Week 5 Reflection!!

It's week 5 people, wahoooo!!!

     

        Before beginning this course, EDLD 5301 Research, I had no idea what to expect.  I had heard horror stories of how it was going to be the toughest class yet.  I was nervous yet eager at the same time to begin this class.   However, I have learned abundance in this course. Prior to taking it, I had no idea what an action research entailed, even though I was aware of the term. The books, lectures, blogs, and discussion boards have been particularly helpful during the entire duration of the course and in my current action research on the affect extracurricular activities have on students’ grades, tardies, and referrals.

       The two books we used, “Leading with Passion and Knowledge: The Principal as Action Researcher” by Nancy Dana Fichtman and “Examining What We Do to Improve Our Schools: 8 Steps from Analysis to Action” by Sandra Harris, Stacey Edmonson, and Julie Combs both contain a wealth of information on anything that pertains to conducting action research. However, Harris et al.'s book is the more real-world one as it provides an actual outline for conducting action research. As the title suggests, it names eight steps in a school improvement action research. Put another way, it takes a more systematic method to reflection and clearly outlines everything involved in action research. If I were to focus just one thing, it would be the “CARE Model Planning Tool.” This tool provides a clear and usable framework for planning for school improvement (Dana, 2009).

       Another thing I have benefited from is blogging. Reading and participating in discussions in my classmates' blogs has allowed for an informal conversation where we did not have to worry about citations and APA format which led to an exchange of ideas, suggestions and recommendations. The discussion boards for this course also contributed to the exchange of advantageous comments used to create our action research plan. It also helped that the discussion prompts were more reflective and did not involve the summary of the text, while helpful in gaining a deeper connection with our resources, does not really contribute to our own action research. There were three suggestions from my blog that I applied to my own action research.

       In closing, I have found this course to be helpful and relevant to my professional career, and one that will help me develop into an outstanding administrator in the near future.