Week 5 Reflection

After thinking through the entire course I think the assignment from week three was probably the most helpful because we actually built an outline for our action research plan. Although it was the most time consuming week, I think that assignment is the one I will keep with me through the course of my research. It made me think about how I wanted to conduct my research, who I would include in my research, and how I would get my information, and from who I would get my information from. I built a timeline that was reasonable to follow. My research will end in May 2011, but it can be built upon to include more sample groups to compare different sexes, different age groups, etc. Just forming the outline had me coming up with more questions that could be answered, which I included some of them in my outline. I always like meeting with my site supervisor to discuss my assignments, especially if they have to do with research or internship hours. I like to make sure that what I am doing will help our campus in some way. I liked meeting with my site supervisor about my research because he wanted me to do a research project for my campus improvement project, and we had talked about research similar to what the final decision was for my action research project.

Action Research Week 4

After reviewing comments and meeting with my site supervisor I have decided to keep my project the same for now. I am however going to take a suggestion that was given by a classmate and add 7th graders into the mix after I complete my first round of research, or I may make my original groups smaller, and add two small 7th grade groups. Hopefully everything will stay on schedule!

Action Research Outline

Click the link below to check out my Action Research outline.

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/48932688/?key=YmNmNGM5ZGIt&pass=MmU4Mi00NDg2

Week 2 5301 Research

I found the readings and videos this week to be very interesting. I liked hearing from educators who were actually participating in research in their campuses or districts. It showed how important research and data collection/disaggregation can be, and that it is really used. There was a mention about mainly administrators knowing and truly understanding action research becauase of the Masters or Doctorate courses they have taken. I think this is very true. There are not many teachers who have an indepth understanding about the importance of research because they have not been formally introduced to it.
When reading through the Nine Passions this week, it kind of opened my eyes to all of the different areas you can analyze and complete research in. You can take a simple question or idea, and change the climate of your school because of the idea.

How can educational leaders use blogs?

Educators might use blogs to connect with each other, possibly other educators they would usually not have contact with because of distance. It is a great place to share ideas, and learn from each other. As educators we should never stop the learning process, and this is a way to enhance it. This would be a great way to share ideas with teachers or leaders in your own district that you might not get the chance to collaborate with very often. Blogging opens many doors for collaboration in education.

What have I learned about action research and how might I use it?

Action research is a way of researching that involves the people it will affect. It is a chance for school leaders to be involved and to get their staff involved in conducting research that will benefit them and the students in their schools. The person leading the action research will begin with a question they want answered or solved. It is usually geared toward a problem that needs a solution or something on the campus that needs enhancing or improvement. This gives the group a place to start with their research. They will then begin looking through data, and searching for solutions and ideas to help solve the problem. From here they will begin trying their solutions.


I really like the idea of running the action research group as a PLC, especially if your campus is already working in a PLC. You want your research to have a positive impact on your school, and I think that starts with having a positive group experience. As a leader you model what you want to see, and that means how you work with each other. Basically to have successful action research you need to be able to collaborate in a positive manner.

I think any campus would benefit from action research. Every school has something they can work on, improve, and find out more about. I think every campus needs a proactive leader who is willing to engage in action research. I think action research is a great way for me to find out more about a program (AVID) that I would like to see at the intermediate level. We currently have this in our high schools, and it seems to be successful, and I would like to see what it can do for our students at the intermediate level to prepare them even further for high school, and their life after high school.