This course has been insightful
for me because it has changed my way of thinking. Whenever I used to think of research, I would
think of finding literature on a certain topic and reading through it. I would then relate that literature to what I
was learning and move on. Action research
is different from traditional research in the sense that it provides an
opportunity to look at current data and literature that is relevant to the
wondering. I believe that action research
can be vital to any administrator because it gets everyone involved and
learning. Many times teachers are
looking for solutions to their problems and want a quick fix. This type of mentality does not work with
education because each child and classroom is different. Action research is like differentiating
instruction. We differentiate
instruction for the students because they all have unique and different needs. The same should be applied to research
because we need current research that is going to help those wonderings come to
light.
The weekly videos that we
watched were also very informative. I
was able to learn from the scholars on how they use action research at their
level. One of our weekly videos had an administrator at a campus, Dr. Briseno. Dr.
Briseno discussed how at his campus he lets teachers have the opportunity to
present to other teachers. They can
present what is working in their classroom and how it may help a fellow
teacher. He feels that when teachers have the opportunity to show others what
they are doing it will be more likely that the teacher will try it instead of
him telling them what to do. Dr. Briseno
discussed the importance of action research and how teachers or anybody interested
can go into the Internet and Google what they are looking for. He said that there is no reason to “reinvent
the wheel” and simply by looking in the Internet will open up endless research
on the topic sought. This research that
is found will be up to date and can help a teacher be able to see what helps
the most. I admire the way that Dr. Briseno allows his teachers to teach each
other. This is definitely something that
I would like to do as an administrator.
This
course also allowed us to learn from our peers, which can be very powerful. I was able to go back to my action research
plan and determine what I needed to improve with the comments that my
colleagues suggested. This is one of the
comments that I took into consideration,” You have made yourself available to
the teachers and that will help them understand what you are trying to even
further”. Teachers are overwhelmed at
this point and are frustrated and I feel that I can ease that pain by making
myself available for them. A simple
visit to their classroom to see how they are doing goes a long way. I will keep this reply in consideration
because I want to make sure the teachers feel comfortable in implementing the
SIOP model. I think that you have an effective plan on the challenges that will
affect your action research. After reading your post, it has had me
reflect a little bit longer on mine. You have made yourself available to
the teachers and that will help them understand what you are trying to do even
further. I wish you luck in your continued pursuit. After reading this I was able to go back and
reflect on what changes were necessary for the plan. Changes that perhaps I would have not made on
my own.
We were able to see the
comments that our colleagues made on the discussion board and blogs. It was my first experience with blogs and at
first did not know if I was on the right track.
I enjoyed reading the blogs that other posted because it made me feel at
ease to see that I was not the only one worried about the action research
plan. Reading the blogs also gave me an
opportunity to see how others were moving forward with their plan. One of my classmates shared with me how I
could make changes to my action research and again I took it into consideration
and made the appropriate changes. This
is what she commented,”
Hi Sophia, I would probably add a few more steps the plan. You could add the
collection and analyzing of data as 2 steps, & a final step of creating the
report and sharing the results with others. Another suggestion is to rephrase
the goal. The goal statement should be the goal of the action research project.
For example: To determine the effectiveness of implementing the SIOP model on
increasing student achievement.
I hope this helps!
The videos, discussion boards and blogs have helped tremendously in the
learning process for this course. I have
enjoyed what I have learned and can’t wait to see how the action research
project continues.
