Action Research Course

I must admit at the commencement of this course I had my doubts about whether or not I would like it and if it would be insightful but this action research course has taken me by surprise and has been my favorite course thus far. I think this course did a great job of providing us with a variety of resources and aligning the lectures, course readings, and course assignments. Deciding what to do my action research on was a great adventure and I am glad that we got to pick the area that interest us and that we felt our campus would benefit from. I am just about half way through with my administration internship program and this class helped me see that I can make a positive impact on my school by using inquiry as a part of my daily practice rather than a separate part of it (Dana, 2009). This course made me reach out to others on my campus and forced me to ask questions that were deeper than what the data showed. Creating my blog was a good way to integrate technology into this course and it opened my eyes to see that there is a world of teachers and administrators out there to share my ideas with and get feedback from. I enjoyed watching the course lectures that had the three interviews from people that had experience using action research. I love the idea that action research is a way of leading my own learning and that it is quite different from my past experiences of which most have been “sit and get” or “spray and pray” (Dana, 2009). Because of my action research topic and my desire to truly make an impact, I worked with my site supervisor and came up with a slogan that we will be using this year, “Everyday Counts.” I think this slogan will help remind students, parents, and teachers that everyday really does matter and everyday that a student is out of the classroom they are missing out on learning valuable knowledge. Thus far I have worked with my site supervisor on various advertisements that will be used, flier information, attendance probation notice, and assisted with our high school’s prep days this week. I know that my action research is developed but it is more important for me to revisit it periodically and to assess the quality of my plan. I will communicate information, updates, and results of my action research to my site supervisor, SBDM committee, and our staff as whole. After learning the importance of sharing my findings and suggestions with others I plan on coordinating it with my principal so that I can be allowed to give a presentation of my action research to our entire faculty when my action research is complete.

Dana, Nancy Fichtman (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Taking The Next Step

The meeting with my site supervisor was very effective. My site supervisor is the assistant principal in charge of attendance at our campus so she was thrilled with my interest in doing action research on improving our average daily attendance percentage. We have been communicating back and forth over the summer and I feel like she values my suggestions and truly feels that my action plan will make a difference. I have helped her prepare documents that will be used in upcoming presentations and she has already warned me to be ready to present in case she is needed in two places at one time. We touched on a few things that we might consider implementing or refining at our campus and I think at our next meeting we will have our five items decided and ready to plan out fully. At our most recent meeting I was able to see how planning one thing can actually entail piecing together the loose ends of other items before you are ready to move on. I expressed to her how important it is for me to achieve the buy in from others so she sent an email and invited members of our Attendance Advisor team to attend a morning planning session on campus tomorrow. My action research is already becoming an incredibly enlightening experience and its only just began. My action research remains the same and my site supervisor has been involved since early on so she did not see any changes that she felt needed to be made.

Executing The Plan

Now that I have a plan set out it is time to start executing. The next couple of weeks will be used to read books and journals and any other useful literature I come across. To follow through with my action plan I am meeting with my site supervisor this Saturday to start planning for the school year. My site supervisor and I have communicated a lot over the summer and I think this is a crucial aspect of having a successful internship and action research experience. We will review various forms of advertisements and put together presentations that will be given to parents and staff members.

Attendance Action Research Plan

Inquiring About Attendance It Is

I found this week to be very enlightening and exciting. I always knew there were areas that could use some improvements at our campus but reading the various action research possibilities has truly refueled me with an incredible amount of energy and passion. After compiling my list of items that I would be interested in doing action research on and meeting with my site supervisor we came to the agreement that I would do my action research on investigating ways to improve the average daily attendance percentage at our high school. By choosing to research what steps can be taken to improve students’ attendance I think students, parents, teachers, administrators, and the community will benefit from my findings. If students attend school daily they are more likely to do well academically and less likely to cause discipline problems. I think raising awareness about why attendance is important and establishing good lines of communication will be extremely important if I plan to have a positive impact. Historically, our campus has teetered right around the required 90% for ADA and I want our campus to surpass this expectation with flying colors. During my meeting with my site supervisor she informed me that she would talk to our vice principal to see if I could get a period in my schedule to work with the administrator in charge of attendance. I think this will be an incredible opportunity and I will be able to see a lot of the inner workings first hand.

Why Blogs Are So Useful

Utilizing technology is no longer a thing of the past and leaders could benefit tremendously from using blogs as an interactive method to share ideas. Blogging allows educational leaders to share their ideas, concerns, and questions with other leaders around the world. Educational leaders can use their blogs as a place for reflection and a means to get their thoughts down on something more concrete than just storing them to their memory bank.

Utilizing Action Research

Learning what action research really is and the rewards it offers has inspired me to engage in action research regularly. Action research is not like traditional research in which an “outsider” is responsible for the findings, rather action research requires the principal/teacher to pose questions and work collaboratively to investigate and collect data. If action research is used regularly it is an influential tool that will improve student learning and the campus culture. Engaging in action research will help me to see things for myself and collect relevant data that will be useful when deciding what changes need to be made and how to make them. I want to be a “head learner” at my campus and lead by example and being an action researcher will show students and teachers that I care about them and I care about making positive changes. I will utilize action research to identify areas of weakness on my campus and use it as an opportunity to work with various staff members and students. I also plan to use action research as a means to gain insight about the different programs that are offered at my campus and how they are functioning. Further, I can use action research to obtain feedback from my faculty and staff to ensure that their voices are being heard and so that they know their input matters and is valued.