Action Research Design Plan and Timeline

Innovative Focus:

My innovation plan focuses primarily on how I can effectively engage my students in a blended learning writing environment in my English/Language Arts classroom in order for them to have a more personalized learning experience. My hope is that students will be able to work on the writing skills that are difficult for them specifically.

Action Research Topic:

The topic of my action research is how incorporating a personalized blended learning environment will impact my students' writing performance. You can read more about my topic in my Writing Workshop Innovation Plan Literature Review and in my Action Research Literature Review.

Purpose of Study:

The purpose of my study is to find out if personalizing my students' learning environment through the use of blended learning will help them to become better writers. This study will also take into account how creating a more personalized learning environment will allow for students to become more engaged in the writing and reflection process of a true writing workshop.

Fundamental Research Question:

How will incorporating a personalized blended learning element into writing instruction affect student writing performance?

• Improvement in this area may increase student achievement in other content areas

• Improvement in student writing achievement would increase the school accountability rating

• Improvement in student writing achievement would increase opportunities for students to further their education after high school

Research Design Method:

The most appropriate type of data for me to collect at this time is quantitative in order to find out if student writing scores are improving from the use of personalized blended learning writing lessons.

I plan on using a pre-writing sample (before any blended learning activities have taken place), various essays throughout the semester graded with our districts common core aligned writing rubrics, and the work that students are completing in their blended learning activities. My research design can be best described as correlational by comparing student writing score growth due to their use of personalized blended learning writing activities.

I am also going to measure the qualitative aspect of my students’ learning reflection through the use of their ePortfolio blogs and writing conferences.

Blended Writing Workshop Implementation Timeline:

Phase 1:

• August 2020: Come up with innovation plans and conduct all proper research needed to support my ideas.

• July 2021: Propose idea to building administration.

Phase 2:

• August 2020-August 2021: Start constructing lessons based on a blended learning writing workshop model (writing assignments, mini-lessons, peer groupings, rubrics etc.)

Phase 3 (August 2021-January 2022):

• Implement the blended learning writing workshop into my 9th grade level English courses (spend at least half of the block daily in writing workshop).

• Discuss technology platforms that will be used by the students to construct their writing only if students haven’t already been introduced to Chromebook, Google Suite, and Google Classroom use.

• Have students write a prewriting sample essay the first week of the course to see students current writing levels in order to start constructing mini lessons.

• Collect data daily while working with students. (What do students want to write about and what seems to interest them most? How can we use their writing in a more authentic situation? Which mini-lessons seem most effective? How are the peer groups working together? If there are problems, what can be done to fix them not instead of later? Are students improving in their writing skills?)

• Collect data from students by means of exit tickets/conferencing. (How do they feel all of this is working for them?)

• Share my ePortfolio with students.

• Show platforms to students that they can use to create their own.

• Give students time to build ePortfolios

• Use ePortfolios with students to display their work/projects and to reflect on their learning through a blog.

• Students research and create their own eportfolios to house all of their drafts that they have completed in every course throughout their high school career in order to show growth in their writing. They would also have full access to all of their writing once they have finished high school. (Paper portfolio use is already a district initiative, but using an eportfolio will allow the district to save money on buying folders and printing. Students will also learn how to create their own website by creating their own eportfolio.)

• Meet with students to discuss how their writing has improved since their first writing project at the beginning of the semester. Where do they go from here?

Phase 4:

• January 2022: Meet with students at the end of the semester to discuss the implementation of the blended learning writing workshop.

*Students could discuss in small groups and present back to the whole. Questions for them to answer: What worked for them? What didn’t? What could have been done differently in order to make things work better?

Phase 5:

• January 2022: Discuss findings with building administration to start making plans to move forward with writing workshop and ePortfolio building wide implementation.

• Reflect upon what worked and what needs to be improved upon.

Phase 6 (January 2022-June 2022):

• Propose possibilities for professional development opportunities to help other teachers start using this plan in their classrooms.

• Discuss findings of action research with central administration and to the school board if all goes as planned in order to have the teachers in the other buildings in the district start teaching writing by this same methodology.

Phase 7:

• August 2022: Start implementing writing workshops and ePortfolio use in other courses in the high school setting.

Phase 8:

• June 2022 or later: After determining if the writing workshop is helping students and teachers, discuss the possibility of making it a district initiative.

References:

Mertler, C. A. (2019). Action research: Improving schools and empowering educators (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.