Action Research=Research In Action!

Assignment #3 Action Research Reflective Blog:

My reaction to this assignment changed from intimidated to heartened in the course of a month because it focused upon Sam, a student who otherwise was slated for removal from the class roster due to chronic absenteeism, truancy (skipping out on class), and logging more time in In School Suspension than the classroom. I documented this students fate, prior to the month I spent in applied research, through the ABC Moodle Module assignment.
In discussion about the process and headache associated with Sam's removal from the class with Mr. Anderson he related how difficult it was to have a student removed at that point in the semester but, pointed out the validity of his justification with the statement "how can I pass a student enrolled in an Agriculture Mechanics I class when he's never even struck an arc!" Over the course of our conversation the subject of my action research project came up and it was decided by Mr. Anderson and agreed to by me that Sam would be the subject of my action research project. I was told near the end of the conversation that I "was his only hope at this point!"
Mr. Anderson and I mapped out a plan with the remaining time I had to implement it and determined there to be 23 instructional days available in my final month of student teaching. I used this timeline to create a sense of urgency with Sam through authentic conversation regarding his attendance during the "flex" period in the morning and class in the afternoon. I was highly respectful of him and his situation and gained his respect through my dedication to him and the ability to relate to his life outside school.
Sam showed up for many but, not all of our "flex" sessions and we even squeezed in some shop time during the course of a few class sessions in the lab. My work with Sam was intense, requiring focused demonstration, condensed practice that I reminded and reinforced with Sam that this was a "crash course" in arc welding. Surprisingly, Sam effectively internalized the urgency and focus necessary to implement the action research plan despite his at times sporadic attendance. When I had him, "I had him!" On nearly every occasion I had him break into a rolling sweat in 20 minutes! He worked that hard and was that intent upon the task at hand. I don't think this project would have been implemented successfully without that level of effort!

Sam - working hard at it!

Some of the highlights of this project for me were seeing Sam go from a total joke amongst his peers to inclusion and a level of acceptance that I hope I had a hand in modeling. One of the best examples of highlights came as a result of a chance encounter Sam had with one of the prettiest girls (and the best welder!) in the class. At the end of one of our initial sessions during a normal block period she approached him as he was cleaning up and struck up a conversation about how cool welding was, I left them to talk with the pride of progress toward inclusion as a byproduct of my research. It felt really good. Sam's inclusion and acceptance was sealed when I was not even around! I had to return to campus for a Friday session and without me in the shop to guide him I was afraid it would cost me a precious day out of the 23 we had to implement the plan. Instead, he got one-on-one instruction from the best welder Mr. Anderson has had in his Agriculture Mechanics course in years from the girl whom he had the conversation with early on. Mr. Anderson was excited enough about the situation enough to text me about it that day!

Sam included! That's the girl on the end!

I successfully completed my action research project with Sam and only had 1 day to spare before I finished my time student teaching. Mr. Anderson graded the C clamp as Sam's summative assessment for the arc welding unit and texted me a picture of the rubric and a final grade of 83%! Based upon his formative welding assessment rubric grades all ranging from the 80's to 90+ , Sam and I accomplished what we set out to do and he went from failing out to passing the class.
I took the time as we counted down my days to plant the seed of a career in welding with Sam and it must have had an impact because he shared his aspirations with his Father and is even conspiring with a friend to enroll in the CTC program for welding. He is looking forward to finishing the semester with the torch welding unit and has expressed more interest in that type of welding than arc welding. I will always remember Sam with pride and pray for the best outcome!