What I learned in Week 2

Well I have finally chosen my topic for my action research. The problem I will be looking at is: How can we improve the reading fluency of our 1st and 2nd grade students? In finding a way to improve their fluency we also hope to improve their reading comprehension.

I also would like to mention that I was able to pinpoint my topic because of the interview that was done with Dr. Chargois. He mentioned that you need to be sure to use data to impact teaching tomorrow. I took this to mean that we need to research topics that will improve the teaching that we do within our classroom and or field. After hearing this I realized that I needed to do research that was going to help us with a problem that we are currently facing and that I have a direct impact on.

How I will Use a Blog as an Educational Leader

As an administrator I plan to incorporate a school blog onto our campus website. The blog could be used to update parents on what is going on at their son or daughter’s school. An administrator could use it inform parents of school events, reminders about tests or schedule changes, and even alerts. The blog will create a two-way communication between parents and administration. As an administrator posts information, parents can make comments and/or clarify any questions. I believe that using a blog to communicate with parents and other stakeholders will create a valuable partnership between stakeholders and the school.

What I have learned about Action Research

In education, action research is a process in which schools or teachers collaboratively look at a problem found within their school and attempt to find a solution by using the techniques of research. This type of research is different from traditional educational research because it centers around the practitioners (teachers and administrators) taking an active role in the design, data collection, and interpretation of their research. The teachers are able to look at themselves and their instruction and/or practice and make changes based on their findings. This type of research leads to more buy-in because the teachers are a part of the research process and therefore are more likely to make necessary changes in order to solve the problem at hand.
As I read more and more on the topic of action research I realized that I needed to change the action research I had originally planned to do. At first my idea was to solve a problem that was occurring on our campus that was occurring with staffing. I realized that this topic had little to do with student performance, and therefore decided to change my topic to more of a topic that was affecting our students’ academic performance and not so much our teachers. I feel this will make a better action research for our campus.