Methodology Options

This week I have been contemplating options for the study. It is a complex process and I am going to meet with Dr. Brookhart to hash out some of my thinking. I would be interested in some of your thoughts. Here are 2 options I am thinking about:

Option A. Take the data folder system I have designed into several classrooms. Using Bandura's or Stiggin's self efficacy survey I would pre-assess and post-assess the students and teachers. I could gather data by the end of January- analyze and write conclusions by May. I would choose to study classrooms with specific interests in mind:
Leader-in-Me network (A.B. Combs)
Baldrige Model Schools (I.S.S.)
Urban (D.P.S. or NEISD)

Option B. Take the self-efficacy survey to schools in the Leader-in-Me network and find out the impact of this system on mental models.

I will be thinking about this for the next 2 weeks- I have a dissertation design panel meeting me on June 11th at 2pm.

The LEADER in ME Model

Can THE LEADER in ME impact schools in such a way as to impact mental models?
Notes from the book:

"By teaching the skills of self-discipline, self-reliance, and self confidence, the teachers are fostering the opportunity to learn life skills... my children are being educated to open the door to their future rather than waiting for the door to open."

Jennifer Collins a parent at a Leader in Me school

"Everyday I get to see empowered five- and six-year-olds truly caring about our school's learning environment."

Maggie Lozano, Kindergarten Teacher at Stuard Elementary

"We concluded that students who go through the 7 Habits will be planners, they will take responsibility for their own learning..."

Jeanne Paynem Professional Development Coordinator, Decatur City Schools

The intent of this program as Stephen Covey puts it is to,

"teach them (children) how to lead their individual lives and how to succeed in the twenty-first century."

An old proverb reads with the same emphasis on the next generation: "My son, if you accept my words
and store them up within you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding,
3 and if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand …
and find knowledge.

We may have to rally our students to confidently attack their own individual gaps in order to close our achievement gap. Each child has a choice to make about their future- and we might have some tools that can help them.

Bandura

Stiggins directed me to some research by Usher and Pajares. I have been reading,

Sources of Self-Efficacy in School: Critical Review of the Literature and Future Directions.

Now- here are some interesting points made in this research:

"Students who are confident in their academic capabilities monitor their work time more effectively, are more efficient problem solvers, and show more persistence than do equally able peers with low self efficacy. They also work harder, evaluate their progress more frequently, and engage in more self-regulatory strategies that promote success in school."

Albert Bandura first introduced the construct of self-efficacy in 1977. Coincidentally that was the year I repeated 3rd grade...

In this report the recommendations for future research include, "How to foster and nurture a student's budding self belief."

Do this dissertation could be a grounded theory. We can examine the effects of a couple of systems (The Leader in Me & Baldrige) on the mental models (self-efficacy) of students.

Baldrige helps students reflect and create action plans. They also progress monitor. The Leader in Me teaches students about their locus of control, about beginning with the end in mind, and about prioritizing.

The Prezi Tool & a Conversation with Stiggins!

My friend Alfredo showed me a program called Prezi (free and online). I am still learning how to use it but have been working on the conceptual model of a school- click the word school to see it.

I also have been reading the work of Rick Stiggins. Currently he is working with the Assessment Training Institute. He writes about involving students in assessment (Including having them record their performance). Today I spoke with him on the phone and he was kind enough to share some research with me!

Glasser Climbs In

During my first steps into the teaching profession I had a wise principal named Judy Wells. She led the staff through some training by William Glasser. I was even certified in the Basics of Reality Therapy under her leadership. Today something nagged at me to look back into the books I read back then... here is what I found:

From CONTROL THEORY 1984
Chapter 1: Everything We Think, Do, and Feel is Generated by What Happens Inside of Us.This is really like Covey's first Habit- "What moves you to act is inside, not outside, of yourself. Nothing we do is caused by what happens outside of us." I also see shades of Senge's "Personal Mastery" in this chapter.

Chapter 3: The Pictures in Our Heads
This reminds me of what Senge calls "Mental Models". "We begin to create what is best described as a picture album in our heads... a personal picture album... I like to use the word pictures rather than the technically correct term, perceptions... it is not the same as memory... when we change important pictures, we change our lives... it is not easy to change our own pictures... we have to replace it with another- this can be done through negotiation and compromise."
I wonder if this negotiation is similar to reflection & analysis. If so then we could look at the work in Baldrige as a way to impact our personal picture albums (or mental models).

Stiggins and Wiggins Weigh in

I have spent hours reading up on a couple of researchers. Rick Stiggins wrote; Using student involved classroom assessment to close achievement gaps. Which outlines some practices that close the gap- one of them being goal setting and meaningful involvement by students.
I also am reading lots about the Tripod Project- Ronald Ferguson and his team write about the conditions learning organizations need in order to motivate students to succeed. They write about student goal setting!
Grant Wiggins wrote Understanding by Design and this work addresses the idea called Locus of control (the extent to which individuals believe that they can control events that affect them).
My literature foundation is filling up... Senge, Covey, Ferguson, Stiggins, Fletcher, Baldrige, and more.

How Covey Fits In

If you have read the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People then you know Covey is writing about leadership. He studied over 200 years of literature on successful leadership to come up with these 7 Habits. The first three are grouped into what he calls the PERSONAL VICTORY- (or Self Mastery).

Habit 1: Be Proactive
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind
Habit 3: Put First Things First

When someone has worked these habits into their lives they move from dependent thinking to independent thinking. All of this ties into Senge's work in the book, The Fifth Discipline. He writes about seeing organizations as complex systems. In these systems there are 5 disciplines that needs attention. Two of them are PERSONAL MASTERY and mental models.

Discipline 1: Personal Mastery
Dicipline 2: Mental Models

"Personal mastery is a discipline of continually clarifying and deepening our personal vision, of focusing our energies, of developing patience, and of seeing reality objectively." (p. 7)

2) "Mental models are deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, or even pictures of images that influence how we understand the world and how we take action." (p. 8)

So if I am writing about how tools can shift mental models then it seems the work of Senge and Covey are going to be helpful in thinking about this.

PERSONAL MASTERY (Senge) = PERSONAL VICTORY (Covey)