ARP Revisions

As a science teacher (I feel pompous saying scientist), I'm quite familiar with the scientific method.  A unique aspect of action research, to me, is how closely it follows the method scientists use to find clear results.  This week's assignment to review peer comments reminds me of the all-to-often forgotten "publish for review" step of the method.  I've always taught this step as a side note by simply saying something like, "And if you think you have significant results, then you can publish your work and let others criticize it!"  For years I'd always roll my eyes (in my mind) as I thought, "Who's gonna take the time to get a publisher and do that?!"  Welcome to the 21st century where you can publish via a blog!  Long story short, I'm very thankful for the feedback I've received from my peers on my ARP.  This feedback has led me to make a few key changes to the ARP itself and to one particular survey I'll be giving.

In reading a comment from a peer, I noticed they used the wrong acronym for State Board of Education.  This made me wonder why.  I went back to look at my ARP and noticed I was the culprit! I’ve since changed my error.  Another comment of interest was one of concern for the delivery of chosen materials.  I’d simply placed wordage from the SBOE in my ARP concerning the timeline of the materials being delivered, but two people made comments they were worried our campus would get materials too late.  These comments led me to abandon the SBOE wordage and make a deadline of my own.  This deadline will be easily attained if I follow the timeline of the rest of my ARP.  A final comment resonated with me because it came from a fellow MS science teacher who could relate.  She mentioned her district would continue to use the supplemental approach that most schools in TX have been using since 2009 and not put all their eggs in one basket.  This topic was discussed amongst teachers in my district two weeks ago.  We all felt like we could move forward without a designated instructional material too.  Although this comment won’t show up as a revision in my ARP, it has led me to change one of the surveys for teachers that I’ll be giving during the year.