ACTION RESEARCH

I have created this site to keep everyone up to date on my action research project. Action research is basically "looking inside" your profession, asking questions, or "wonderings" about the profession, and then finding answers to those wonderings by doing research. However, action research doesn't stop there. After reading literature, doing surveys, talking to people, interviews, etc., an administrator will then come up with solutions to help improve what you have been thinking about, evaluating how the solutions are working, and then finding answers to new things that need to be improved. Many times, we as teachers (or future administrators) sit in a professional development seminar, workshop, or conference, and are told by "outside experts" what to do, and how to do it. The material that we are given usually ends up being put in a filing cabinet, never to be seen or used again. Action research is done by the teacher/administrator (or a group), and the research gives "inside knowledge" about what to do and how to do it. I believe this type of professional development is much more meaningful for a teacher/administrator, because he/she or they have a part in making the decisions that will affect the classroom, school, or district.

 I will say it another way. An administrator (or a team of administrators, teachers, PLC leaders, or whoever else) will find ways to improve what he/she or they want to improve. Action research is also called administrative inquiry, and it is not meant to be a research project, as the name suggests. It should become a way of life for any administrator that wants to be the best leader they can possibly become to help our students, teachers, staff members all become the best they can be.

Stay tuned, there will be more to come!!! Thanks for reading!!