Beginnings of Action Research

Wow, action research has been an exciting thing to begin! At first, I was overwhelmed about the entire idea. However, after reading and researching what I'm getting myself into, I've changed more into excited and eager to get to work.

My first questions were what is action research? What is the "action" part? How is different that research that I'm familiar with? Basically, action research takes the ability of reflection on my current practices and the practices within my school and created a change from the outside in. 

Action research follows this plan:

1. inquiry 

2. data collection 

3. analysis of data 

4. implementing change

Action research begins with wonderings, ideas, concerns, and thoughts, blossoms from there into data collection and reflection, and then allows from improvement, expansion, and growth.

There are a ton of ways that I could use action research, as an educator and an administrator. For this course, I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to research, yet. I have a few ideas. My first idea is concerning tutorial time at school and how to make this more effective. My other two ideas are on a much smaller scale. I would like to look at literacy and impact on science scores, or effectiveness of reading courses on all academics.

Journaling and/or blogging are great ways to capture thinking and create a reference for reflection. As time goes on, and inquiry develops into something more, I will be able to track the thought process and see the change over time through looking back at these blogs. Also, this is a great way to share my inquiries and work with other administrators and colleagues and receive their feedback.