What caught my interest in the Action Research Course is the idea of action research itself. I was pleasantly surprised at how straight forward it is. Being built around a question that is currently important to my school was much easier for me to grasp and run with than a hypothesis that may or may not directly apply to me. I am actually looking forward to following through with my action research plan and seeing how it turns out in the end.
In the 2nd week of the course, something that stood out to me is the interview with Dr. Timothy Chargois. First of all, I was amazed at how much action research seems to be conducted in his district with the many different projects that he mentioned. He, also, caught my attention when he talked about how it is not about touching that one child anymore. It is about how much your students improved in the end. I learned from him that as students grow and change then so should we. Research is what will help us, as teachers, move in a growing direction and stay life-long learners.
The next big revelation in action research that happened for me was putting together the Action Plan in week 3. At this point, I began to understand the process of researching, reflecting, and putting the different steps of my action research plan into the Tool 7.1 Template. (Harris, 2010) Actually seeing my plan on paper turned the process into a reality. It also made the research not appear as overwhelming as research once presented itself to be.
I enjoyed the discussion boards in this course more than just about any other course I have had so far and this is my tenth class. Some of the other action research plans are in areas that I have had experience and it was fun to share my experiences with my colleagues. I hope I helped. I have an interest in following their research on their blogs because much of their research can apply to my school as well as their own. I know their input for me was very positive and enlightening. It was definitely a boost to my confidence about advancing my own plan.
I will continue to follow the 8 Action Steps of the Harris book as I follow through with my action research plan. The 8 steps certainly simplify the process. Moving from one step to the next is also a convenient way to stay on track. I have also learned a lot from the Dana book and will continue to use it as reference. The Dana book helped me narrow my original wondering to an understandable question and then to an achievable goal. The Dana book helped me decide what to do and the Harris is helping me decide how to do it.
Dana, N.F. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: the principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Harris, S., Edmonson, S., & Combs, J. (2010). Examining what we do to improve our schools: 8 steps from analysis to action. Larchmont, NY: Eye On Education.
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