Sunday, August 1, 2010

New Thoughts on Action Research

Two weeks ago, the term "action research" was foreign to me. And, while the first week of my Research course helped me to develop a preliminary understanding of the topic, it is only just now truly coming into focus.

I spent much of the first week simply working to figure out for myself what action research means. Now, instead of focusing on solely the definition, I am starting to see areas where the concept may be successfully applied. This week, we read a chapter from Nancy Fichtman Dana's excellent book, Leading with Passion and Knowledge. In it, she discussed how action research may be applied to the following areas: Staff Development, Curriculum Development, Individual Teachers, Individual Students, School Community/Culture, Leadership, Management, School Performance, and School Justice. In examining her writing as well as the excellent interviews with local administrators, Dr. Timothy Chargois and Dr. Kirk Lewis, I am finally starting to see how I can actually apply the action research model in my own school one day.

All I can say is the topic is fascinating, and I hope to learn much more about it in the coming weeks and months as I work to complete my own action research project!

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