My reflections on learning about action research

This class surprised me completely, and I actually enjoyed it. I’m in the minority of people who love to crunch numbers from data. My first degree was in Quantitative Business Analysis in quality control and statistics, and is all about trying to figure out how processes can improve. I’ve stated before that I have participated in action research analysis without realizing I was. The next time I am involved in a research plan, I will have the background skills to take the right steps to have a successful outcome as a result of this class. When I read about the force field analysis, I thought this is common sense. We all create pros and cons lists to decide whether to do or not to do something. I found myself laughing at the text because it is so common sense. If there are more positives, then something will succeed.    The Action Planning Template from the book “Examining What We Do To Improve Our School” by Harris, Edmonson and Combs, was a great tool to use because it was easy to use. Once completed, anyone can easily tell what the focus of the research will be, what the wonderings are, what the goals are, and see the steps that will be taken to complete the research project. The template is great guide and timeline for the researchers to follow to stay on target with the plan. I will definitely use this template again.    In reading the Dana text, I enjoyed the way the book was organized. In all of the research I have been involved in have all dealt with Passions 1-4 and 8. My entire job as the instructional technology coordinator is professional development, curriculum development, and working with individual teachers to effect individual students which leads to school performance. I understand the other passions have to be present in the school and cause major problems, but in my current role, I don’t focus on those. Throughout this class, I forced myself to analyze the other passions listed in the book and how my district compares and could it benefit from some of the wondering examples listed in the book.    Also from the Dana text, I loved the concept of “Wondering”. "I wonder if" doesn’t sound as painful as “we need to research this problem”. The words “Research” and “Problem” are negative words. The text gives tons of examples from actual principals or administrators that I started asking myself about my own district.    Again, I enjoyed this class more than I thought I would. The information I have learned will not only help me in my professional career, but I truly believe it will help me in my personal life. It is always good to reflect if you are living up to your potential. I wonder if I am living up to my potential personally and professionally.

Reference:

Dana, N. F. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action

researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Harris, S, Edmonson, S, & Combs, J. (2009). Examining what we do to improve our

      schools. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.

Obstacles

I ran into my first obstacle. Back at the beginning of the summer, the maintenance department and myself hung 16 new SMART Boards on three different campuses. I was assured, by the technology department, the cables (USB, power, and monitor) would be run and attached before the SMART Board Certification training. My training happened last week. Today, I did a walk through of the selected campuses, and NOTHING has been done. When I walked into the technology department to ask what was the plan, all the technicians were sitting together discussing who their NFL fantasy pics were going to be. Can you say, "furious"? The technology director gave me all kinds of excuses, and tried to tell me the guys were super busy. I had a meeting with all parties, but no resolution as of yet has been agreed upon.

Week 3 Action Research Plan

This week I created an Action Research Plan from the topic I chose. After much deliberation, I decided to research the effectiveness of interactive whiteboards. Below is the plan including the steps, responsibilities, timeline, resources needed, and the evaluation methods.

Week 2 - Action Research reflections

The majority of this weeks focus was on the areas for possible action research topics including: staff leadership, curriculum development, individual teachers, individual students, school culture or community, leadership, management, school performance, and social justice or equity issues. What I thought interesting is I have been through many discussion and investigations in many of these areas, but not once have I heard the term action research. I have helped in developing professional development specific for certain campuses, I have helped to create new schedules for many campuses, I helped analyze discipline issues on a campus, and I have helped work on improving curriculum areas where a campus has been labeled academically unacceptable. Not once in all these discussion did we formally write anything down or work through a specific process to work on these issues.

Blog uses for Educational Leaders

Schools are always looking for ways to increase communication with parents and community members. A blog is a great, no cost, and easy way to disseminate information such as:

• upcoming events
• awards
• classroom highlights
• reminders
• deadlines
• extracurricular activities
• alerts for early release
• other important information

Blogs could be used as a marketing tool or for public relations to create a positive image about your school’s campus or district. So many times, all you hear about education and schools are the negative things presented on the news or in the newspapers. When you do send out positive stories to the media, they may or may not publish them. WIth your own blog, you can for sure get the message out to the public.

Parents, teachers, students, and community members can subscribe to the blog and can read the news at their convenience.

What I've Learned About Action Research

Research is vital in making informed changes or improvements in no matter what profession you are in. In education, most schools look for research-based solutions to solve problems within the school district. This research is usually completed by corporations, universities, think tanks, or outsiders to the school district. Canned solution programs are put in place to correct an issue which may or may not be appropriate. These solutions are usually sent down from administration with no buy in from the teachers who actually have to implement the program.

The great thing about action research is that the school principal and staff ask questions specific to their campus. By collecting and analyzing data specific to their school, the staff can make changes relevant to the needs identified. The staff becomes unified and invested in researching solutions.

Other benefits from principals and schools participating in action research is the opportunity for professional growth, the opportunity to be a role model for their teachers and students, and the opportunity to slow down their crazy schedules. Principals can participate in action research in several different ways including a professional learning community, a superintendent or district meeting, university coursework, or creating a campus leadership team.