Reflections

This action research course has had many insightful aspects to it. The readings, lectures, electronic searches, activities and assignments, discussion boards, and blogs have all been extremely beneficial towards achieving my educational goals. Action research is a means of bringing about positive change in your own environment. It is a process guided by questions intended to focus on future improvements. First of all the readings and lectures were both inspiring and informative. I found that the weekly lectures informing the students and then following up with reviews and quizzes were exactly what we needed to closely follow the course. The readings were also self explanatory and quite explicit. For example The readings from the Dana text indicated the importance of school administrators participating in action research. “Administrators’ engagement in inquiry is one vehicle for making reflection purposeful and visible” is what Dana states in her text Leading with Passion.  In addition the weekly lectures by Dr. Jenkins and Dr. Arterbury were very helpful and helped us to know exactly what was to be expected for the week. Their hints of “staying on topic, and having purpose and significance”, made a big difference when actually implementing my project. Therefore, readings and lectures played a major role in contributing to this research course. In addition, the electronic searches that were done on my computer indicate that extensive searches were done on all types of educational topics. With all of the research comes added knowledge that I was unaware of prior to this class. I now know that with the power of action research we can make a big difference in our school community. With the right tools, we can look at something that might be made more effective and would be beneficial to all involved. If children can be helped, then it’s all worth it. Furthermore, one of the most exciting parts of this course for me was developing my blog. At first I was quite skeptical about actually putting out information on the internet because of all of the negative stories I’ve heard of. Once I started creating and posting, it just became natural for me. Now I’m an avid blogger, constantly blogging and sharing, updating and editing. Apparently, I’m not the only one who feels intimidated at first. According to Dana in Leading With Passion “Both journaling and blogging as a form of data collection can be very powerful tools, but sometimes it is difficult for the novice principal-researcher to view their own reflections as important data!” At first it is difficult to see your own journals as data or material to go back to, but it is actual documented work and should be used by administrators as data. They should also be shared so that others can benefit from your postings. In conclusion, I definitely have benefited from this action research course and would love to take more courses like it in the near future. For one, this topic is one that I have enjoyed and one that I would like to further investigate. There are so many question that  we all have and maybe applying action research in other areas, not just education would begin to solve many problems. At least we would do something instead of just talking about it. I am sure that future students will greatly enjoy this class. The readings, lectures, electronic searches, and blogs made it all a powerful course. As mentioned in Examining What We Do to Improve Our Schools,” the self-reflection process causes us to see our surroundings with greater awareness. Leaders should spend more time rediscovering who they are, identifying their own biases, and remembering their vision for becoming educators.” Dana, N. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge. Thousand Oaks: Corwin. Harris, S., Edmonson, S., & Combs, J. (2009). Examining what we do to improve our schools: 9 steps from analysis to action. Larchmont, N.Y.: Eye on Education Dr. Jenkins and Dr. Arterbury (2010) Weekly lectures EDLD course 5301