Starting Section 1

So to begin let's look at section 1:


Chapter One Analysis Phase

1. Introduction to the Problem
a. What led you to this problem?
b. What need are you trying to meet?
c. What questions are guiding your project?
i. In other words, what do you want to find out?
ii. What do you hope to provide a solution for?

This section focuses on the problem and how to make it important. This part has been the challenge as well for me because I have problem writing the questions.

I have two questions already


1. With the increases in class sizes what are effective ways to increase student collaboration?

2. With the reduced time for Professional Development what are the effective ways to increase teacher participation for professional growth?

The hardest part is trying to justify what led me to the problem. Originally it was because the school I was at did not use discussions in their classroom effectively. Now, in my new school it has changed to a dilemma about the Stages of Adoption and the Adopter Categories. I believe myself to be an innovator in the invention stage. By realizing my stage of development I have realized that I will keep trying new technology and applying ideas to the classroom even if I'm not sure that they will work.

I personally like using forums and other alternative tools to increase student participation. The problem I find is too many teachers believe still that synchronous communication is the primary form for communication that needs to be used. Meanwhile, I believe that asynchronous communication can have so many more opportunities to interact with students. This is the problem that I have and I hope to fix. I feel too many teachers are stuck in old ways of synchronous communication and can't see that it's more challenging to obtain with student busy schedules.
The same problem exists with teacher's and PD. They complain that PD is time consuming and is a waster after school. I feel that asynchronous PD decreases the amount of time teacher's have to spend working together at the school site and exploring PD from home might make teacher's more receptive to the process. I intend to find out if this asynchronous communication does make a difference and if it can be effective in solving the problems I have seen.


...These are my thoughts, by Friday they will begin to take form.

Over the weekend I hope to write a first draft of the problem as I sit by the pool in Palm Springs. It should be a nice afternoon :).