Pilot Study

Hello!

This page is set up as a sort of "pilot study" to decide if a blog is the best venue to use for action research for my dissertation.

Since my research cannot be done using teachers in my department for ethical and bias reasons and you are some of my closest friends, you are my lucky guinea pigs ;)

Here's what I need for you to do:

1. Read the research and question and respond to it.
2. I will respond to you in the comments section.
3. Check back frequently to continue the collaboration in the comments section. I will send out emails to remind you to do this.

That's it!

The purpose of my research is here:

Reading with Technology: Professional Development for Digital Literacy

The problem is that more in-depth training in “21^st Century Learning” is needed to raise the comfort level of teachers who teach digital literacy using iPads and Chromebooks.

The proposed solution to the problem is to use a combination of the Change Theory and the Adult Learning Theory to implement Professional Development which motivates teachers to use digital literacy in the classroom. Teachers will be shown how to use digital literacy to help students become successful for the Read to Succeed (South Carolina General Assembly, 2013) and the Common Core State Standards (CCSS, 2014) guidelines.

Volunteering teachers across the district in grades 3-8 will be led in online Professional Development modeling different ways to implement digital literacies in the classroom. They will also be given opportunities to co-teach and to be a classroom in which the reading leader models how to implement technologies which incorporate digital literacy. Communication will be both constant and informal through the study’s online blog format.

SO, HERE IT GOES:

**A little tip:  you can keep your name as "anonymous" in the comments section if you like. As a rule of ethical review, I cannot use your name or any identifying features anyway, so it doesn't matter**

We were watching "Bad Teacher" on TV this past weekend and as I was laughing at how horrible this teacher was, her attitude toward the children reminded me of how I felt and what we look like the week before ACT ASPIRE testing. Some of my laughing was because I have felt like her! While I would never belittle a kid or throw a dodgeball at them, the concept is still the same - We throw our frustrations at them for not knowing something. It was a little eye opening...

In this one, notice what the principal says: "Her class had the highest scores, so whatever she did worked". Reminded me of what our state department sees. Any thoughts?

SO THE QUESTION IS THIS:
What are your thoughts? 
Since standardized testing matters SOOOO much, how do I achieve student achievement to the point of students meeting "grade level standard" AND get the kids ready for the 21st century by using digital literacies like the iPads?