Week 3 Assignment, Part 3

Draft Action Research Project Progress Report

You will submit the combined Week 3 and Week 4 content to Tk20 as a file-type artifact in Week 4.

Title:  Taking the Stress of Discipline off the Teacher and Placing it on the Student

Needs Assessment:  Dealing with classroom discipline is an everyday occurrence in most schools.  Dealing with discipline can leave a teacher stressed out by the end of the day.  When there is a constant disruption in the classroom for the teacher to deal with discipline, the learning environment it greatly affected. Through implementing Love and Logic in the classroom, teachers will be less stressed and have more time for teaching. With the legislative mandate of “No Child Left Behind”(NCLB), it is important that we have a safe, educational, and effective classroom environment.

Objective and Vision of the action research project:  My vision for the action research is to provide teachers with a discipline program that will place the responsibility of the student’s behavior upon the student and not the classroom teacher. A school where there is a positive climate is more likely to be successful and effective. Love and Logic is a great tool that allows the teacher to be in charge of his/her classroom and not the disruptive students.

Review of the Literature and Action Research Strategy- I found lots of good articles on the web that dealt with schools that have implemented Love and Logic. One school district was a school district that is very close to me, Winona Independent School District had an article on the web about implementing Love and Logic for their entire district. The two main books that I read, Teaching with Love and Logic: Taking Control of the Classroom( gives the framework of the program) and 9 Essential Skills for the Love and Logic Classroom:  Low Stress Strategies for Highly Successful Educators (is a workbook), I highly recommend reading if you are considering implementing Love and Logic. I am going to take the articles, the books, and other findings and create a document that lets all the stakeholders know this is why we need to implement this program.

Articulate the Vision: After my Action Research project is completed, I will present my data to our administrators, student support, faculty and even parents.  I will present my findings in a power point presentation during a faculty meeting as well as provide parents with training during our fall or spring Parent Night.

Manage the organization: I will conduct surveys and interviews with the teachers and students.  The first question I will ask them is approximately how much time a day do you spend on discipline.  The second question would be what specific problems were they having in their classroom.  I also plan to use Love and Logic in my classroom this year, so I will be keeping a reflective journal as well.  I will take the data from the surveys and create a chart showing the amount of time that the teachers are spending on discipline each day.  I am also going to ask for volunteers to try Love and Logic in their classrooms.  I am going to ask the volunteers if they will keep a reflective journal as well.  Let me know what worked for them, what gave them trouble, and any moments of revelations they may have had. I will then compare the two models. I will compare the teachers that are not using Love and Logic and the teachers that are using Love and Logic. 

Manage Operations: I will keep the principal and the faculty involved at all times. I will give regular updates at faculty meetings.  I will allow for faculty to address issues through emails. This should help avoid conflicts.

Respond to Community Interest and Needs:Love and Logic is a great tool that allows for teachers to teach and students to be in control of their own behaviors.  A school that is stress-free, bully-free and a happy place to be will more likely be a school where you will find students of all backgrounds performing a high levels.  Students are not allowed to argue, the teachers use choices instead of power struggles, and there is a more positive teacher/student relationship, is a place I want to be either as a teacher or as a student.  Wouldn’t you?

Fay, J. & Funk, D. (1995).Teaching with Love and Logic:  Taking Control of the Classroom. Golden, CO: The Love and Logic Press, Inc.

Fay,J. & Fay,C (2002). 9 Essential Skills for the Love and Logic Classroom:  Low Stress Strategies for Highly Successful Educators.  Golden, CO:  The Love and Logic Press, Inc.