Week 2 Reflection

This week I feel like I developed an even more in depth understanding of action research topics. I think one of the most difficult things for me so far was to develop a good inquiry that will be something that allows me to collect appropriate data and will ultimately benefit our campus. After watching the videos I understood a little more how these research projects are put in place and the benefits of them for teacher and administrator development. The text was extremely helpful in understanding how to develop inquiries. After identifying needs for my specific campus in each area it became easier to create inquiries that I thought would benefit our campus and student performance. It also helped me narrow down the focus of one of my possible topics. After discussing topics with my site supervisor I have narrowed my topics down to two. I believe that I am going to be examining the outcome of effective technology implementation and professional development on our math scores in our 4th grade class. I decided on this topic because a pilot program using ipad's in math and science classes will be taking place this year on our campus and that lends itself to collecting appropriate data on the technology implementation and its effect on our math scores.

Educational Leaders as Bloggers

Blogging is an excellent communication tool. We are living in a digital age and we have to stay involved. Leaders can use the blogs to provide updates and pertinent information to their staff and communities. Blogs could also use them to communicate with other administrators to trade ideas and get support for their action research plans.

What is action research and how can I use it?

Action research is a powerful tool. When you perform action research the ultimate goal is to implement change that will create improvements in your school. It will allow me to be a lifelong learner and to improve upon practices or problems that I handle on a daily basis. Although it can be time consuming, it is one of the best ways to improve upon your leadership skills and reflect on your practices and your school’s practices. Instead of just handling problems that arise in areas from day to day as a maintenance issue, action research enables you to implement long term changes to increase effectiveness. As an administrator or teacher you know your school’s true weaknesses and there is no one better to address those issues through inquiry, data collection, and analysis than those dealing with the issues daily. After determining the issues and understanding the question at hand, you have to collect pertinent data. After the data is collected it should be analyzed and solutions should be explored. Action research can be extremely effective especially when it becomes a collaborative effort.


As a teacher or an administrator I can use action research to explore numerous issues:

o How can I improve upon the outcomes of the student’s in my co-teach classrooms?

o How can I help those students who were tested for services but did not qualify?

o How can we utilize technology effectively across our campus to improve on student’s learning?