5301 Research for Teachers Final Reflections

5301 Research for Teachers Final Reflections

When 5301 research for teacher began, I had no idea what to expect.  I thought that the class would just teach me how to search for data and write a research paper.  Then the idea of action research/inquire was presented to me.  To be honest I did not know much more about research or inquire then to put an adjective in front of it like action.  I really was wondering what I had gotten myself into.  Once the class began, I developed a greater insight as to what action research really is.  The Dana text describes action research as, “Elliot (1988) describes action research as a continual set of spirals consisting of reflection and action.”  (Dana, 2009)  As I reflect on this course, I will reflect on the weeks throughout this course.  I will discuss the struggles and the successes that I had throughout the course.

When the course began, I watched the Dr. Arterbury and Dr. Jenkins video.  The video provided me with base line knowledge of what action research is.  Once I reflected on the videos, I thought to myself that action research occurs every day no matter what you are doing.  As I read the readings, I developed an understanding of how much more complicated it is than it originally sounds.  The readings helped me understand how action research is different than traditional research.  As I worked on my assignments for week 1, I began to develop a better understanding for action research.  I acquired this understanding through assignments that help us understand why action research is important, how action research works in an educational setting, and showing us action research in action.  The blog that we developed gave us a new avenue n which to share our action research.  The blog will be utilized later in the course.

Week two brought on several educational leader interviews to view.  As I reflected on the interview, which was part of my assignment of that week, I began to develop a better understanding of what action research is.  This is due to hearing about success from leaders who have used action research.  After reflecting on the leadership interviews, we developed a wondering for each action research topic for a school setting.  This helped me gain an understanding on how to develop a wondering for an action research topic.  Dana text says, “Wonderings materialize at the nexuses of the real-world observation, dilemmas, felt difficulties, and passions that you develop in your work as an administrator.”  (Dana, 2009)  Once we developed the wonderings in the nine areas, we had to generate three of our own action research topics.  This was a great activity because you had an opportunity to use your own creativity to help improve your campus/school district.

The rest of the class (weeks three, four, and five) involved developing my action research plan and a strategy to implement my plan.  Of the last three weeks, week three was the most difficult. It took a lot of preparation and thinking to try and develop original ideas to include in my action research plan.  Once the ideas had been developed, I could just go with it.  The last few weeks have been very beneficial through advice from my site-supervisor and colleagues comments on the discussion boards.  The advice I received through the readings and the discussion board is on how to maintain my action research project once it has been developed.  During the final two weeks, the videos alleviated much of my anxiety about the action research plan.  This is because the videos explained that the action research plan is not concrete, it can be adjusted and you can delete things that won’t work for your campus.  I then began to understand how important action research is, but it isn’t worth much if you do not get the research out to colleagues.  The Dana text says, “Principals sometimes prepare different ways and forms of sharing the same inquiry, depending upon which audience he/she will share it with.  However one prepares his/her inquiry, there are two basic forms of sharing: oral and written.”  (Dana,   2009)  One way that I have learned to share on a broad spectrum is through blogs.  This was used during the course, and I have learned how to set up and post on a blog.  I did enjoy the reflection time on my blogs, but I had a concern because I didn’t receive many comments on my blog throughout the course. Hopefully I will receive more comments the longer my blog is available and as I make more posts throughout my action research project.

As I conclude this course reflection, I look back and realize how beneficial this course is going to be for the entire program.  The knowledge that I have acquired provides me an avenue of becoming a lifelong learn.  As I use action research throughout my educational leadership career, the strategies and knowledge that I have gained will allow me to be an effective educational leader that my stakeholders can trust and rely on.

Reference

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

researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Action Research Plan

	Action Research Plan
	Goal: Provide opportunities for students with different cultures to be expressed on our campus.
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Monitoring achievement of goals and objectives	Evaluation
Develop clubs representing different cultures found on our campus.	Mrs. Cato High School Principal Michael Stevens	August 2012- May 2013	School sponsors willing to support these clubs.	Increased student involvement in the clubs	Written reports from each club sponsor listing members and accomplishments for the year.
Make ethnically diverse foods available to the students.	Shelly Echols Food service manager Michael Stevens	August 2012- May 2013	Availability of the ingredients to prepare the food.	Positive feedback from students and parents	A summative survey about the food availability at the end of the school year.
Provide cultural videos for teachers view.	Mrs. Cato High School Principal Michael Stevens	August 2012- May 2013	Videos from different cultures, and the librarian willing to provide these to the teachers.	Pro-active involvement on the teacher’s part by being involved in their student’s cultural experience.	A log-in sheet to see how many teachers actually viewed the cultural videos.
Culture night	Mr. Cato High School Principal Michael Stevens	One night in the Fall and One night in the Spring	High School cafeteria after school hours. Teacher/parent volunteers.	Attendance to the culture night increases.	Feedback from the campus stakeholders. If improvements need to be made then we will take action on that the next time there is a culture night.

Format based on Tool 7.1 from Examining What We Do to Improve Our Schools

(Harris, Edmonson, and Combs, 2010)

Action Research Project process overview

ACTION RESEARCH PROJECT

PROCESS OVERVIEW

Campus Culture the same as our student population?

1. SETTING THE FOUNDATION –

After speaking with campus administrators, identify the key problems that we think our campus has as a campus culture that may not reflect our student population.  Once the key issues have been identified, they will be presented to the site-based decision making committee for discussion.

2. ANALYZING DATA –

Analyze the most recent AEIS report and identify the diversity among students on our campus. Use this data to assemble a focus group that will reflect the diversity within the campus.  Once the focus group has met, take the data accumulated from the focus group and analyze what actions we might need to take to develop a better culture for our students.

3. DEVELOPING DEEPER UNDERSTANDING –

Once the focus group of students has completed their meeting, the information that has been attained from those students will be considered in developing a survey to give to other stakeholders of our campus.  This can be through mail or a survey can be developed and placed on the school website.  Once the survey data has been collected, I will do internet searches to see what resources and ideas I can get for strategies to improve the campus culture. 

4. ENGAGE IN SELF-REFLECTION –

Self-Reflection questions might include:

• Will the campus leadership allow me the time and accessibility to the students who are in the focus group?

• How will the stakeholders respond to the asking of questions about their culture and what improvements might they suggest for the campus?

• Can I gather the data in a timely manner in order to get this action research plan into action so I can try making improvements to the campus?

• Can I develop a survey that is concise but thorough enough for the stakeholders to give beneficial information?  

5. EXPLORING PROGRAMMATIC PATTERNS –

After speaking with my site-supervisor about the action research plan that I am planning on doing, he suggested that I communicate with parents of the students who are part of the focus group.  He also suggested that I do some research into what type of thought provoking questions to ask the students in the focus group.  He said that the questions need to be very open-ended in order to get really thoughtful information.

6. DETERMINING DIRECTION –

-          I’m trying to determine if our campus’ culture promotes our student’s culture.

-          For this action research project to be a success, I must be able to communicate with the focus group and stakeholders of our campus.  Administration has said I can use the enrichment period to speak with my focus group and I have developed a survey on the internet before.

-          Campus administration always knows what is going on when I’m working on some sort of project.  They do give me a lot of freedom, which is why I make sure they are very informed.  When I have issues, I do speak with them to see if they have advice.

-          My timelines are very realistic.  I make sure to give myself a little extra time to make sure I meet my deadlines.  

-          Monitoring this plan will be through active monitoring.  A checklist will be developed to determine if thing are being done properly.  As I monitor things that involve the project, I will use the checklist to determine if it is being done properly.

-          To determine that my plan is a success, I will see how many students are participating with the plan.  If stakeholders get involved in the plan and seem to enjoy it, I would consider it a success.

-          Through active monitoring and stakeholder involvement, I can reflect on what might need to be improved to make the plan more effective.  Once I have developed improvements, I will present them to campus administration.  

7. TAKING ACTION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

Once the plan has been developed, I can begin to take action.  I have come up with several ideas to increase the knowledge of the school culture throughout our campus.  This will include a culture night where students will get to know about different cultures that make up our student’s population.  Another possible action is the development of cultural clubs to help students understand their culture and other cultures.  I also think that having cultural food available for students to eat during lunch will benefit our student’s culture.

8. SUSTAIN IMPROVEMENT

 

Throughout the action research project, I will evaluate the project and reflect back on how I can make improvements to the project as my leadership develops.  As I have success with the project, I am going to share the success with colleagues on-line and at school.  When I have a failure, I am going to share that as well and collaborate with campus leadership to see what I might need to modify for possible success next time.  

5301 Research for Teachers Week Two Reflection

I have learned that action research is an ongoing process that you must undertake to become a better educator.  As you become more experienced and knowledgeable about certain issues that educators face everyday, your action research will be more thoughtful.  As you use action research, you must put it to practical use.  If the research that you are involved in doesn't pertain to your campus/district, don't use it.  You only need to use the research that will lead to the betterment of your campus/district.

Analysis of how educational leaders might use blogs.

Educational leaders can use blogs to keep staff and students informed about current events. Blogs can also be used to provide thought provoking ideas and comments for campus wide discussions.

What I have learned about action reasearch, and how you might use it.

Action research is different from traditional educational research.  Traditional educational research is developed through a researcher obtaining factual information about certain issues, then drawing a conclusion based on the data.  Action research is not obtained through a researcher developing his own conclusions from data obtained by a third party.  It is developed from an actual administrator and their experiences from their campuses.  Action research is the ability of an administrator to look back on previous experiences throughout their career as an educational leader and make adjustments to how they handled those experiences.  If the educational leader feels like any situations could have been handled differently, they can make adjustments in their decisions the next time the situation occurs.  There are many methods that can help you become an action researcher.  The methods can be through colleagues, professional learning communities, Superintendent/District meetings, and university coursework.  It takes time to develop as an effective action researcher.  This is due to the lack of experiences needed to compare current experiences to.  As a leader develops and has more on the job training, they will have had more experiences to reflect on so they can develop their action research.  When more experienced educational leaders have developed there action research, they can share their experiences with novice administrators and use it as a learning tool to develop better habits for learning administrators such as myself.