The Final Decision....

I finally got to meet with my site supervisor to discuss more in detail my internship plan and discuss my topic for my action research project. I am so thankful that I have a supervisor that generally wants to help and has given me the open door to work on and create as I go through this grad school program. The one, and only, idea I was able to come up with she loved and thought I would be able to get lots of good information during my research. Our school is implementing The Curriculum Project. This past school year we implemented a few components of the program and this current year we are really going to get into the program full on. The Curriculum Project will require a lot of changes for some in classroom structure, classroom management and instructional changes. There are two areas of interest that I would like to research and monitor during this implementation. I will research/monitor teacher implementation of the curriculum project and what concerns/benefits they have seen as the program is implemented. I also want to monitor a small group of students and track their academic growth/achievement while The Curriculum Project is being implemented to see if there are any positive results from the strategies and instructional changes. As soon as we discussed the idea I was "selected" to be on a committee that will meet periodically throughout the school year to meet with the project administration to discuss and assess its usage. LOL. I should be able to complete lots of those internship plan activities working on this project. :)

Administrators and Blogs

Administrators can use the information provided from the action research blogs to develop their own action research plans or use the plans already created and tailor them to the needs of their student population. Blogging is a good forum for sharing ideas and practices as well as sparking creativity among education professionals. It is technology that can foster learning and sharing communities among administrators who may face similar challenges within their campuses.

Using Action Research

I have learned that action research is a systematic way of analyzing effectiveness of processes and procedures and the involvements of the administrator with their success or failure. It is looking at data/information and determining next steps while also asking what else or more do I need to do. It allows for self-reflection. It is also a tool that can foster professional growth and development, especially for education administrators and teachers as well. I feel like as a classroom teacher I participate in a milder form of action research regularly in my classroom. I ask myself questions about what I need to do or try to improve student’s achievement, I apply these practices or strategies and then analyze the data to see if it was beneficial or if new measures need to be taken. I think blogging is a good way to share action research with other teachers and administrators overall.
Classroom teachers and/or instructional professional can use blogs to find different strategies and tools to use when teaching. Blogs allow for these ideas to be discussed without being physically present. Blogs also allow for the exchange of ideas from individuals outside of your immediate circle. Teachers and education professionals are able to communicate with others in different parts of the country and maybe even the world.