Action Research, Round 2!

It has been a while since I've shared anything on my blog, well it has only been about two weeks but I thought now might be a nice time to share some of the initial findings from my action research project. What I have been doing is plugging in quantitative data from the attendance at our school and looking for any patterns in the attendance numbers. The good news is that our attendance has been consistently up at the building I teach in since we began using our PlascoTrac program! Feel free to download my reports in this blog and check out my findings so far... https://sites.google.com/site/travispatockaspanish/action-research-project-for-lamar/preliminary-action-research-results All of my research has documentation to prove its' validity so please, share any data from my report so far! I am also looking at the literature and case studies out there on PlascoTrac. There are a slew of case studies on schools that have begun using this program in their schools.

Web Conference #4 down, EDLD 5363 and time to finish things up!

It has been an incredible journey so far!  Again, my Lamar classes amaze me as I learn more and more about just what is out there in terms of multimedia tools and information.  I am no longer afraid to work with iMovie, do a pod cast, experiment with computer animation and graphics in my classes.  A bit part of it is simply diving right in and making the time to practice working with all of these programs and online web 2.0 tools.  Below I have posted the final edition/version of our multimedia collaboration video.  Even though some of us were 1,000 miles apart we still were able to make it work.  Using facebook to chat and google docs/drive and gmail to collaborate we worked hard to create the video below.  I hope you enjoy it.



I can't tell you how many hours I put into this video and I would have saved time had I been working with my colleagues directly, under the same building but learning how to work over long distances makes everything so much simpler.  Little things like learning how to embed video, work with html and just play around with what is out there makes this class worthwhile.  Just as a personal note I feel blessed and grateful to have such a patient wife and it helps that she too is a graduate student working hard.   All I need to do now is get going on me week 5 homework.  Actually, I spent a ton of time on it yesterday so we will see how it all comes together when it comes time to get everything turned in.  All done in time for winter break!

EDLD 5363 Weeks 3, 4 and 5 thoughts and reflections.

I have to admit that is has been wonderful having two weeks to get our group collaboration instructional video in full swing.  Thinking about it, just three weeks ago we were hosting the NFL draft of group formation lining up our partners for our EDLD 5363 multimedia project.  I ended up quickly joining a few other fellow Lamar students that I had taken previous classes with and while we had not worked together before, communicated and assisted each other regularly on our facebook class pages.  We started discussing ideas, created a script, then entered into the process of the production of the video.  Everything from multiple drafts of the script, a shot list, gathering of the media and creation/finding of the creative commons information for our projects was also completed.  We decided on splicing audio and video footage with the computer animation program, xtranormal.com in order to create this entire video.  In the end we discovered that if we were patient with each other, and communicated regularly, as well as were open with ideas, the whole process would come together nicely.  The only real technical difficulties that we ran into had to do with audio.  Two of our characters that spoke to each other in the video and during other video footage were in two completely different locations, using two completely different audio systems and comptuers therefore creating two audio files that were not balanced out.  I did my best to try and balance out the audio running as much as I could using Audacity and in the end, I think we came as close as we could to simulating the volume of two people talking to each other in the same room.  Now, it is off to the week 5 homework where I will be filling out documentation of all of our work and our final drafts of the production process.  Wish me luck!

Web conference from Saturday, 12-1-2012

Saturday mornings web conference was excellent as it gave us a chance to catch our breath and share our experiences with our podcasts, as well as any difficulties that you encounter when you deal with audio recording software.  It also was an excellent opportunity to ask specific questions of the professor in preparation of our group multimedia project.  While I am confident that our group will create an awesome 90 second video on some aspect of earth science, the collaboration part scares me but I do have an excellent team that communicates well via facebook, both messaging as well as through our shared google drive documents.  We have a template posted on our website we will be sharing that enables us to contribute to our script production of our science video and I was able to ask Dr. A, specific questions on Saturday's web conference about the creation of this program.  We are going to be using Xtranormal as it is basically an all in one animation studio which will allow us to all log in and contribute to some aspect of the video.  Collaboration, technology, publishing and instruction will not be easy but will be very rewarding in the end!

My Pod-Cast Self-Assessment EDLD 5363

Wow, a pod-cast can be a big challenge when you’ve never done one before! I hunted around online looking for the perfect video editing program that I could pod-cast a mini tutorial on and I did, that program being Screencast-O-Matic.  It is a simple enough program that you can literally be up and running in less than a minute if you know what you want to record.  What would prove to be a challenge for me was the fact that my software choice used your computer screen to record whatever it is you wanted to show off to your audience.  Being that I was doing strictly audio on my pod-cast I had to be simple in descriptions, to the point but maintain my audience with my tone and pace.  I didn’t want to rush, but at the same time I wanted to give the most effective step by step description that I could, keeping it all within a two minute time frame.  After learning how to use Audacity, as well as convert and export my pod-cast as an mp3, I was ready to go.  It took me five complete takes before I was able to record what I felt was the best recording I could possibly produce.  I don’t think there is anything I would change except maybe do a visual walkthrough of a “vod-cast” of the tutorial. 

Going off of rubric, I feel that I met the criteria and did the work necessary to make this pod-cast happen.  I also ran the mp3 through iMovie and from there was able to add titles, as well as my Creative Commons Copyright that I created from creativecommons.org and applied it to not only my pod-cast, but also the script that I published online. All in all, I put no less than 10 hours into a pod-cast that lasted 10 minutes.  That includes composing the script, collaborating, editing, learning to use Audacity, recording, then recording again 5 times, uploading to iMovie, editing, and sharing.  If anything my voice was not 100% simply because I recorded this pod-cast late in the evening after a full day of conducting Spanish classes as well as coming off a nasty head-cold and sore throat so for what I was able to produce, it was the best job I could do!  I give myself 100%! And I look forward to using these pod-casts in my class, if anything as a way to communicate the work for the day with my students.

Minutes take hours...The Podcast for EDLD 5363

OK, so let's check out what it took for me to get that podcast on Blogger...

I started out by downloading and learning how to use Audacity, a free audio recording program.  This would be the program that I would be using to record my voice.  From there I needed to install a LAME mp3 encoder that I would use to convert the Audacity file to an mp3.  My Audacity program refused to convert due to an unknown error.  After further research I discovered an alternative LAME encoder file, at audacity.com, that I was able to use in order to convert the file.  After that, I discovered that you can't directly upload mp3's to youtube so I opened iMovie and began my next project.  I created a simple background for my iMovie with the name of my video as well as my own name that would be displayed for the majority of the podcast.  The last 8 seconds or so of my podcast show off the Creative Commons Copyright information that I created at creativecommons.org that I would use to copyright my podcast.  I copied and pasted that information into my final frame of my iMovie podcast.  The program I decided to give my tutorial on was called screencast-o-matic and it is a program you can use to record live whatever you are doing on the desktop of your laptop.  I composed a script to read for the podcast.  Took me 5 takes to get it right.  Then I exported the audio recording from Audacity to my laptop desktop and from there loaded it into iTunes so that I could add it as the soundtrack to my iMovie.  I kept things simple but I could have added captions or animations but what i was doing but for now, the basic podcast was my goal.  After I finished editing my iMovie, I exported the video to the desktop of my computer and uploaded it to you tube.  I also included all Creative Commons Copyright information in the description of the video.

After that, I copied the embedded code from youtube in an html view of my blogger blog entry and pasted the code into it.  Reverted back to my compose view of blogger and hit "publish".  After that I noticed my video was a bit large so I went back in and bascially winging it, re-wrote the html code by manually changing the size of my video.  Sure enough, by cutting out 40 pixels of width, I was able to get the video to fit and look good in my Blogger blog.

I also did the same on my google sites website but I used an embed gadget on a page I created specially for my podcast.  Included my Creative Commons information again and saved all of my work.  I also added the script of my podcast just in case anyone would need a hard copy of what I say.

I've spent around 8 hours on this project total from start to finish but will still go back and will tweak a few things.

These podcasts are great because just like my iMovie project, I could record lessons that I could (thanks to all of my practice now) quickly upload to youtube or my google site for students to download and listen to.

Here is my first podcast for EDLD 5363!

Enjoy...(Embedded, non the less!)  All Creative Commons Copyright information will appear below.




Screencast-O-Matic Tutorial by Travis Patocka is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at screencast-o-matic.com.

My first podcast script...

Below you will find the script for my first podcast, a set of instructions for an introduction to screencast-o-matic.  It has taken more than just composing a script.  I needed to research various open source video editing programs and it was during that search that I found screencast-o-matic.  I am also collaborating with my group in sharing my script and it may vary slightly in the end from what you see below.  What is great about screencast-o-matic is that I can use it to record tutorials that can be one-click uploaded to youtube! (Creative commons will also be applied once I have received the coding from creativecommons.org.

The script...
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Hello everyone and welcome to my very first podcast!  Today we are going to talk about screencast-o-matic which is a free program you can use to record live what is happening on your computer screen.  We will also briefly discuss editing options, uploading and sharing the videos you make.  So…without further adieu, let’s get started!

The first thing you want to do is open your web browser and go to screencast-o-matic.com.  To get started recording go ahead and click on the blue box on the upper right corner that says “start recording.”  A box may pop up in the middle of your screen requesting access to your computer, go ahead and click the button in that box that says “allow”, as it is the only way to continue.  From there, the program will install itself and will automatically start.  Then, take the black and white checkered box in the middle of your screen, that being your screencast-o-matic recording box and put into it whatever you would like to record.  You can also grab a corner of that checkered box and stretch it out to fit whatever you want to show off on your computer.  So let’s try it! Go ahead, open a blank word processing document and pull the screencast-o-matic box over that blank document.  Click the record button, the red one, on the lower left hand corner of your screencast-o-matic box to begin recording.  Type something, anything on your word processing document.  Click the pause button to stop recording when you have finished typing on your document and finally, click the button that says “done” just off to the right.  From there you will have the ability to publish directly to youtube via your youtube account!  You will need to login to youtube, through screencast-o-matic, in order to upload your video.  Remember, your audio will also be recorded, including your keystrokes of your keyboard. You also have full editing capabilities of your video, but in order to utilize them you will need to upgrade to a screencast-o-matic pro account which costs $15 per year.  The applications for this program include not just showing off what you are doing on your computer, but if you are an educator, you could lead students in instruction with a video recorded from your own computer.  Thanks for joining me and I hope you have enjoyed this brief introduction to screencast-o-matic!

Screencast-O-Matic Tutorial by Travis Patocka is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at screencast-o-matic.com. The ISTE Technology Facilitator Standards and Performance Indicators for this activity include TF-I.A.2, I.B.1/TF-II.A.1, II.B.1, TF-II.C.2, TF-III.B.1, III.C.1.

Another web conference down (#2 or 3)...and some other random thoughts.

I have learned so much this week about iMovie, youtube uploads, more on embedding, I am really starting to like the multimedia opportunities my laptop and the internet have to offer!  At today's web conference we talked about our upcoming work on testing out various audio and video capture software.  And ironically enough NPR this morning was talking about how universities are now starting to offer their lessons online to the world, for free, for anyone to end.  At some of the universities you can even get a certificate for completing the online course, just for fun, whether you paid tuition or now.  I think it is great how as teachers we can get out of our shells and stop being to secretive about what goes on behind the walls of our "castle".  Heck, even as my self I am just now getting used to presenting my classes or even how my class works to the public as I have so little practice.  I am still a bit scared about the comments that might get posted or the number of dislikes that could pop up on my first uploaded iMovie on youtube but the who experience has gotten me so much more comfortable with presenting to those not in my class.  I can even see how I could record one of my classes or even the work from class and post it online so my students could view it if they weren't in class or if I wasn't.  I have some tech conferences coming up here in the spring that I would like to attend I am thinking about recording the lesson so my students could click on the link and I could run them through the work on their classes.

I'm hoping after this weeks lesson that I will learn a lot about Audacity and some of the live video capture out there so that I can start teaching the other teachers out there just what they can do with their laptops.

As for the conferences, it is awesome that my EDLD professor offers multiple session offerings for me to attend and while I would like to attend them all, it is good to be able drop in when I need to, to ask questions.  I love my Lamar masters program but one item that always stresses me out is  the limited time frame and after homework is submitted, I check, then double check my assignments before sending them just to be sure and so far, I've done really good on everything.  Actually, the rigor of this program and made me grow in the classroom as I find myself being able to tackle large projects and be a better leader from each class I have studied.  Almost like a "boot camp" for the regular ed. teacher!

And now, from the not-yet-Oscar-nominated director, writer, and producer Travis Patocka, I proudly present...

¿Hablas español?  Welcome to my Spanish class!

Here is that address, just in case the link above doesn't work...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1WfzUeYaQE&list=LLJ3Q_IfIbhd_Qsj1pT5BTCQ&feature=mh_lolz

Please forgive me in case it isn't as mind blowing as some of the other videos that you can find on youtube.  You would think that with the countless hours my friends and I spent on making movies for our classes and for fun in high school with the old camcorder and VCR, that this would just come naturally to but, but it took alot of work.  As I watch the video, it is amazing how much I have picked up in a little over two days of playing around with iMove.

So far, I have learned how to write a script, create a layout/storyboard, insert photos and add sound captions as well as do some basic editing as well as editing individual frames for video and audio.  It is amazing just how much control you have over the video production process in iMovie, and while I was a bit scared initially, especially when it came to the audio portion, it really wasn't that bad.  Still, I've put close to 12 hours total from start to finish in just a 2 minute clip and I still am thinking about releasing a "directors cut" with a soundtrack.  Like I said, I'm gonna stay humble and say that while the video doesn't knock your socks off like something Spielberg might make, but at least I know understand the program and can use it more (or have my students use it more!) in my own classroom.  My students are already iMovie experts but now that I get this program and what to do, I see it isn't that daunting and I am excited to do more with it!

Something else I should add was that this evening I also got a little practice with creating links to my video as well as inserting a youtube device in my google sites page for viewing the video directly on my google site e-portfolio.  Good stuff!

My first iMovie script for EDLD 5363

Title:  "Hablas español? Welcome to my Spanish Class!

¿Hablas español? Welcome to my Spanish class!  ¡Buenos días! My name is Travis Patocka and I’m a Spanish teacher here at Lexington High School in Lexington, Nebraska and I’d like to share with you just what I do.
     My day starts around 5:15 every morning and I usually get to class around 6:30 AM or sooner.  I teach three different levels of Spanish, but with the help of my colleagues Juan and Socorro, we are able to offer a total of six. This is my class, and what it looks like every morning before my students arrive. Don’t worry, before you know it, it will be full! Here at the high school we have a ton of technology we use and all of my students have their own laptops.  I use my LCD projector, laptop, and the Internet to bring the world of Spanish to my students. One of my favorite pieces of technology is my Lightspeed microphone system.  It allows students to hear me speaking at the same volume regardless of where they sit. I do find that by being early I have plenty of time to read e-mails, grade homework assignments, and double check to make sure my lesson plans and class website are all set to go.      

8 AM and the students are here. We typically start class with a game, as it is a great way to wake everyone up.  This game is called “Matamosca” and helps students learn class vocabulary.  We then move on to a grammar review of the past tense. Students do most of their work on their laptops and maintain a digital portfolio that they submit at the end of the year. From there, the students work with their partners on their weekly conversations.  We have a different topic each week.  Once the students have had a chance to work on their conversations we go online and investigate a different Spanish website each week.  This week, Spanish poetry! We typically finish class with a learning game and today we are playing “Rags to Riches”.  After that, the bell rings and the students move on to their next class. My school day usually ends at 3:30 but today I’m working with one of the afternoon clubs that I sponsor, the high school game club.  I return to my class and around 5 PM and gather a few things before I head home. Tomorrow, I’ll come back and get ready to do it all again, and I love it.  Thanks for joining me.  

Ya move 16 tons, and what do ya get...(EDLD 5363 video blog)

...a sweet iMovie, that is!  I have never before worked with any multimedia production software band while I've always had a nack for technology and gadgets, I had yet to actually produce anything on the iMovie software that has been on my Mac's since the early 2000's.  I can handle web publishing, technology in the classroom, e-mail, etc. but iMovie seemed easy considering how many hilarious yet pointless videos my friends make for our classes in high school and for fun right?  Wrong!  iMovie and multimedia is a whole new ball game.  In EDLD 5363 my first multimedia project was to produce a digital storytelling project.  To guide us along the way we had two excellent online articles that helped us understand just what "multiple" media and story telling was all about.  The first article, entitled Think Tank, helped me understand how the human mind worked and in a nutshell (because you could take an entire graduate course on the material in this article alone) helped me understand how many multimedia elements needed to mesh as well as the environment to create in order to help my students learn.  Technology in the classroom should mean way more than just a repository for curriculum delivery.  The second article, entitled, The Digital Storytelling Cookbook, helped me understand the process that one could follow in order to choose an idea to tell a story.  In the end, my choice fell under the "what I do" category of stories to tell and I began my process of script composition.  I answered several questions about myself, and submitted the same questions to my partner so that he could do the same to help shape what I would write about.  Since I incorporate technology in my daily classroom lessons, I wanted that to be a large portion of my story as shifting from paper copies of everything and going digital with email, a wiki with class work, interactive websites for my students to use, etc. marked a shift in my teaching style.  I went from how I was taught Spanish to how my students were actually learning now with technology.  My script will be in my next post.  After my script was written I shot photos over the course of the day and used those to put together my iMovie.  I though I would like music but in the end decided to leave it out as I didn't want it to be a distraction to what I was saying.  Speaking of the script I am currently collaborating with four other Lamar students and we are reading each others first drafts to give suggestions an ideas and so far, so good! The web address for the video will be posted in an upcoming blog, shortly.

EDLD 5363--Hit the ground running! Web conference #1

We started our class this evening, literally with a web conference!  I have come to enjoy the web conferences over the last few months as they give me a chance to ask questions and get answers in a hurry.  There were around 30 students in our web conference and one thing that is different about the layout of our conferences vs. the other two Lamar courses that I have taken is that this professor will be hosting conferences several times this week, but only requires us to attend 3 over the course of 5 weeks.  What is great about this is that these conferences are almost like office hours where I can come in and get help on something if I get stuck.  There are four times that I can attend this week and I may drop in tomorrow, or maybe Friday morning to share how my personal digital story is coming along.

This course is centered on multimedia and technology and while I consider myself a fan of technology and gadgets, I have very little experience on the production end of multimedia production, editing, presentation, etc.  This class opens the world of multimedia up to me by offering me useful websites I can go to in order to view what is out there for multimedia production, without having to spend hours hunting online.

I also read an absolutely fascinating article by Patti Shank entitled "Think Tank" which talks about the psychology and learning process required to do good multimedia.  I almost feel like an entire course on the design of a learning website could be taught from this article alone!  It also has me thinking about my own website and how much I need to change it.  Right now, my Spanish class website is mostly used for curriculum instruction but I would like to construct a new one that not only delivers instruction of the class work but also interacts and creates an environment my students can use to truly learn.

I plan to post the link to my digital story as soon as I get it up on teachertube.com.  I love youtube but it can be a very cruel place to post just about anything so at least on teachertube I can expect some professionalism and I might even open up my video posting for comments.

As for my actual personal digital story, I'm going to use imovie for the first time in my career.  I know, I know, it is sad considering it has been on every Mac I have owned since about 1999! But I have been a consumer of its videos and not a producer...until now.

Hang tight and I'll get that video URL posted by the end of this week!

Harvestin' time!

OK, so I'm not a real farmer but I am currently gathering, organizing and storing data for my action research project.  I am gathering attendance data from the prior school year and entering it on my google docs spreadshseet, as well as attendance data from the start of this school year up until now to run a comparison of pre and post PlascoTrac integration.  PlascoTrac is the program being used by our administration to generate up to the minute reports of truancy and absences and while it promises reductions in those numbers of students that are gone everyday, when followed as instructed. Time will tell (or the data will show) the impact the program is having overall.  I have calculated the results from last year and last year our average daily attendance was around 94.7% in a school of a little over 800 students.  This year I only have the first 60 days recorded but at the end of the year, the overall attendance will tell one side of the story. The other side of the data collection story is the qualitative, that being the effort our administrators and front office put every day in creating the reports and reaching those students that are absent each class period to find out what is going out.  Regardless of what my research says, our administrators and teachers work hard to make sure as many students are in the classroom as possible every day.  Stay tuned for more updates.

So where do we go from here?

Actually, that is a pretty simple question to answer...to work, on our action research project and internship tasks.  This week I plan to use my week off of my classes to get a jump start on doing some investigative research on my action research project.  I have data to plug in, interview questions to write and literature to continue to accumulate  that will assist me in understanding the impact our computer attendance program, PlascoTrac is having on our students.  I will do my best to follow my time frame and stay on task but it will be no easy chore. Staying focused with the load of responsibilities that this course and my additional responsibilities with my job teaching Spanish (oh yeah, I should probably mention that, too!) will push me to my limits of work.  With enough organization and a pace that my previous two Lamar U courses have established for me, I'm sure I will be alright.  Now that I am able to catch my breath for a few days I'm going to continue updating my google spaces page as well as get our Teach Leadership facebook page going. 

Get ready for liftoff!! (My week 5 analysis/reflection on 5301)

I have to say that these last few weeks have been some of the most challenging from my graduation class so far.  I've been working like mad the last two months in an effort at preparing my internship plan of activities I hope to complete, as well as prep the action research project that I will be focusing on between now and May.  This last week was very nice as it taught me how to stop, take a look at what I've done, reflect, consult with my site mentor and make sure everything is a-go before I begin my project.  I feel like I've found a good balance between work and play and I'm thankful I have a wife that understands my commitment to this program. It also helps that she is a masters student in a different program but is just as busy as I!

I love to teach Spanish but one thing that has really become evident to me is how much more I enjoy being in the class and working with my students now that I am so committed to so many projects at one time.  Teaching Spanish and doing everything I do as a Spanish teacher IS RELAXING for me!!  I feel that because of the rigors of the work I have put into my graduate classes that I can handle just about any project or extra challenge that has arisen in my daily job.  I also feel like I am a more patient person in school, with my students and colleagues as I try to make the most of the time I can dedicate to them in class.

Finally, I was made a member of our high school core technology team last Monday and already, five days later, I was presenting to our faculty a very useful app for the iPad that makes working with MS Office on the iPad so much easier.  I also learned lessons about pre-planning and how it is important it is let faculty know ahead of time, that yes, they will need their iTunes usernames and passwords to use this project!!  Out of 12 applicants from our building, four were selected for this position.  It has been an exciting and yet, humbling experience at the same time.  Oh well, back to the Week 5 work for EDLD 5301!!

Phew, that was tough!

I don't know how many hours it took for me to create both my Action Research Project Template and Action Research Project Draft (Process Overview) and I'm still not 100% sure if this is how it is supposed to look but I'm trying hard!  I utilized a sample process overview for the basic structure of the project draft in conjunction with my course textbook "Examening What We Do To Improve Our Schools: 8 Steps From Analysis To Action", whitten by Sandra Harris, et. al.  This textbook lays out the process, in easy to follow steps, of the creation of an action research plan for education. 

There were a few sections of the book that I had yet to read in detail but I was able to work my way through the process.  The hard work will begin once I start collecting all of my data, analysis, synthesis, reflection, etc!

My Action Research Project Draft Process Overview.

Action Research Project Draft

Process Overview

Travis Patocka

EDLD 5311

Goal:   How can the attendance program PlascoTrac be utilized to increase school attendance? and Is PlascoTrac delivering a measurable increase in attendance while being used in conjunction with our grading software, Power Teacher?

1.     SETTING THE FOUNDATION—Meeting with my site mentor on several occasions to discuss possible action research topics, we narrowed down my list to three topics.  After further discussing the three topics, it was decided that I would have full access to our new PlascoTrac attendance software as we were just switching over from the free trial version to the new, purchased full version.   It was also decided that I would analyze the program, how it was being utilized and how it could be utilized even more, and further to analyze the data it was producing to see if it contributed to any measurable improvement in student attendence.  This research was necessary as PlascoTrac promises significant improvements in attendance.  Our school board is currently considering purchasing this program for other schools in our district and much of my data generated will depend on this study.  I will also be able to make recommendations as to features of PlascoTrac that can be utilized to further enhance its’ use.

2.     Analyzing Data—PlascoTrac is a data heavy program as it generates absence/truancy reports for any given hour of the classroom day, integrates itself within and pulls attendance data from our existing grading program, Power School.  Using a combination of the quantitative data from Power School, as well as the attendance reports from PlascoTrac, as well as qualitative data which includes surveys and interviews with those that deal firsthand with attendance/truancy data (administrators and front office staff), I will begin to analyze the data.  Attendance figures from last year will be compared with attendance data from this current year, as PlascoTrac was running and being used from the first day of school, to see if PlascoTrac, and the information it generates, as well as the administrator to student contact it creates, is having a measureable impact on school attendance.  Other forms of data to be gathered for analysis include comparing any changes in our attendance policy both on the local and state level as they may also impact attendance figures in our schools.

3.     DEVELOPING DEEPER UNDERSTANDING—Once the data has been gathered and inserted into spreadsheets for analysis, the quantitative results can begin to be observed.  Once the interviews of the administration and office staff have been complete the qualitative data can be collected and reflected upon.  The final portion of the deeper understanding is to see how PlascoTrac, when integrated with PowerSchool and the effort of the administration to use PlascoTrac reports to increase attendance and lower absences as well as truancies, can be made.  Also, the comparison to the previous years attendance figures use can be made as well as reflection upon the changes in attendance policy to look at the progress made thus far, in boosting school attendance.  I will also read case studies from other schools that have used PlascoTrac to see how they integrated the program into their systems as well as look at the merit point system PlascoTrac offers as it may serve as reward system that encourages attendance in school. My observations and steps completed on both my blog as well as my google sites page will be posted.

4.     ENGAGE IN SELF-REFLECTION—It is at this point that I will take a step back and continue my journaling with regards to my work as an action research, as well as how the process has been functioning.  I will post my thoughts and results to both my blog and google site.  It will be important to begin to see the connections my data has generated as well as continue to examine the idea of the merit points system for students.  I plan to also create a survey that will be presented to my administrators to analyze my performance on the project, as well as make any recommendations to improve my action research process.

5.     EXPLORING PROGRAMMATIC PATTERNS—I will interview my site mentor about programmatic patterns that affect student attendance. Information that I need to know includes which challenges our students face in trying to be in school each day.  What factors try to pull them out?  I need to go beyond the data in search of factors that impact student attendance.  I will also interview both vice principals at our school as they to have first hand experience with locating students and can give me some insider information as to the factors that influence student attendance. I will ask if PlascoTrac functions as an intervention tool which can eliminate the delay in tracking down students to address the absence and truancy before it becomes a problem for that student.

6.     DETERMINING DIRECTION—It is at this point that I will begin to compile all of my data generated thus far to measure the impact and analyze the figures and information it has produced.  I also need to ask myself some important questions at this point such as: A. Do I know what I am trying to find in the data?  B. Do I have the adequate skills, resources, and data to compose my report and continue this project with the hope of answering my action research inquiry?  C. Have I collaborated on the issue and been sharing all of the data that I have encountered thus far?  What kind of feedback have I received and will it influence my proposed action?  These are all important questions to ask at this point as there are many requirements to successfully executing any action research and even the slightest unrecognized factor can have a major impact on my findings.  I also need to examine my timeline to ensure that I have set reasonable and realistic due dates for each project I hope to have completed.  Am I capable of monitoring all data collected and do I have a system of organization to handle all data, yet make it available for collaboration?  How can I go about making changes if required in a way that wont deviate from answering my original inquiry?  Also, how will I know if my plan is successful?  There will be much that will need to be answered at this point and I will address each issue in journaling and reflection.

7.     TAKING ACTION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT—The data that I gather and wish to disseminate will rely heavily upon the qualitative and quantitative as well as the cooperation of administration and office personnel that handle attendance data.  I have a written plan for action that outlines exactly what will need to be done, when to have it completed by, who will be involved, as well as what evidence of the work I have completed will need to be available to my site mentor.  I will also prepare reports on my work which will include formative (of the project itself) as well as summative evaluation of my results to be shared with my site mentor and our school board, as this data may influence the purchase of PlascoTrac for other schools.  It is at this point that I will present the idea of using the merit points system as an option to encourage positive attendance as well as the steps required to make this option available to teachers in our school.  I will also need to survey our teachers to see if they would be willing to utilize a merit point system the following fall in our school.

8.     SUSTAIN IMPROVEMENT—I will present the data that I have discovered to all stakeholders. I will consult my site mentor on this process, as I want to ensure that my information is communicated in the most effective manner possible.  I will also self reflect through journaling, blogging, and the process of doing action research, the results learned from the study of the data and if I feel that it was a successful process.  If PlascoTrac does report positive results, it would answer the original inquiry as to its’ effectiveness but will also outline the effort and procedure required to ensure its’ success through my analysis of the data, report of the procedure and sharing of my results and research.

My Action Research Plan (Template)

Action Planning Template
Goal: How can the attendance program PlascoTrac be utilized to increase school attendance? and Is PlascoTrac delivering a measurable increase in attendance while being used in conjunction with our grading software, Power Teacher?
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
1.  Examining the Work:  Setting the Foundation. Meet with site mentor to discuss possible action research topics topics.  Meet again to narrow down topics and have final discussion to seek approval from site mentor.	Site mentor: Kyle Hoehner Action researcher: Travis Patocka	October 2012	-Initial meeting to discuss topics:  10-10-12 -Second meeting to narrow down topics:  10-15-12 -Final meeting to decide final topic and seek approval to begin project:  10-18-12 -Action Research Plan draft to be presented to site mentor between 10-26-12/10-28-12 or sooner.	Journaling on meetings as presented in EDLD 5301 weekly homework. Presentation of Action Research Plan to site mentor for any final revisions.
2.  Examening the Work: Analyzing Data. Collect quantitative attendance data from last year as PlascoTrac was not integrated into our school attendance procedures until this year. Collect current quantitative data from this school year to see if PlascoTrac is having a measureable impact on attendance. Interview both site mentor/principal and vice-principal in charge of student attendance to record their experiences and reaction to PlascoTrac as well as any changes to school attendance procedures this year. Compose a basic overview of the PlascoTrac program and how it is used by our administration. Interview front office secretaries to see how they process and use PlascoTrac reports to generate attendance reports.	Site mentor: Kyle Hoehner Vice Principals: Audrey Racek Alan Frank Action researcher: Travis Patocka	October 2012 October 2012/May 2013 November 2012	-Collect attendance data figures from last school year: 10-22-12 -Collect attendance data:  10-22-12/5-22-12 (last day of school). -Interview questions for site mentor and vice principal(s) for qualitative data on perceptions, reactions and experiences with the PlascoTrac program. - Examine PlascoTrac users manual to explain function, purpose and features of this -Interview questions for front office secretaries.	Generate charts using computer database programs, which plot attendance data from last year and current school year. Reflection on questions posed to site mentor and vice principals as well as analysis of responses of experience with PlascoTrac to see what has changed from the previous years policy and enforcement. Produce an overview of PlascoTrac features and reports. Analyze response from front office secretaries to reflect on their reaction to using PlascoTrac and how attendance procedures have changed.
3.  Examening the Work: Developing Deeper Understanding. By examining both the quantitative and qualitative data I will begin to analyze patterns in school attendance.  Reflection on the PlascoTrac and changes in school attendance, if any, will be noted. Factors which impact student attendance and administrative intervention will be noted. Ensure that all important data has been collected.	Action Researcher: Travis Patocka	November 2012/ December 2012	Charts, which contain additional attendance data. Analysis of responses from site mentor and vice principal(s) to interpret their perception of how PlascoTrac has impacted student attendance. Any additional data to be collected.	Presentation of findings thus far to site mentor.  Methods of data collection and sharing of analysis of quantitative data.  Possible revisions if necessary.
4.  Examining the Work:  Engaging in Self-Reflection Journal of experiences thus far in the action research process.  Check timelines and ensure that all data is up to date. Ensure that original goal is being pursued and that results are being recorded. Journal on impact PlascoTrac is having, if at all taking into consideration both data types. Share experiences of action research in blog.  Post completed work in google spaces. Create a Survery Monkey survey for administration on action researcher performance thus far.	Action researcher: Travis Patocka	January 2013	Journals to be recorded.  Data to be analyzed, both qualitative and quantitative. Action Research Plan itself/checklist of activities. Survey Monkey survey on action researcher performance. Blog postings, website postings.	Journals, self-evaluation.  Evaluation of performance from site mentor and vice-principal(s) via Survey Monkey.
5.  Examining the Work:  Exploring Programmatic Patterns Interview site mentor about programmatic patterns in our school. Ask the questions as to the efficiency of our attendance procedures.  Do we get to truant students soon enough to intervene?  How do we comply with state and federal attendance requirements for students in school? Find out which challenges our students face in making it to school each day. Reflect on responses.	Site mentor: Kyle Hoehner Vice-Principals: Audrey Racek Alan Frank Action Researcher: Travis Patocka	February 2013	Interviews with site mentor/principal and vice-principals	Record responses to interview questions.  Reflect on responses to see if programmatic patterns exist and if so, identify what they are. (Tool 5.1, Harris)
6.  Examining the Work:  Determining Direction Present findings to site mentor.  Discuss possible changes over the course of the school year with regards to absence policy.  Determine if changes affect current data.  Discuss if other feathers of PlascoTrac need to be enabled.  Begin to examine merit point system for PlascoTrac for next fall.	Site mentor: Kyle Hoehner Action researcher:  Travis Patocka	March 2013	Current attendance data needed. Listing of policy changes over last 6 months with regards to attendance.	Six-month progress report/executive summary for site mentor with recorded data.  Presentation of programmatic patterns and reflection of data collected thus far.
7.  Examining the Work: Taking Action for School Improvement. Propose using merit point system to encourage student attendance.  Discuss this process with site supervisor. Present monthly data findings to site supervisor. Create presentation of data findings for possible presentation of school board. Reflection on meeting with Site supervisor to discuss if merit system could be made available to all teachers.  Survey teachers to see if they would be willing to use such a system.	Site supervisor: Kyle Hoehner Action Researcher: Travis Patocka	April 2013	Proposal for merit point system for next fall. Attendance charts in comparison with last year. Power point of data findings thus far, including qualitative and quantitative data	Action plan for merit point system for teachers. Power point containing attendance data. Responses from teachers for merit system
8.  Examening the Work:  Sustaining Improvement Present final observations of PlascoTrac, as well as an interpretation of data to site mentor.  Continue proposal of merit points through PlascoTrac to site mentor. Add final data (school attendance information through May 2013) to spreadsheets.  Modify Power Point presentation as needed. Final interview of site mentor on his interpretation of my performance.	Site mentor: Kyle Hoehner Action Researcher:  Travis Patocka	May 2013	Attendance data charts. Proposal for merit points for following fall. Power Point of final findings to school board.	Final presentation of findings of the effectiveness of PlascoTrac, as well as the qualitative data, and sharing of PlascoTrac features with school board.  School board will take the research data into consideration which future purchase of PlascoTrac for other district buildings/schools.