The two texts for the class, Leading
with Passion and Knowledge: The Principals as Action Researcher by Nancy
Dana and Examining What We Do To Improve
Our Schools: 8 Steps to Improve Our Schools by Harris and Combs were very
useful resources as I began my research quest. There were many areas of
interest in the readings, lectures, reflections, assignments, activities,
discussion boards, and especially the blogs.
The readings enlightened me on the
research process: nine different areas
of passion where I may find my wondering (s), how to develop a data collection
plan, the four steps of analyzing data, and ways to share my work with others.
The lectures, through the videos, described purpose for conducting
action research. Dr. Johnny Briseno
discussed ways to better assist struggling students. He stated sharing ideas that work in the
classroom with colleagues at campus staff meetings are very effective. His
statement, “Why recreate the wheel” was very impressive, yet true. Dr. Kirk Lewis' lecture advised us to take whatever
information or data we’ve collected and make sure it’s practical and useful for
our particular environment. By doing so, we will be more interested in it,
students will benefit from it, and we will be more focused on the outcome.
Reflection
is an important aspect of action research because learning is formed from our
own professional experiences rather than from another person's point of view. By using
it, you learn ways to improve weaknesses which builds continuous opportunities
for success. Elliot (1988) speaks of the
continual spiral of reflection:
clarifying and diagnosing a situation or problem that needs to be
improved, forming strategies for resolving the problem, implementing and
evaluating the effectiveness of the problem, clarifying the situation or area
of improvement, and then moving to the next spiral of reflection and
action. The goal of reflection is to
learn what to add and what to take away from one’s experiences to enable us to
make sense of and attribute values to the events of our lives (Rogers, 2002).
The
discussion boards helped me collaborate with my peers and discuss ways to
improve each others assignments. The
blog were also exceptionally helpful. Receiving feedback from my peers helped
me to revise my research and make it better.
Overall, this class was very well organized.
With the aid of the syllabus, web conferences, weekly overviews, chat logs,
templates, examples in the resource section, and explicit example of each
weekly assignment, I was able to understand the nature and purpose of
inquiry and action research, as well as, the benefit of action research for
my campus. I learned how to identify and analyze the
common steps or format to design an action research plan: methods for data
collection/analysis, research tools needed, etc. and was able to reach consensus with my site
supervisor on an action research plan to be implemented: “How Can Technology
Increase Fluency.”
References
Elliot, J. (1988). Educational
research and outsider-insider relations.
Qualitative Studies in Education, 1(2),
155-166.
Rogers, C. (2002). Defining reflection: Another look at John
Dewey and reflective thinking. Teachers
College Record, 104(4), 842-866.
