What is Action Research and how can I use it?
Action research refers to when a principal or administrator studies his or her own practices and takes action based on what findings are discovered. It is also a powerful professional development tool or principals because it focuses on school improvement for all involved. I really did not know much about action research until this class, but I believe all good educators use it even if they don't know the name for it. I already use it in the classroom when I analyze my own teaching. I use my students' data to determine if I have taught a certain TEK and if I haven't, I reflect on a better way to teach it. Specifically for this course, I will be using action research for my project on reading intervention. I am going to analyze whether the reading intervention programs that we are using during our RTI time have an impact on test scores across the board. It is understandable that if kids do not know how to read, it is more difficult for them to take their math, science, and social studies tests as well as their reading test. We are implementing new reading intervention programs in our RTI time on our campus as well as a summer reading program. I will be studying the data from these programs and compare the test scores from the previous year to see if there has been an improvement. I am excited to see what the results will show.
How might educational leaders use blogs?
The Dana text refers to a blog as a type of journaling or an "online diary". Principals can use this blogging during their inquiry process to write down their ideas as they come to them. They can then get feedback from other educators to aid them in their research. The blog keeps the thoughts available to them to reflect anytime they wish. Teachers can also use blogs with their students to help with the writing process. Most students love to "chat" with their friends. Blogging can give them that same feeling, but the teacher is the leader and provides a safe path or them to follow. Blogging can also allow administrators to obtain support from colleagues. They will be able to solicit information about a certain problem that they have faced to see if anyone else has had the same issue and inquire as to their resolution. I can see where blogging is going to be very beneficial to me. It already has!
I never thought of blogging as chatting but that is so true. There is a teacher at our school that uses blogs in her title I reading class and has found lots of success with it. Her kids are often given questions to blog about or they blog on readings and they defend their ideas to each other. Even students who may not open up in class are ready to blog away! I kind of vision blogging like emailing but its not --but you can get feedback from allover the world.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with you more in your post, What is Action Research and How Can I use It? I never put a name on what we as teachers do on a daily basis, but we absolutely do this in our everyday teaching (or at least I hope so!). Everything that we do should have a basis and a reason. If it doesn't, then how can we expect the kids to see the importance? Great blog--I can't wait to follow your postings!
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