I have
found the Action Research Plan class both informative as well as beneficial for
me as a future educator. We as teachers as well as administrators are life-long
learners and should always be looking for ways to improve ourselves as leaders,
our campus, as well as our student performance. I have found this class
challenging in the aspect of realizing the difference between an administrator
inquiry and a research paper like we did in high school and college. It is not
proving our point or finding a theme throughout a piece of literature. This inquiry
is finding a concern on our campus, researching all available areas around that
concern, and coming up with an unbiased recommendation for improvement based on
our results. It is the “process of a principal engaging in systematic,
intentional study of his/her own administrative practice and taking action for
change based on what he/she learns as a result of the inquiry” (Dana, 2009,
p.2). I have found several areas that I considered for my action research plan
to be on and narrowed it down to the topic of my choice with the help of my
site supervisor. I also enjoyed and found beneficial the use of our blogs to
get insight from our colleagues as they undergo the same process of action
research on their own campuses.
As I
began this class, I had several areas that were of concern to me about my
campus. One of these was the dismissal process our campus uses. It seems to be
chaos as our students leave to get into their cars – not necessarily because of
our process in place, but the parents that do not follow directions and double
and triple-park on the street in front of our school. This also bottle-necks
the buses that are trying to get their routes started. Another area I debated
using for my research plan was the area of our Response to Intervention program.
I do not feel that we are utilizing this to the best of our abilities and
resources. Some students come to us from the earlier elementary school already
on tier 2 or 3. They then need another six weeks’ worth of data collection and
intervention before anything is done to help them. Surely there is a better way
to do this to these kids do not fall farther and farther behind in their
curriculum. A third area of concern that came to me was that of the
effectiveness of the Title Math program on our campus. This directly involves
me because I have recently been moved to the position of campus Title Math
teacher. We have had an inclusion program for the last several years. I do not
think having the title teacher come into the regular classroom and monitor the
students as the regular teacher goes through the lesson is benefitting the
struggling students at all. Of course, peer study and peer pressure can
sometimes benefit these students into trying harder. We will be trying the
pull-out program of Title Math for this upcoming year, and I am interested to
see if this leads to better understanding and student success both academically
as well as on the state assessment. We will have a group of no more than ten
students as well as an hour and fifteen minutes for instruction. Hopefully all
of these implementation together will help prepare our students better. I am
looking forward to gathering data from other districts and other resources as I
put together this action research plan and see which program is more effective:
inclusion versus pull-out.
I also
enjoyed the use of the blogs to get feedback and opinions from our colleagues
that are undergoing the same pressures of this class. I was very interested
when reading the areas that will be covered by the other master’s students. I
am intrigued to see how their results come about. It is also beneficial to use
these blogs to help us as we conduct our research. We can share with each other
and give suggestions of better ways to gather data and help our projects along.
The
Action Research Plan class, 5301, was very informative and advantageous to us
as we begin our time as future administrators. Hopefully the knowledge we gain
during this process will be useful as we become the leaders on our campuses.
Teachers as well as administrators are life-long learners and the action
research process will keep us looking for ways to better ourselves and our
campuses.
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