Research and Blogs!!!! YIKES!!

To be honest, before I started this class, I had never heard of action research before.  In fact, when I saw that this class was a research class, my stomach sank.  I was not excited at all.  But, after this first week’s readings and videos, this is a very interesting way of doing research and one that I don’t think I will find to be stomach turning.  In fact, in a roundabout way, isn’t this what teachers do daily?  If something isn’t working in class or if the students are struggling, we reflect on the way we are teaching that concept or skill, we “research” ways to improve and we make changes. 

From what I have learned from the readings, administrative inquiry or action research is a systematic problem solving method in which an administrator looks at his/her own professional practices for inquiry for the betterment of the school.  Through this type of research, one is able to have ownership in the research which enables you to make this a continuous process of learning, reflecting and implementing changes.  “Practitioners become collaborators in educational research by investigating their own problems, and practitioners play a part in the research process, which makes them more likely to facilitate change based on the knowledge they generate (Dana, 2009, p.5).”  I see it as a hands-on approach to finding solutions to problems or questions one has.   Another point that I found interesting is the fact that action research requires one to do a lot of self-reflection.  Action research is a reflective process. 

Like I said above, I think teachers already do action research in an indirect way.  To be an effective teacher you have to reflect on the ways the students are responding to the lessons and make changes if need be.  As an administrator there are countless ways I feel I would be able to use action research.  One would be to use it to collaborate with teachers on issues that are affecting our school, thus finding ways to make it the best possible place for our students to learn.  How I would like to see action research used is with our Administrator meetings that are held at the district office.  Instead of sitting and listening and listening and listening, why not come up with some questions for the betterment of the district and then collaborate together to seek the changes that need to be made.   

Blogs are a very beneficial tool for educational leaders to use.  I never knew how helpful blogs were until I started searching for ideas for my classroom and there were tons out there for me to look at.  One way for leaders to use blogs is to inform parents, students, fellow administrators and teachers.  It can be a networking tool with others who are in the educational field, or a way for parents and students to stay abreast of things happening at the school.  It can be used as a type of journal for reflections, feedback, and collaboration between administrators and teachers.  Blog possibilities are endless.