SHARING IDEAS

While continuing my action research project on minimizing the effects of the transition of elementary students to the junior high school for students and their parents/families, I have continuously been sharing my thoughts and ideas on both my blog as well as the discussion board. These efforts have helped me tremendously to proceed with my plan since I have received many opinions from different people both on line as well as from my own community.

At this point I feel that I will continue with my plan as it stands since I did change it many times prior to this conclusion. Before narrowing my topic, I was focusing on parental involvement diminishing at the secondary levels. I was advised by my supervisor as well as many others from their comments, to narrow my focus. Thus, I continued to explore different ideas involving parents and families as well as junior high students. With the help of my supervisor, I realized that the transition going into junior high can be a difficult one for both students and parents. This seemed to interest me since many parents had voiced their opinions to me regarding this exact issue. Their children were entering a school unprepared for issues that were to meet them whether they were ready or not. Parents and families were left with many unanswered questions that left them feeling uninformed. As opposed to elementary, it was quite a contrast for many of them. This is where my research is to be focused; on hopefully smoothing the transition between elementary and junior high for all involved and achieving maximum success.