I enjoyed this course :)

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.