What I learned about Action Research

Action Research

Action research has truly helped me put a new perspective into my profession. I was not very familiar with the concept until reading over the material. I feel that it has helped me gain new insight into teaching and becoming an administrator.

First, I feel that action research is something that doesn’t even compare to traditional research. I feel that in action research you go beyond the four walls of your classroom or office. A lot of times, growing as an educator means to step outside of the box and that can also mean to step outside of the normal environment that you interact with on daily basis.

I feel that I would be able to use action research in various ways. First, when it comes to a community or school, everyone will have different views and ideas. This allows for more than just a few people to make changes. It is important to hear different input from others and understand people’s views. I think regular faculty meetings can help that situation because they usually consist of various types of input. It is great to share ideas and to work together in the decision process. I also feel I experience a part of this when we hold level meetings with my grade. We discuss important topics and work together to come up with short term and long term goals for our school. I believe we can go further with this by attending professional development classes or staying in contact with various people.

Collaboration is definitely a key to a successful school, district or community. It is vital to be able to work as a team and to make changes together. If I decided to work on an action plan for my school in reference to the significance of academic achievement through the use of whiteboards, I would already be able to list a variety of things to do or people to speak to. I would need to interact with other faculty, have students complete surveys, email technology companies, meet with other teachers off campus as well as read up on important information in the news. Even though this plan might seem rather lengthy, I believe a lot of change can happen because of it.

In reference to the reflection period, it is always important to know that you will be a lifelong learner. It is critical to understand that in order for any change to come about at a school, you do need a lot of people on board. It is essential to examine the problems, find accurate data and reflect on what outcomes occurred because of it. Regardless of how long you have been teaching or in the field of education, it is always good to know that growing can truly help you achieve.