This week’s readings, videos, and lectures
focused on examples of action research in educational settings. These examples helped me to identify my
action research topic and provided me with a clear purpose describing why this
action research project is important in my professional development. After completing Week 2 of Action Research, I
now better understand the skills needed to successfully lead my action research
project, and I am familiar with areas frequently identified by school leaders
needing further research: Staff
development; Curriculum development; Individual teacher(s); Individual
student(s); School culture/community; Leadership; Management; School
performance; and Social justice or equity issues.
The Dana text enlightened me on the
possibility that during the course of my inquiry I may discover that my initial
wondering may need to be tweaked, or I may learn something along the journey
that alters the direction of my original path.
The important thing to remember if this happens is to keep track of the
decisions I make as an inquirer along the way, as articulating changes in
course can be an important piece of what I am learning.
Dana, N. F. (2009). Leading
with passion and knowledge: The principal as action
Researcher. Thousand Oaks,
CA: Corwin Press.
I totally agree with your thoughts on:
ReplyDelete"during the course of my inquiry I may discover that my initial wondering may need to be tweaked, or I may learn something along the journey that alters the direction of my original path. The important thing to remember if this happens is to keep track of the decisions I make as an inquirer along the way, as articulating changes in course can be an important piece of what I am learning."
I too have experienced that during research, my thoughts and perspectives on certain aspects of education has changed. For example, my philosophy on grading has totally changed. I do not think students should be penalized for late or incomplete work, nor should they be penalized on their desire not to do their school work. I think that we, as educators, must seek out strategies that are at the interest level of the students as long as they are objectively aligned and teach the students using these strategies. If a student proves he/she meets mastery of the objective by articulating the information (either written or verbally) then the student should receive full credit for mastery. This is totally different than how many teachers grade. My philosophy has been re-shaped by in depth research on the topic of grading.
This has been my experience with alteration of thought processes during the course of my inquiry. I look forward to reading more posts from you as you begin your action research.
By the way, what is your research going to be about?