As I look back through this course I realize how far
I have come in my understanding of action research. When I began with the week
one assignment, action research was just a topic I was reading about in a
textbook. I learned it was a process used to implement changes and involved
evaluating your own practice. I read about how it involved seeking out relevant
data and asking questions to guide the data collection (Dana, 2009). These
words did not have meaning to me when I was reading them at first. Dana (2009)
also mentioned action research was a way for administrators to continue to be a
learner and model life-long learning. I have always strived to better myself as
an educator and did not see the significance of action research in the past.
In the next part of the week one assignment I had to
look at why action research was important. After reading the Dana (2009) text I
realized the many contexts where action research can be used including district
meetings, staff development, and leadership teams. I learned action research is
important in order to improve student learning, increase staff reflection on
their own practice and build teachers’ self-confidence and self-efficacy (Dana,
2009). I want to increase student learning and continue to reflect upon my own
practice so I took interest in how to actually proceed with an action research
study.
The week three assignment challenged me to look into
nine areas where many school leaders have wonderings. It opened my eyes to the
many places action research can be used. I particularly enjoyed reading about
curriculum development and individual student wonderings because those relate
to me as a teacher right now. The wonderings I read about in the Dana (2009)
text lead me towards my own wonderings. The three initial areas I wanted to
explore with action research are how to improve reading scores in my
kindergarten classroom, how to increase student engagement, and how to decrease
the number of discipline referrals. I was able to share these ideas on my blog
and on the discussion board and received excellent feedback from my classmates
about my ideas. The person who had the most impact my topic choice was my
principal, who is my site supervisor.
My site supervisor seemed very interested in my idea
to increase student engagement. After meeting with her I realized I needed to
take that topic and figure out a way to develop an action research study.
Assignment three really helped guide my ideas and allowed me to develop my
action research study. I thought about which subject area would best benefit
from increased student engagement. I decided to focus on writing time because
it is an independent activity for my students and they struggle to stay engaged
while writing. From there I began working on developing my action research
plan. The template from the Harris, Edmonson, and Combs (2010) text was very
helpful in helping me shape my ideas. I also looked through the action research
plans of my classmates on their blogs. Looking at their action research plans
showed me steps I had forgotten in my own action research plan. I was able to
add in those steps and make changes based on their action research plans before
I submitted mine.
After I completed my action research plan, I posted
it on my blog. I really enjoyed being able to receive feedback on my plan and
collaborate with my classmates on how to make changes to my plan. The positive
comments gave me confidence I had developed a great plan and the comments with
suggestions made me defend what I had written or look into how to make a change
to my plan.
Overall, this class has helped me realize what
action research is and how powerful it can be when it is used in schools. I am
excited to begin my action research plan and see how it impacts my teaching
practices and how it benefits my students. I look forward to keeping up with my
classmates’ blogs as well to see how they progress with their action research
projects as well. Their plans may lead me towards another action research study
in the future.
References
Dana, N. F. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge:
The principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, a
Joint Publication with the American Association of School Administrators.
Harris, S., Edmonson, S., & Combs, J. P. (2010). Examining
what we do to improve our schools: 8 steps from analysis to action.
Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.
R., & Morehead, E. (2013, July 30).
Re: Action research plan template [Web log comment]. Retrieved from
http://katieactionresearch.blogspot.com/
Wells,
K. (2013, July 25). [Personal interview].
