When I saw “research” in the name
of this course, my heart sank down to the bottom of my stomach. I must admit, I was quite worried. The only background I had to go by was the
research I had to endure during my English classes in high school and
college. I did not like it! Thankfully the lectures, readings, assignments,
discussion forums, and blogs put my mind at ease and made me realize that there
are some very meaningful and useful ways to conduct research. Thus my action research journey began.
I began week one by watching the
lecture video by Dr. Arterbury and Dr. Jenkins to give me an insight into what
to expect of the coming week. This was my
first introduction to action research and by the end of the video I was
stressed. Each week as I watched the
videos the stress lessened more and more and the information given became clearer. This helped me better understand the process
of action research. It also helped that
the video transcripts were available to look through if something was unclear
in the video. Although all the information
helped me gain a better understanding of what action research is, what stuck
with me as I worked through the process of picking my research project was to
make sure it was meaningful to me.
Both of the books, “Leading with Passion and Knowledge: The
Principal as Action Researcher” by Nancy Fichtman Dana and “Examining What We
Do to Improve Our Schools: 8 Steps from Analysis to Action” by Sandra Harris,
Stacey Edmonson, and Julie Combs, were informative and made the assignments
much easier to complete. Not only did it
help me that the books spelled out step by step the process of action research
but having the examples of actual research inquires was a huge benefit. The first lines I highlighted in Dana’s book,
“Simply stated, administrator inquiry refers to the process of a principal engaging
in systematic, intentional study of his/her own administrative practices and
taking action for change based on what he/she learns as a result of the inquiry
(Dana, 2009. p. 2),” pretty much summed up for me what this course was going to
entail and made me feel much better about the word “research”.
The assignments, activities and discussion boards were frustrating at
times but they did help me in understanding what action research is and what I
need to do to engage in this process. I
felt like I was repeating myself a lot especially with the discussion
questions. Although, I loved reading
other people’s discussion posts and learning about their projects. These discussions were actually helpful in
some instances and the feedback from my peers made me think of things in a
different way. Overall, I am very
pleased with how my work has gone with this course.
The most fun activity was creating my blog. Never did I think that I would be a
blogger. As a teacher, I looked at tons
of other teacher’s blogs and got lots and lots of ideas from them. But me, a blogger, that was just something I
never even considered. As I look back
over the last 4 weeks, I came to realize that this is an awesome way to journal
your reflections to share and collaborate with others going through this
process with you. I have to admit,
posting to my blog is something that I am going to have to make a habit or it
is something I will not do. Just as
learning to reflect is going to have to become a habit.
EDLD 5301 has been the beginning of a journey I was very worried about starting. It has taught me that I can enjoy, learn, and
actually do something with what I learn from research. I look forward to the rest of this
journey.
