive husband.


February 17th conference:
I was very informed about the Flipped Classroom more after watching this conference. It’s true that giving the students to explore and have an opportunity to experiment before they get to the classroom. I like the reference of stating it is a 360 classroom with not end or beginning. I am not sure if we can have televisions throughout the classroom as stated but I am really trying to find a new method of teaching with these new students of the era. They need to be very engaged and I have tried everything out there. I am very interesting in stop lecturing and start assisting. I also gather some good points from the conversations of my colleagues.  As I stated before I think I get bog down with reading peoples comments. I think that it can be relevant but just like the part about the apple/mac computer dialogue it was not important to me. I think that people are asking the same questions over and over about reflections, goggle site and the dreaded Tk20. This week I feel that I will try to use conferencing with some colleagues before I try it with my students ever. I am not one to state that this is something to use with your students because it can get a little bogged down with them communicate.  

February 3rd Conference:
I really think this conference was not as useful as it could have been. I think many people are trying to make this class harder than it is with their duplicate questions. I appreciate the explanation of the Google docs and also letting us know we can contact you anytime. But I think people were more interested in talking about the Texans and football. I would rather you speak with a power point slide and then ask for questions later. It would be more beneficial like other classes that went over many of the questions that students had during the course that week and then tell participants to email with more questions. I get bogged down looking at all the responses and comments.

January 27th Conference:
I really was impressed finding out about the Facebook group for students in Lamar and will be going to that site immediately. Many people have yet to find a group and I think this was a great resource to find a group if you have not have one yet. I like how Dr. Abernathy makes personal reflections.  I think using conferencing would be great to do with principals across districts and also it might be a good way to have faculty meetings. I feel that these conferences will help answer many questions in the near future.

Reflection over Technology
This course was very light in work but very informative in the usage of technology. I had no idea of the venues that can be used in and outside of our classrooms. First the Google site using Google docs eliminates the need for those small disk drives that we lose filled with data. I upload all my course work from all my 11 classes and many other important documents from other items. I now have modified the flip classroom and starting to use videos out there that I would normally lecture over and play them in my classroom. Students are able to use technology such as the campus I-pads and laptops to review these videos through my Weebly website. Then I can focus on my students that need assistance in class. Not only do I have a future in using the many technical tools I have learned during this course, I also have gain a lot of knowledge of the importance of researching the most recent technology out there. I will definitely use this as I move forward in becoming an administrator.

Action Research Paper Progress
This has been a growing living paper. This research has been ongoing since December 2011. I have basically finished all items such as the research, created all documents such as the data reports, and am about to finish editing the paper. My entire goal was to ensure that the paper was completely done to my standards before the last class. I feel that I am very ahead of schedule concerning the paper and I think it is a pretty good one. The topic has always been very dear to me and the outcome was something that I felt it would be. All I need to do is get more people to read and make their revisions and comments. I can’t wait till it is completely done and turned in.

Campus Activity Logs
Here is where the problem lies. I have done nearly 90% of all activities but have yet to write all the reflections. I think this is something I have put on the back burner and now I am in deep trouble. I hope to finish all activities by next week. I am going to have a writing party by myself next weekend and hope to write all 20 reflections I have left. I have many notes and materials to help write the reflections but only have done about 18 of them.  I am hoping these reflections are not due within the first week or two.

Starting to see the light at the end.......

I have yet to use this blog site sinece my last classes. I feel that after this last course that technology is a wealth of resources for teachers to get their points and ideas across. Collaboration is key and you no longer have to travel to do so. I work at a campus that collaboration is not apparent nor possible because I am truly the only 8th grade math teacher. We are a small campus so this is the reason. I will start using all tools to communicate with others and collaborate. I also would like to use this blog as a journey to the end of my reach to become an instructional leader.

Homework Research Paper

What homework method profoundly impacts student achievement and retention?

            Each and every year I’ve noticed homework being an issue in my math classrooms. Most conversations in teacher lounges are always about how their students just do not put any effort in their homework assignments. As a math teacher, I have noticed that the math assignments completed by students are either copied or have no work to support their answers. Teachers are spending a lot of time going over homework, but for what if many don’t complete it? So I ponder, “Does homework and the way it is given really effect student achievement in the classroom and their retention”?  I want to develop the most appropriate and effective usage of homework, whether it’s no homework, yellow folder system, collaborative homework, etc. At the beginning of 2011-2012 school year there was no difference with the failure of students completing homework efficiently. I had 5 classes with an average of 20 students in each class. 69% of the students were black or Hispanic and 31% of my students had some type of learning disability. 58% of my students were boys and over 30% of my students were labeled at risk. My main concern was the high percentage of students labeled at risk. Grades were a huge concern in certain classes that consisted of a high percentage of minorities and at risk students. Periods 2^nd, 4^th, and 6^th were my main classes that presented a lot of challenges. In these classes students previous TAKS scores were relatively lower and many were on a no passing list where they were enrolled in an after-school tutorial program. These students class average test scores were almost 20% lower compared to the other 2 successful classes. Post Assessments given was never meeting the 80% passing rate for the class. I had to continue to reteach and re-post the entire classes just to get a passing rate of 70%. A high percent of the students each and every day seem to fail to complete homework or had just given answers to problems without being able to explain their work. I felt that these students were being unsuccessful for many reasons but mostly because majority of them did not see the relevance or importance of homework.

            “Prior to the 20^th century and into the first few decades of that century, the common belief was that homework helped create a disciplined mind, (Marzano, pg. 64). Throughout the years researchers have been going back and forth with the relevance of homework. One thing is for sure homework is given for students to perform task outside of school. It is to extend their learning. I took on this research challenge because I too feel that homework disciplines the mind and today students lack discipline. I choose various types of homework styles to ensure I found the most profound method that would impact my students’ success most effectively. Partner homework was designed lastly because it is known that when students work in pairs there is no place for them to hide. Having a partner is making sure you are held accountable (Nash, pg. 21).

            The ultimate goal is for students to appreciate the importance of homework while demonstrating mastery showing 80% passing on each post assessments of 8^th grade math TEKS. Success of the research depends on the involvement of the students. They will be a part of the research process and I will allow them to communicate their concerns and issues with homework to gather valuable information. Communication is essential to ensure accomplishment of this research so I plan to continue to keep the principals a part of the process and meeting with them with the results, setbacks, issues, etc. My vision is a living thing. The wording has change but the idea is relatively the same. I informed my colleagues about my vision and goal of my research with a collaborative meeting. I worked with colleagues and the principal and explained my dilemmas in the classroom and spoke of my initial vision to increase homework participation. After suggestions and probes given by them I started to restate my true vision. Last year I told parents at our parent night and also send out emails to each parent with my concerns dealing with homework and what I was trying to do with my research. Some part of my research involved parents so it was imperative that I notified them of the entire ordeal. As for the community I would like to have the opportunity to explain my research to them at our Campus Building Leadership Team (CBLT) meetings and keep them informed throughout the year.

            Getting started was fairly easy. I asked the department head if we had any available monies that I needed for yellow folders for each student. I did not want my students to go out and buy anything for my research because I did not want to wait for them to get their supplies. The department head was able to get the folders to me within two weeks.  My students were in mind from the beginning of my research. I wanted them to be successful and to understand the importance of homework and how its effectiveness relates to their achievement. I investigated their backgrounds and looked at their previous year grades and test scores. I realized that many of the students were lacking basic skills and organization as well as structure. These factors I felt contribute to the low homework involvement that related to their poor assessments and retention of previous taught material. I also was able to find out that many of these students had added responsibilities when they left school such as taking care of siblings, youth league sports, etc. Throughout the research students’ identities were protected. I used last digits of their ids and initials. Confidentiality is a must to ensure students are not scrutinized by the results of my research.

            Things do not always go smoothly in researches. From the beginning I had some concerns as well as my principal and colleagues. With many suggestions and critiques I realized I had to take charge of my own project. I chose what suggestions to assist in redesigning my research topic and made sure to come up with methods of gathering data that was suitable and attainable for me. I made sure that my data spoke for itself. It showed that certain classes had a higher failure and lower homework completion rate. It also showed that these classes had high percentages of at-risk students and were part of the campus sub-pop groups. There was a disagreement from my colleagues they felt I should incorporate all my classes in the research. I felt that I needed two placebo classes to be able to compare what I normally done for homework. These classes were the ones that were doing fine with the basic homework activities. I ensured them that would be best so I can compare my strategies used to the new research strategies because they were all different. I confirmed parents that noticed the different methods that all students will still receive the same high expectation education just that their homework assignments would be given differently.

            Our school was an open campus due to low enrollment so we ended up having a lot of students that transferred from neighboring districts and low performing campuses throughout our district. My classrooms were very diverse. Students that were zone to the school were from a middle class community. You could tell who the students that transferred from various areas were.  This was also a challenge that I wanted to conquer. My research has different types of aspects that I feel will resonate with students that have learning disabilities. The yellow folder system was one that I felt would help students with learning disabilities because it gets their parents involved in their learning. Parents have to sign that they assisted or saw them complete their homework keeping them on task and keeping them involved. It also helps them be more organized because the folder has a calendar and all their notes. Partner homework was created thinking about the diverse classes and different styles of learning. I noticed throughout the year that students of all types enjoyed collaborating and working together versus lectures from me all the time. I am hoping that working together and having a homework partner for accountability and assistance will help the desires of my special and exceptional needs students as well as the diversity in cultures. The no homework part was created in mind of the students that have so many responsibilities outside of school and may not have the time or place to complete homework. This group will not have warm-ups but would perform practice in class during that time. With all these different types of styles of homework I hope to find the most appropriate and affect method.

Getting Community Involved with students' success.

This graduate class that I am in now really made me realized how important it is to get parents and the community involved. Students today do not make that connection of their learning to the community. They do not see the entire picture and have no clue when you state "what do you want to do in the near future." To ensure student success rate to continue one must figure out a way to get parents involved and not just in sports and after school functions. They need to know what their students are learning, assist with their studies, and keep in contact with their teachers. Businesses can help too by realizing these students are our future and reaching out to their parents can help them too. Once we all get on board positive things develop. I am pretty sure all schools that are successful have a high parent involvement rate and gets the community involved in many things as well.

Bringing Elementary Back to Middle School.

I have changed my research. I am excited to say that I am bringing elementary back to middle school. I have revised my research to the Yellow Folder System. To deal with the absence of homework completion I will be using the assistance of yellow folders to keep track of students homework, communication with parents, and feedback tot students. I will research the affects of the system with one class that is performing below expectations.

Draft Action Research Plan

Schools Vision: Create active, lifelong learners who will lead, achieve and succeed in a global tomorrow. Goal and Objectives To be able to utilize homework or the lack of it that best benefits student achievement in the classroom and on state test. Activities to Achieve the Goals Involve 3 classes that are comparable Assign daily, weekly and no homework in certain classrooms Design homework that is in-depth that can be either one question or multiple questions and then design quizzes that cover the homework assignments. Create a questionnaire and gather student input using survey monkey Look at student data from first semester such as homework completion grades, test grades, District Assessments and quizzes Resources Needed Survey Monkey Classroom Clicker System (used to check homework) Time Line for Completion By May 2012 or December 2012 depending on the results in May Person Responsible for Implementation Jamelah Roberts-Hassan Process for Monitoring the Goals Excel sheet showing students grades in each category: homework completion, test, quizzes, District Assessment Monthly questionnaires for students Common Formative Assessments Assessment Instrument to Evaluate Pre and Post Test Used prior to lessons and after lessons to see which classes score higher: No homework, One assigned questioned, homework quiz.