Reflection of EDLD 5301

This course opened my eyes regarding research.  When I thought of research I remembered days spent in the library looking things up in encyclopedias and reference books.  I also thought of working for doctors who researched various illnesses and diseases or engineers who researched which materials to use to make better bridges.  However, I really did not think about actually doing “action research” to help improve a procedure.

In the chapter of the Dana text on Administrator Inquiry Defined, action research is described as a “tool used to achieve professional growth and educational reform ((Dana, 2009, p. 8).  After reading this chapter I started thinking about things I could do action research on in my classroom to improve the way I was teaching.  It was like opening a set of nesting dolls.  You open one doll and there is another one to open; and then another one.  My mind was flowing with ideas for action research.

Then we had to write our draft action research plan.  I really did not know where to start.  I knew what I wanted to research and had met with my site supervisor and discussed the topic, but how do I write it? 

The Tool 7.1 Action Planning Template (Harris, Edmonson, & Combs, 2010, p. 85) was great.  As I carefully typed my plan I found myself considering each step meticulously to see if it were possible to accomplish. 

In the next week we learned about the Forced Field Analysis, the Delphi Method, the Nominal Group Technique and the CARE Model (Harris et al., 2010, Chapter 8). These are strategies that can be used to “sustain improvement and actively build for the future” (Harris et al., 2010, p. 94).  The information I gained in the fourth week motivated me to think how to use these techniques now to review my action research plan. 

I liked the way other students could comment on my blog regarding the action research project.  When I reviewed my action research plan it helped to have comments from other students about my plan; whether the comments came from the blog or the discussion board. It was a great way to get feedback from others on what I planned to do.

This course was great. It gave me tools to use as an administrator and educator to further my own professional development. 

References

Dana, N. F. (2009). Administrator Inquiry Defined. Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher (pp. 1-25). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Harris, S., Edmonson, S., & Combs, J. (2010). Step 8 Examining the work: Sustaining improvement. In Examining what we do to improve our schools: 8 steps from analysis to action (pp. 79-103). Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.

Revised Action Research Plan

Goal: To reduce the number of office referrals. Objectives of the action research is to see if there is a correlation between classroom management styles and the number of office referrals.

- How many Level I (minor infractions) and Level II (major infractions) office referrals were there by teacher?

- Do the teachers have a structured classroom management style?

- Is there a need for professional development in the area of managing behaviors in the classroom?

Week 4 Reflection

On Thursday I met with my site supervisor regarding my action research plan. She liked my action research plan as it was. We went through each item and I explained to her what I had in mind for each of the steps of the plan.

We discussed maintaining the confidentiality of the teachers on their survey. I will need to be able to match the teacher to the number of office referrals. She suggested I meet with the assistant principal and determine how we can maintain the confidentiality and still match the teacher survey to the number of referrals the teacher had submitted. In discussing the teacher survey, I decided it would not be necessary to interview the teachers if I was to get enough documentation on the survey form. The only other change we made to the plan was to change the collection of the office referral data to six weeks instead of monthly.

My next step is to set up a meeting with the assistant principal to finalize the procedure for sending out the surveys and collecting the data.

Week 3 Reflection

This week my eyes were opened quite a bit regarding action research. The Dana text had a lot of information about collecting data and gave me a lot to think about.

While sitting here trying to type up the draft of my research plan, I started with one idea and added other ideas. After the web conference on Tuesday I decided to add some more questions to my action research. The web conference gave me a lot of things to think about for my plan. It seemed that each time I thought I had completed the draft of my plan; I would go back and make some more adjustments. Even now that I have uploaded the draft I am thinking of something I might want to change. I can see where as I implement the action research plan there will be more questions to answer.

Action Research Plan

Goal: To reduce the number of office referrals. Objectives of the action research is to see if there is a correlation between classroom management styles and the number of office referrals.

- How many Level I (minor infractions) and Level II (major infractions) office referrals were there by teacher?

- Do the teachers have a structured classroom management style?

- Is there a need for professional development in the area of managing behaviors in the classroom?

EDLD 5301 Week 2 Reflection

Well this week has certainly given me a lot of food for thought. As I was reading the text and looking at the videos this week, I began to imagine how action research can benefit teachers in many ways. With the assignment this week we had to list at least 9 examples of action research. I found myself of thinking of numerous projects that could be done in my school.

I am very interested in the area of discipline and how teachers handle various situations in the classroom. This week I was able to meet with my site mentor and narrow down what I wanted to research. The purpose of my action research is to see if there is a correlation between classroom management techniques and the number of office referrals. Do teachers with a structured (strict) classroom management technique have more or less referrals to the office? I feel when the research is complete there may be some professional development we can look at for teachers in the area of discipline.