(Warning: I was a little confused about this assignment. I wrote "Video Reflection" in the log entry portion of my syllabus, but after looking through a few other blogs it appears that we were supposed to choose a fourth data collection process. Also, I noticed that a few students posted about the Google+ hangout and the grammar presentation- I have not, but please let me know if I should! Sorry, this semester has been a little confusing for me.)
The fourth data collection process I attempted this semester was to create and administer a survey. At my school, all teachers participate in quarter one meetings where the teacher, department chair and school director come together to discuss student progress, data and to reflect on the first quarter. Because the teachers are subject to quarter one reviews, the department chairs (including myself) decided to administer surveys to our respective departments about our progress.
This is where I faced the first hurdle. Because I've conducted survey research before (last Spring in Dr. Turner's class), I volunteered to create the survey document and then upload it to surveymonkey.com. However, because the five department chairs decided to send an identical survey, I had to create several drafts to narrow down what questions should remain on the survey.
My first attempt was:
1.On a scale of 1-10, how positive do you feel about the direction of your department?
2.Do you receive consistent feedback on your lesson plans each week?
3.On a scale of 1-10, how effective do you feel the lesson plan rubric is?
4.On a scale of 1-10, how effective do you feel the Walk-Through Observation form is?
5.Reflecting on the formal observation and quarter 1 meeting procedure, do you have any questions or concerns?
6.Does your department share best practices and lessons with each other?
7.What area of professional development (Lesson Planning, Sharing Resources, Classroom Management etc) do you feel should be addressed more? Please explain.
My final draft, which was approved by the school's executive director was:
1. What is going well with our department?
2. If you could change one thing about our department, what would you change, why would you change it, and how would you change it?
3. What do you find most helpful about the feedback you receive?
4. If you could change one thing about the feedback you receive, what would you change, why would you change it, and how would you change it?
5. What do you find most supportive in our coaching relationship?
6. If you could change one thing about our coaching relationship, what would you change, why would you change it, and how would you change it?
The notable differences between the drafts include the omission of the Likert scale type questions and the clear pattern of questions in the final draft from What is happening to what would you (the teacher) change.
This survey is still in progress. Teachers have until December 9th to complete it, but the data I'm currently receiving has been helpful. Until I receive all the responses, it's difficult to begin coding answers, but I have noticed that the three teachers who have responded have been overwhelmingly positive and are all returning staff members. I'm predicting that the teachers who are short on time and a bit overwhelmed will be the last few to complete the survey, but we'll see. I will add on to this post as soon as all of my responses come in!
I wonder how this survey connects to the teaching of writing?
ReplyDeleteHmmm... that is a good question. I was reflecting on the survey creation process and I hoping the questions my staff selected are open ended enough to engage the teachers in writing, but I could instead create a writing methods survey for my department and analyze the current writing assignments and approaches.
ReplyDeletewhenever I've been asked to complete this kind of survey at school - there is always that moment of hesitation...Do I answer the questions honestly? Who is going to see my answers? Is it anonymous? Is it REALLY Anonymous? ... Do you suppose any of these questions are in your teachers minds?
ReplyDeleteI am definitely interested to see how your teachers answer. I wonder if there were directions that would encourage them to write detailed answers?
Also - why do you think (or do you know) why the likert scale was nixed?
Hi Michelle,
ReplyDeleteYour survey reflection was so interesting! As I was reading your process of revising your survey questions, I was glad that you included your first questions and then posted and discussed your final survey. I think that the use of open-ended questions in your new survey was an effective way to gather additional data. It also seemed to be a great way for teachers to reflect on the work that you do together.
I also used a survey for my fourth data collection process.
In my school we work in collaborative teams and departments and the information generated from surveys supports our instructional planning.
This was similar to my experience this year where last year’s reading survey was revised to include digital forms of reading and some additional questions.