Week Two Reflections- Action Research

 

Ultimately, the field of action research is limitless.  There are so many areas in schools that could be improved, and action inquiry can flourish.  I look forward to beginning my research on promoting cultural diversity within my school, and this week’s study offered several ideas.    

This week’s focus in my Action Research class was on what others in the field of education have researched.  There were several videos of administrators throughout Texas describing the success they have had with action inquiry.  Two things stood out from those videos.  One was that you do not have to “re-invent the wheel.”  There is a plethora of information and studies that can benefit people performing action research.  Utilizing that information to gain my own results will benefit me as well as other educators looking for the same evidence because the education field can be one big learning community.  The second thing that I gleaned from these administrators is that the ability to disaggregate data is the key to success.  Every educator and administrator should be skilled in breaking down data to find weaknesses in students, faculty, and schools that need to be addressed. 

  

There were also several action researchers highlighted in our reading this week.  One inquiry was a principal looking for ways to achieve exemplary writing within her school.  Another was a principal seeking to pull a veteran teacher from a teaching rut by moving her to a different grade level after twenty-six years on the same level.  Another action inquiry involved a whole school seeking to improve the lunch experience in the cafeteria.  Finally, one creative way to spark an inquiry was a principal who used a book for staff-development over the summer.  The staff was required to read a book related to understanding poverty, and they were to respond online with their thoughts.  Due to the collaboration of ideas, the faculty began a research inquiry into ways they could  work towards breaking the cycle 

of poverty with their students.