What I learned about action research?
As my head is currently on nuclear meltdown with tons of information I have read and pondered this week, action research is something I think most educators do in some form. It isn't the traditional "sit-n-get" professional developments where some expert is paid to shell out his or her knowledge about best practices.
Here is what it is: a dynamic way to research and reflect on a question you have in your classroom or school. It gives you a buy-in to this type of professional development because you choose what you will research and create a plan of action for in your class/school. As teachers, we do this quite a bit. We have a question, "How can I do better with...?" So, we go out and Google information, school and curriculum resources, and talk with colleagues to find what we feel would make the best impact. Then, we take what we find and implement. At the end, you reflect back and see how the idea worked. You may use students' work for analysis or informal observations during the class time, but we analyze how it was effective. If it worked, then we keep it and maybe try to maintain little changes to keep it working. If it didn't work, then you go back through the process for another strategy that works.
Action research is tailored to your class or school. It creates buy in for all educators involved with the process. It gives them a unique, personal learning experience where they can share the successes and failures, creating dialogue with other professionals.
How educational leaders might use blogs?
Blogs are a great way to collaborate with other colleagues. Blogging allows us to share our thoughts and reflections at anytime. You can share and have your colleagues make comments. This allows you to receive quick feedback without waiting for an actual meeting where you are all together to share. You can also collaborate with others more globally. Now, you can connect with other educators from all countries. With that wealth of knowledge at a global level, this technology now brings this to us in our own homes. We do not have to wait for some amazing conference meeting to talk with our fellow colleagues.
Josh you're right! In a lot of ways this action research is actually been practice by a lot of educators long before but less the more systematic process that action research actually do; which makes it more practical and efficient. The best thing about it is that, the school and district don't have to hire expensive "experts" or now a days they call them "consultants" to step in your backyard,instead we can do it ourselves!
ReplyDeleteJosh, I could not agree more when you say this is something educators are already doing. All good teachers are constantly facing problems big and small. They should be doing research on how to better themselves whether it be classroom management or their lesson plans. I am excited about my action research plan because I feel that it will make me a better researcher and help me do so in the future with future problems I face.
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