Reflection on Action Research

Although I have heard the term action research and many great things about it, I came into this course not knowing exactly what it was. Learning that it was a process in which a principal engaged in intentional and systematic study of his or her own practice in order to make changes, was gratifying because I learned what this phenomenon was, and I have a new tool to add to my principal toolkit.

Knowing that principals pose questions or wonderings, collecte data, analyze data and read relevant literature in an effort to make changes is vital to my role as an administrator. These steps along with sharing findings with others are key to school improvement.

The fact that the principal poses questions or wonderings lets us know that the leader is thinking about what is going on on the campus, and is carefully looking at what is effective and what may need change. The analysis of data is different than just looking at TAKS scores due to the wonderings posed by the principal. At this point the principal is looking at more how and why rather than what. The literature that the principal reads will be more applicable than general reading because questions are posed, the state of the campus or problem is in the fore front and the literature will support the findings or give ideas.

After learning what action research is, I see that I could definitely use this process in my current position to improve my department and program. I would like to conduct research on the actual program, the curriculum associated with my program and the teaching strategies that are taught to support students in the program.

I could see a new campus principal using this process to analyze what works and what is in need of change on the campus.

Blogs could be used as a campus announcement system and a staff development tool for a campus. In an effort to spend more faculty-staff meeting time for professional development, campus principals could use blogs for information and announcements to teachers. The blog could also be used to facilitate book studies, action research and to disseminate information such as tidbits that could be used to improve instruction. The staff could use it to share what works in their classroom as far as instructional strategies and classroom management.