Lisbon Hebrew Bible

The Lisbon Hebrew Bible is decorated with green and gold colors on the cover with Star of David set in the center and corners of the page. Inside the cover most of the pages are surrounded with brilliant colors with flowers and various designs. The text runs vertically with what appear to be headings and sub headings bolded. Also, many of the headings or footnotes run vertically up and down the sides of the pages. It is amazing to see the similarities between this old manuscript and the design of websites created today.

Action Planning Template
Goal: Gather data to support/change the current standardized dress code at BMS and discern incentives to motivate students to follow current policy
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Met with site supervisor to determine if standardized dress code would be an advantageous project for our campus	Randy Summerhill,   Brian Bowman	March 2013	Current data from skyward	Review PIEMS records and look at instruction time lost because of dress code violations
Create an action research project plan about standardized dress code in schools.	Randy Summerhill,   Brian Bowman	March 2013	Rough draft, Collaboration with site supervisor, various literature and online resources	Grade for research class. Feedback from discussions/blogs and approval from instructor
Survey students to find out how they perceive dress code at BMS	Randy Summerhill,   Mark McKinney,   Elizabeth Moore	May 2013	Online survey, computer lab	Students completed survey and access to the results
Survey students to discover various incentives to motivate students to comply with dress code policy	Randy Summerhill,   Mark McKinney,   Elizabeth Moore	May 2013	Online survey, computer lab	Students completed survey and access to the results
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Survey students to determine what area of the dress code they would change if they could	Randy Summerhill,   Mark McKinney,   Elizabeth Moore	May 2013	Online survey, computer lab	Students completed survey and access to the results
Meet with site supervisor to analyze data and check for accuracy	Randy Summerhill,   Brian Bowman	June 2013	Survey, power point, and PIEMS data	Use all sources to determine the validity of the surveys
Meet with teachers/staff to analyze data	BMS staff	August 2013	Presentation compiled during meeting with site supervisor	Feedback from staff
Meet with parents to discuss and analyze the data	Randy Summerhill,   Brian Bowman   BMS parents	September 2013	Presentation compiled during meeting with site supervisor and feedback from the staff	Feedback from parents
Compile all the data analysis into a presentable format	Randy Summerhill	October 2013	All data and feedback collected	Folder with all the material collected in a presentable format
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Make recommendations for possible changes in future dress code policy	Randy Summerhill,   Brian Bowman	October 2013	Folder with all the material collected in a presentable format	Feedback and evaluation from site supervisor
Make recommendations for incentives	Randy Summerhill,   Brian Bowman	October 2013	Folder with all the material collected in a presentable format	Feedback and evaluation from site supervisor
Present the information and recommendations to the assistant superintendent of instruction for approval	Randy Summerhill,   Brian Bowman	November 2013	Folder with all the material collected in a presentable format	Approval or denial of all or some of the recommendations

 

Format based on Tool 7.1 from Examining What We Do to Improve Our Schools

(Harris, Edmonson, and Combs, 2010)

Reflection

Feedback has been the most influential component of this course for me. I have inquired and received feedback from various sources throughout the last five weeks. Responses I have received originated from my site supervisor, instructors, teachers, classmates, students, and parents. I have learned during the process many others see a need for reducing dress code referrals to ensure less time in ISS resulting in more class time. In fact, I have not encountered one individual who has felt policy is perfect and should not be altered or be aligned with incentives to inspire students to follow policies in place. The readings assigned to this class have proved beneficial as they have pushed me to be more focused on the purpose of my action research project. For example, I have a clearer, more concise direction as to the data I will collect. My survey questions have become more specific to the research I am developing. Instead of asking students if incentives would encourage them to follow dress code procedures with a yes or no response, I asked would any of the following incentives motivate you to comply with procedures. Choices were available to answer instead of just a yes or no response. Narrowing down the purpose and being specific is a toll I have incorporated for my action research while I took this course in the master’s program. The videos provided in the course were beneficial in directing my research project. Dr. Timothy Chargois explained the process in which action research was developed on his campus. He conveyed a specific procedure that allowed the principal to be the guide for data collection and development to ensure the protection of students during the process. Dr. Chargois confirmed the necessity of the principal’s involvement during the process. Dr. Johnny Briseno discussed the practice of sharing data in order to improve his campus, as well as other campuses in the district. After reflecting on his video, my aspiration and hope is to complete an action research that will improve Brewer Middle School. In addition, I anticipate cultivating a research project That will improve White Settlement ISD in the process. The discussion boards and online discussions were instrumental in answering questions I had while developing my action research. I discovered most of the time; other students were experiencing many of the concerns I had during the course. Concerns included data collection, strategies, organization techniques, collecting research, blogging, presentation, meeting with site supervisors, etc. We are all in the same boat so to speak. I realized towards the fourth week everyone has the same questions and although our projects are different, we are all responsible for improving each other.

 

Updated Action Research

As stated be before in earlier assignments, I am fortunate to work closely with my principal on a daily basis. This gives me ample opportunity to discuss my action research project as often as necessary. He has been extremely supportive and excited since we initially discussed my project from the onset. One change we did decide to incorporate were by means of altering the survey questions to reflect what incentives would motivate students to follow dress code and the one aspect students would change if they could. Our expectation is that the research will expose the variety of incentives currently not being offered to students. Furthermore, we anticipate developing a plan for suggestions to change certain pieces of the dress code policy.

 

We expect providing students with more incentives and modifying the current policy will reduce the amount of referrals and consequently reduce lost time in the classroom.

 

My site supervisor has also shared the project with another colleague of his and has agreed to present our research to him upon completion. The other principal is working in a district with no standardized dress code in place and hopes he can utilize our research to assist him with implementation.

A standard dress code policy was implemented in White Settlement Independent School District seven years ago. I created a survey to gather data recording the perception our eighth grade students have in regard to the dress code.  The foundation intended for my study is to better understand how students feel and perceive the dress code currently in place.  Moreover, I anticipate creating different possibilities to motivate and inspire our students to excel with dress code compliance for the most optimum time in the classroom.

My site supervisor, Brian Bowman, will continue to direct and assist me throughout the process of my action research project. I have also asked two teachers to support the development of my action research project. They are both eighth grade elective teachers at BMS. They teach Teen Leadership and Principles of Business and Marketing respectively. Their role in the endeavor is to take each class to the computer lab and have them complete an online survey regarding the research project. They will also give proper instructions and background for the survey.

Participants in the survey are enrolled in two elective classes called Teen Leadership and Principles of Business and Marketing. Before students answer the survey, each class will receive the exact same directions and information prior to completing the questions.  First, it will be conveyed to every class their survey would assist my completion with an action research project at Lamar University.  All students will be given the opportunity for an alternate assignment if they decided against answering the survey.

       

After discussing the reason for the survey and granting an opportunity for an optional assignment, students will be informed that their ideas and perceptions will not alter the current dress code policy at WSISD.  Instead, the information provided to us from each class is to better understand how they perceive dress code so teachers and administrators can find ways to motivate in continuance with the regulations at hand. Additionally, creating new ways to reward those who abide by policies and reward students who struggle with dress code policy will be a hopeful outcome of the questionnaire. 

Finally, the data collected from the study will be gathered by means of nine questions answered with an online survey website. After each survey is collected it will be checked by me to ensure full completion and accuracy. Once the data is collected and reconciled by me, my site supervisor will then proof the results for any discrepancies. 

Description of Action Research

Action research is a tool for educators to enhance their knowledge about different issues within the educational setting. It is also an avenue for educators to collaborate and share different ideas with each other as well. Action research involves much more than reading relevant books or articles and putting those ideas into a paper or thesis. On the contrary, action research requires the collection and analysis of data. Standard dress code would be a great topic of discussion for action research. It would require a survey of students with a series of questions regarding their perception of dress code. Examples of questions are: Do you like dress code? Do you believe dress code helps cut down on discipline issues? What is your least/most favorite aspect of dress code? Do you feel dress code makes schools safer? Are your parents in favor of dress code? How many dress code violations have you had this year? Do think there should be some form of dress code? The responses could be broken down into sub-populations by gender, ethnicity and race. Upon completing the survey an action research could be developed based on responses given by the students according to their perceptions and relevant text based on the issues pertaining to dress code.

Blogs are an excellent way for educators to share ideas and information with one another. Moreover, it can be used to gather ideas and disseminate information to students, parents and community. Many districts are already allowing teachers and administrators to use blogs in schools for those reasons.