When I commenced the Research course, I was a little overwhelmed but as I read and familiarize with the true meaning of action research I began to feel comfortable with the topic. Action research will allow me to focus on an area that I am passionate about and see it through to the end. I have watched principals that I have worked for in the past become so occupied with their duties that not all things end up being completed. At my first campus our focus was on maintaining student performance on the TAKS as an exemplary campus. Although this was a reacheable endeavor, as a campus the time was never taken to research the true reason students were performing well or not even look at instructional strategies being implemented by teachers who had experienced success with students. It wasn't until the scores decreased that we began searching for answers. In a period of three years the campus fell from Exemplary to unnacepatable status and teachers started to leave what once was a family of teachers. I believe action research could have helped this campus out tremendously. By simply asking a few questions, the school could have maintained exemplary status. Some of the questions could have been: What are effective instructional strategies that are being utilized in classrooms to maintain achievement? Are there certain groups of students showing signs of decreasing scores? What strategies or interventions do we have in place to help these students? I am a firm believer that action research will allow me to focus on what might start out as a big idea, but ultimately it will be broken into smaller pieces of information. Action research will become my reinforced vessel as I sail to become an educational leader.
WHAT I HAVE LEARNED ABOUT ACTION RESEARCH.
First I will defined the two types of research in order to have a better understanding of the differences between Action and traditional methods. Action research; is research that reflects on actual practice and generates alternative ways to upgrade practice. Researchers look from within their job area, examine what they are doing, examine their thinking, and how they feel; and then search to edify ways to upgrade their practice. It is reflection and inquiry to improve practice. Traditional Research; is research led by researchers and reverberates concern for objectivity and institutes generalized truths. Looks at what others are doing and proceeds not to get personally involved.
Traditional
-What others are doing
-Seeks explanation and truth
-Strive for knowledge
-Removed from research site
Both
-Data Collection
-Inquiry
-Problem Solving
Action
-What one is personally doing?
-Strive for personal development and planned change
-Reflective
-Seek continuous change
-Personally involved at research site
One of the great characteristics of action research in educational settings is that it is conducted by people from the “inside” for by people from the inside. That is the major difference between action research and traditional research. Action research leads to principal inquiry inside the workplace.
Another example of action research in the educational setting is known as PLCs, as an administrator I would propose that professional learning communities be instituted at the local setting in the same manner as it has been accomplished nationally. The article reveals some of advantages and disadvantages of the PLCs but I would like to see more information on PLCs at a rural setting. For instance, if your school is located in or around a metropolitan area the possibility of inviting professionals to participate on a certain subject would be more certain than if you are working at a rural school. The ability for administrators to meet frequently once a week to actively engage in action research could help a school immediately. For example, if I work as an administrator at DPISD near Houston and I meet once a week with the principals from every school in the district. My expectations are that by the 4th meeting we would have sufficient data to gauge if our action research is working or not at each school that is participating.
Examples that were listed in the article gave me a complete perspective in regards to ways that action research can be used in the school setting. The first idea is that during district meetings, there can be time to reflect and discuss issues in an interactive manner. If the meeting is composed exclusively with administrators, many of the announcements can be passed down vertically via campus email down the chain of command to teachers.
Example of how I can use Action Research:
One personal example of action research at my previous school is the following; we started with the question: “What can we provide for effective fiction and nonfiction reading instruction for first and-second grade English language learners who are limited readers or non-readers?” We began by forming a vertical committee or PLC that included kinder to third grade to devise a plan to begin the literature research project by gathering articles that we felt would be of interest. We each read the articles and set aside a day to report our findings back to the group. We also collected as much information as possible on our target students. We looked at their past records and at their current programs. Then we had to determine where we would go from here. This was the most difficult time for our team. We chose among strategies that we had either discussed or read about, and then worked with a targeted group of students. Each teacher collected data and then looked to see how her own practice might be improved. This was a crucial decision because looking at your own teaching is real professional development. Working With the Students is the key to be involved and recognize what is needed. My part in the project was to work each morning with three of our target second-grade students. They would sit with me at the computer lab and we would write a few sentences about what they were doing in school. This became a daily log that was sent home to parents. Students had to read what they wrote to their parents and the parents had to sign the newspaper and return it to school. In later editions, we began to have students ask the parents for feedback. As students sat with me and we talked, I was able to help them build and write sentences in English. The process was easy and non-threatening. We also talked about vocabulary and what concepts they were learning in their other content areas. We wrote articles to inform their parents about this. The concept of writing a daily log describing what the students are doing in school can be applied the same in any language.
Our findings were very productive and we continued with the question: “What makes action research so powerful?” As a team, we interviewed our students and asked for their views on which of our strategies helped them to become stronger readers. It is powerful to listen to students. Even as seasoned teachers, we can make wrong assumptions about how a child is learning. I helped the team do a linguistic analysis of the students’ comments since I am trilingual. For me, this was the most interesting piece. We looked at all the student comments and then charted their responses. For example, we counted how many times they
talked about needing to obtain support from a Spanish/Portuguese speaking teacher. What they said made perfect sense. They needed the most support when their English skills were less developed. This need lessened as they became better English speakers. For us, this supported our own feelings that a few words in Spanish/Portuguese at the right time can make a big difference in their learning. For my own research piece, it was good to learn that most of the parents liked and enjoyed reading the daily logs. By the end of the project, parents were fully engaged and involved in the program.
Action research can be a worthwhile pursuit for educators for a number of reasons. Foremost among these is simply the desire to know more. The benefits of action research that I was able to identify from my journal readings and personal experience are listed below.
(A) Focus on school issue, problem, or area of collective interest=
Research done with the teacher’s students, in a setting with which the teacher is familiar helps to confer relevance and validity to a disciplined study.
(B) Form of teacher professional development=
Research and reflection allow teachers to grow and gain confidence in their work.
(C) Collegial interactions=
Isolation is one of the downsides of teaching. Teachers are often the sole adult in a room of children.
(D) Potential to impact school change=
As teachers get into action research, they are more apt to look at questions that address school and district concerns rather than questions that affect the individual teacher.
(E) Reflect on own practice=
Opportunities for teachers to evaluate themselves in schools are often few. Action research can serve as a chance to really take a look at one’s own teaching in a structured manner.
(F) Improved communications=
Team work within the school or district brings individuals together for a shared purpose.
HOW EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATORS CAN UTILIZE BLOGS.
While traditional newsletters can be overlooked and lost in bottomless book bags, blogs are timely, accessible, and fun. Principals who use them say that blogs are simple to set up and easily updated. An activity that occurs during the school day can be shared within minutes in text, images, sound, and video. Keeping parents informed through blogging is also better for the environment and costs little but a small investment of time.
Blogs are a free and easy way to connect with the world. The blog serves as a special place to allow others to see our school as we do each day.
I love that you interviewed students to find specifically what was working for them. I work as an RtI interventionist and with our time being so limited, I, too, ask kids what works best for them. Unfortuantely, some can't really answer it. But when they can, the information is powerful! Looking forward to following your blog!
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