Task Analysis for Flint and Steel
Task Outcome: I used the flint rock and a steel screwdriver to attempt to light the cloth and start a small fire using dry grass from my backyard. I was finally able to get a spark that lit the char cloth. I them put the char cloth under some dry grass I collected from my backyard.
Materials and Conditions: Flint rock, old rusty steel screwdriver, char cloth, dry grass, patience.
I watched the videos provided, as well as an episode of SurvivorMan, for some tips. I also checked out these sites : http://members.aye.net/~bspen/fire.html
http://www.ragweedforge.com/striking.html
Steps: 1. I took my flint and tested about 20 different screwdrivers and other “steel” tools I had in my garage. This was the biggest challenge for me. I finally found an old screwdriver that did produce a spark.
2. I placed the char cloth on top of the flint in order to catch a spark. The challenge here was avoiding hitting your thumb and finger that was holding the flint. I did not avoid this!
3. Once I finally got a spark to catch the char cloth, I blew on it very slowly and placed it under the dry grass, where I blew into the grass. It started smoking and then burst into a flame.
I hadn’t attempted this since my days in the Boy Scouts. I think I had a lot more patience then!
ETEC 644 - Pre-Thesis, Presentation DVD, Storyboard
Master’s Proposal
Scott Neuscheler
Introduction
Schools today face an increasing pressure on improving test scores and reaching NCLB requirements. Without the complete dedication of the students, teachers, administration, and the parents, our schools will continue to fail.
Research has long showed that parents’ positive involvement with their children’s schooling is related to many positive outcomes.” (Horowitz and Bronte-Tinkew 2007) Getting the parents to come to school and to stay involved in their child’s education is a challenge for a lot of schools, including my current school.
This project will develop a DVD presentation introducing the schools’ staff, building, educational programs, extra curricular programs, and opportunities for parents to get help and be involved.
Literature Review
Three areas of literature that will inform this investigation are Parent Involvement, Parent Barriers, and Home-School communication.
Method
The analysis phase of this project will use parent and teacher surveys and focus groups. The focus groups will consist of a parents’ group, The MODEL team, administrators, and support staff. Using these groups will help determine the necessary components of the introduction video.
The initial design of the project will be a storyboard layout highlighting each scene and the sequence of topics. Research collected in Chapter 2 will aide in developing effective messages to parents and student. The alpha test will be the Powerpoint storyboard and will focus on proper content and flow of the video. The information gathered will then be transferred to a video format. The initial video presentation will be alpha tested at a Back to School night. A survey will be passed out to parents and the data will be analyzed. The Beta test will be then shown to teachers and administration, followed by a final test to the parents at a School Site Council meeting.
The final project will be a burned DVD made on iMovie with a copy made for each family currently enrolled at Riley and any future families new to the school.
The evaluation phase will focus on parent involvement. This will focus on an increase in attendance at parent-teacher conferences, Back to School Nights, School Site Council Meetings, parent classes, and general school functions. With an increase in Parent Involvement, the project hopes to ultimately see improved test scores at the school.
Conclusion
This project will seek to develop an introduction video for parents of Riley Elementary School students. With the majority of families being Hispanic, this video will help introduce the parents to the school and make Riley feel more welcoming to them. This video will supplement current written introductions and will be produced in English, Spanish, and Samoan.
The project will use the ADDIE instructional design model and will be completed by September 2010.
I understand, affirm and agree that it is my responsibility to transfer my completed thesis to my first reader no later than 60 days prior to the format review deadline as established by Graduate Studies in order to avoid delays which might lead to my missing the format review deadline.
Foundation
ETEC 603 - journal (not going to publish due to privacy issues)
ETEC 605 - Project Oral Presenation
Identified Needs
A. Improve test scores and student performance
1. Increase Parental Involvement in Riley Elementary School
2. Research has shown that when parents are more involved in their student’s education:
· Students get higher grades, better attendance, higher graduation rates, decrease in negative behaviors, and increase in positive attitudes
· Schools get an increase in teacher morale, better school reputation, and better performance of school programs
· Parents get a better connection to their children and increase in support and services to the family.
3. It also shows that parents are willing to help, but lack the knowledge how to help, or are afraid or intimidated by the school itself.
Goal
A. What is the goal of the project-
· Replace the parent handbook – parents don’t read
· To increase parent involvement and parent understanding of the school.
· Get more parents to attend meetings and ESL classes
· Better conference participation
· Educate parents on how to help their children at home
· Actual Goal: IS to create a DVD presentation video of Riley Elementary School introducing all parents and students to the school, ways for parents to get involved, and as a welcoming invite to the school. Looking for a grant to pay for 800 or more copies.
Objectives, Strategies, and Measures (explain strategies)
· To research parent involvement
· To develop questionairres and surveys for parents, teachers, and administration seeking input and data on what should be included on the video.
· Storyboard the video
· Shoot video
· Edit and put in presentation form
· Present to staff – alpha test
· Present to SSC (parents) – alpha test
· Make copies for all families.
Measures
· Received feedback from staff and parents about what they want to include and what they want to know more about the school
· Alpha Test Focus Groups
· Beta Test Focus Groups
RResearch
ETEC 543 - Data Collection, Lit Review, Action research
Final Research Report: Important components that would be relevant on a school introductory DVD to help promote and improve parent participation
Scott Neuscheler
ETEC 543 Fall 2009
Dr. Baek
Table of Contents
Literature Review …………………………………Pg. 3
Research Topic ……………………………………Pg. 6
Hypothesis …………………………………………Pg. 6
Rationale for Relevance ……………………….…..Pg. 6
Rationale for Interest ……………………………...Pg. 7
Population Served …………………………………Pg. 7
Research Design …………………………………..Pg. 8
Data Analyzation ………………………….………Pg. 8
Survey/ Focus Group ……………………………..Pg. 9
Plans for Further Analysis ………………………..Pg. 11
Instruments of Collection …………………….…..Pg. 12
Conclusion ………………………………………..Pg. 12
Appendix ………………………………………….Pg. 13
References ………………………………………..Pg. 17
Literature Review
Introduction
This literature review was originally divided into two parts: Part 1 was a review of parental involvement in children’s elementary school experience. It also discusses how parental involvement improves students’ success in school, and whether socio-economic status has an effect on involvement. Part 2 explores potential technological answers to help increase parent involvement. For this action research report, only the technology portion is included.
Technology to Increase Parent Involvement
School leaders generally agree that improvement in communication methods would enhance the relationships between the school and home, thus helping parental involvement. Ramirez states that one of the widest forms of communication today is the internet (pg. 67). However, schools cannot assume that students have access at home, especially in a low-socio economic setting. Technology and Parental Involvement discusses the importance of knowing your school’s population and technological availability. Surveys and parent questionnaires can be a great way to obtain this information.
Parents show the desire to help their children, but many times lack the ability or tools to help. As Hughes and Greenbough stated (pg 474), they talk about sending home learning lessons that have been taped in classrooms to model to the parents on how to effectively teach their children. It shows actual video from the classroom so parents can see their students learning.
Another home-school technology was discussed in the article by Clark (pg no.), discusses texting messages to parents in a school service called In-Line. Parent would be kept aware of their child was absent, and could also be reminded about parent meetings and conferences. With more student homes having cell phones than home phones, this would be a technology that could be taken advantage of by inner city schools.
One of the first experiences parents have with their child’s school is Back to School Night. The parents that attend these meetings are usually not the one’s that need to attend. The challenge for my school is reaching the parents that wouldn’t have normal communication with the school. For years, our district has sent home a Parent Compact that would explain the rules of the district, the school, and ways to help your child at home. We asked the parents to read it, sign it, and send it back. For many parents, that never received this or would sign it without reading it. Clevensen discusses video as a way to enhance relationships between schools and families (pg. 158). Being able to introduce the rules of the school, the staff, and parent volunteers would be a way to open up the school to normal shy, unwilling parents. The video would give an overview of the policies and curriculum, as well as an introduction to daily school life. Clevensen (pg. 156) suggests that creating school videos would help send messages to their parents to help their students. Since some families have problems with literacy themselves, would be an ideal vehicle to send the school’s message home. The author continues to discuss how video would be an ideal goal of the Virginia Middle School and how they wanted to use television as a way to increase information received by the parents of the school. In my research at school, I found that 98% of our student’s homes had a DVD player, while only 48% had Internet access. Utilizing the technology that is already possessed in inner city neighborhoods is important. In using video, the language of delivery can be changed to meet the needs of the school. Parents would not have to be literate in the schools home language to understand the expectations from their school.
Lit Review Summary
No one can argue that parental involvement is an important ring in the ladder of school success for children. Using technology to increase this is just now starting to evolve. Improving home – school communication seems to be the best way to use technology to increase this. Creating a video that parents can watch with their children is a great way to introduce the message the school is trying to communicate.
Research Topic:
What important components would parents, staff, students, and administrators want to include in a presentation DVD focused on increasing parent involvement and increasing familiarity with the school.
Hypothesis:
Teachers would want a way to introduce parents to the school rules, curriculum, and ways to help their students with homework.
Parents would want more information about programs to help their children, social programs to help their families, and ways to get more involved in the school.
Administrators would want a comprehensive overview of programs offered for students and parents. They would also want the school’s discipline program introduced and staff introduction.
Rationale for Relevance:
With ever increasing pressure on school performances on standardized tests, schools have been looking for anyway to increase test scores. One of these ways is to facilitate a more prominent role of parents in their children’s education. As recommended by Dr. Ruby Payne, creating a video about the school can increase parental involvement. This research topic further looks into what aspects about the school that parents need to know more about and what teachers and staff feel parents should know more about.
Rationale for Interest:
Every year, our school struggles to get parents involved in their student’s education. There is a lack of participation in conferences, field trips, on-site parent meetings, and ESL classes. My hypothesis for this is that most parents are uninformed or our intimidated by the school to show up. At the beginning of every year, the schools send home a parent handbook. This handbook can be very daunting to read through and can be quite intimidating for second language learners. I would like to put all of this information that is vital for parents into a DVD format and create a fun, educational, and welcoming DVD to our school. Calabreses wrote about a principal who took a suggestion from Dr. Ruby Payne, and used video to enhance its relationships with their parents by using a school video. (Pg. 156)
Population Served:
The population that the research covered included parents and students of Riley Elementary School, as well as the staff and administrators. The demographic breakdown of the parent and student population was 80% Hispanic, 13% African-American, 4% Samoan, and 3% other.
Research Design:
My research design used a qualitative approach. The ethnography focused on site-based observations of the school, parents, and students. Interviews and focus groups were a key method for obtaining information. Calabreses stated that one of the initial steps was to have the support and enthusiasm of the entire staff (pg. 156).
Instruments used for data collection will include interviews and surveys. I had different surveys for students, parents, and staff. (See appendix) These questions will help form the layout of the presentation DVD by asking what important aspects of the school they would want explained on the DVD.
Data Analyzation:
In analyzing my initial data, I concluded that using a DVD format would be more useful than a web based school information site. 98% of our student’s homes contained a DVD player, while only 45% had Internet.
I used open-ended interview questions as a guide to see what should be included in the presentation DVD to ultimately recruit more parents to get involved with the school.
I met with focus groups consisting of our EL parents, teachers, administrators, after school program leader, MODEL program committee, and students to ask for input on what is important to include in the video.
Survey/ Focus Group Analysis:
My first attempt and getting data from parents was to pass out surveys. Out of 50 passed out, I only received 4 back. So I decided I needed to corral parents that were at our school and to hold a quick focus group. Three important points were discovered during these focus groups and surveys. There is a graph included at the end of this section.
Parents
1. 85% of the parents wanted to help their students with homework and reading, but lacked the basic knowledge as to how to help them.
2. 77 % of the parents wanted help with social programs. (I.e. glasses for students, help with food, how to change a child’s last name, and flu shots were mentioned more than once.)
3. 58% of the parents didn’t know about our parent classes and School Site Council, where parent’s help decides on school issues.
Teachers
Teachers had a very positive reaction to the research topic and seemed very excited to give their opinion. Some points from the data include:
1. Almost 90% of the teachers surveyed and interviewed mentioned promoting the MODEL program. As one teacher said, “The MODEL program has been instrumental in turning the overall culture of the school around. These comments included: (personal communication, November 12, 2009)
“We spend less time disciplining and more time teaching.”
“I love MODEL. I remind my student’s everyday to “be nice”. I’d tell the world that Riley really cares about the students.”
2. Another common theme was expressed in the desire for the video to show how proud the staff is of the school and how much they love their students. These comments included: (personal communication, November 15, 2009)
“Riley staff is committed to help students beyond academic needs.”
“How hard the staff works to meet the children’s academic needs.”
“We have created a school that is trying everything they can to improve the future of their students.”
Administration
The administrators reiterated many of the things that the parents and teachers mentioned. They had a few things that they thought would help the parents.
1. 100% of the three administrators interviewed wanted the video to introduce all the programs offered at the school. These included curriculum, intervention programs, before and after school programs, tutoring, college promotion program, MODEL, and parent classes.
2. They also felt the video should replace the parent handbook that goes out every year to parents, but feel most parents do not read the handbook.
“It is our duty to make sure all parents have access to the information provided by the school. A video would be a fun and entertaining thing that parents can watch with their children.” (personal communication, Nov. 12, 2009)
Plans for Further Analysis
At this point and for the class requirements, I think I have collected enough data to help me guide my action research. Further down the line, I will be conducting numerous alpha tests starting at the storyboard stage of the video and concluding with a beta test to the School Site Council.
Instruments of Collection (see appendix)
Teacher Surveys – surveys were passed out at a staff meeting and during committee meetings. Follow up questions were asked as open discussion took place.
Administration Interviews – The survey was used, but this was a chance to interview each administrator one on one.
Parent surveys- Surveys were given to students to take home, and surveys were handed directly to parents at the school and asked to fill out. Follow up questions were needed to entice more appropriate responses.
Conclusion
After collecting my qualitative data through surveys and interviews with parents, staff, and administration, I was able to learn a lot about what needs to be included in a presentation DVD focusing on parent participation. In the future, the survey questions need to be less open-ended. Many parents did not fill them out to completion. The questions were great when there were follow up question to be asked in the focus groups. However, parents needed the answers prodded out of them. The following graphs show the common needs for parents and staff.
As you can see from the graphs, there was one main points brought out by both parents and staff. Both groups wanted ways that parents can help their students with homework highlighted. Parents commented that they want to help their students, but aren’t sure how to help, because they lacked the knowledge of some of the skills. The other theme that both groups brought up had to do with school programs offered. There was a wide range of what programs should be highlighted, but some of these included the MODEL program, ESL parent classes, and the after school program (CAPS). From the data, you can see that parents and teachers have differing ideas of what is important. Through participation, the video hopes to close the gap. I was surprised that the majority of teacher responses wanted someway to get across on the video how hard the staff works and how much they care for their students. One of the challenges of the video will be how to get this message across. I wasn’t too surprised with the lack of surveys I received back from parents. I handed out about 50 to kids and told them if they returned them, they would get a prize. Only five surveys were returned. I then solicitated parents who would come to the school, but realizing this, these are not the parents we need to target with the video, it’s the parents who don’t visit the school. Another trend brought out by the staff was a simple introduction for parents on grade level standards. Teachers felt many parents are unaware exactly the grade level requirements for each grade. I believe that giving the parents a basic idea of what is expected would help their students succeed.
I saw a need for more focused survey questions. In the future, yes/ no questions would be more suitable for survey questions, while the open ended would continue to be sufficient for focus groups and interviews.
I came away from the research project very excited to start production on the video. I have a renewed sense of pride in the school and see this as a definite need for our school. As outlined in the timeline below, I hope to have a storyboard model that can be presented to the teachers and parents separately. I would then like to meet with separate focus groups to hear about what they liked and what they didn’t. This would be considered the first alpha test. I hope by having a physical model for the parents to view, they would be more forthcoming with suggestions and questions.
Parent Participation Questionnaire
1. Did you read the parent handbook handed out at the beginning of the year? If no, why not?
2. Do you attend School Site Council/ ELAC meetings? If no, why not?
3. Do you attend the Parent classes? If no, why not?
4. Do you attend awards assemblies? If no, why not?
5. Does your student(s) participate in CAPS/Sunrise? If no, why not?
6. Do you feel that the school shares information with you? Explain.
7. Are there any other comments you would like to make concerning Riley Elementary School?
If your child returns this to the office, they will receive 50 Bear Bucks. You do not have to include your name.
Parent Involvement Survey - Administration
1. What is the most important thing you would like parents to know about the school?
2. In addition to providing the basic needs for their children, what role should parents have in their child’s education?
3. What are you most proud about Riley? What do you want to tell the world about our school?
4. What information about the school do you feel parents know very little about?
5. Is there anything else that you think we should put on a video presentation introducing our school to students and parents?
References
Calabreses, Nicki. (2006) “Video technology; a vehicle for educators to enhance relationships with families.” Education, 127(1), pgs.155-160
Clevenson, Rhonda. (1999) “Picture-Perfect Communication.” Educational Leadership, February, pgs 66-68,
Gonzalez-DeHass, A. R., Willems, P. P., & Holbein, M. F. D. (2005) Examining the relationship between parental involvement and student motivation. Educational Psychology Review, 17(2), 99-123
Greenhough, Pamela and Hughes, Martin. (2006) “Boxes, bags and videotape: enhancing home-school communication through knowledge exchange activities”. Educational Review, 58(4), pgs 471-487
Padgett, R. (2006). Best ways to involve parents. Education Digest: Essential Readings Condensed for Quick Review, 72(3), 44-45
Tobolka, Darby. (2006) “Connecting teachers and parents through the internet”. Tech Directions, 66(5), p24-26
TEchnology Skills
ETEC 500 - web page index, quick writes
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