Course Reflection

At the beginning of this class, I thought I would be researching an assigned topic just for the sake of researching. Through the lectures of Dr. Jenkins and Dr. Arterbury I began to learn what an action research project would involve. The information I gained from the text, the videos, and the discussion boards helped me formulate my project. I discovered that this action research was simply, “systematic, intentional study of one’s own professional practice.” (Dana, 2009, p. 9) I have posed questions and had wonderings that led to collecting and analyzing data while making decisions that would lead to change in my classroom and my school. As a professional development provider, I have been involved in the more traditional approaches to staff development. This plan was to be birthed from something we were passionate about and one that our advisor would approve as a project. In chapter 2 of The Passions that Drive Your Journey, Dana explained in depth the nine passions that drive researchers. Before reading this chapter, I had not realized that these nine areas would lead to the “wonderings and questions” that one would have in their profession. In the EDLD 5306 class, we began the journey of reflective processing with the creation of a blog. This made it easy to continue into this class. Dana’s text in chapter 5 supports the significance of a blog. Dr. Abshire required each of us to keep up with our postings and to comment on each other’s action plans that were posted. As we read each other’s action plans, it reinforced the importance of sharing information with others. As a result, we each became more open with each other and our thoughts. Each week as we collaborated with each other, I found myself feeling responsible for analyzing my cohort’s action plan just as they had analyzed mine. Each week we would post our reflections to questions on the discussion board. Now, it is the end of the fifth week, I am excited about implementing the action research project plan. My hopes are that the teachers and the students at Shadydale Elementary School will benefit from my research and that other schools will be able to transfer the findings to their schools.

Dana, N.F. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Harris, S, Edmonson, A., Combs, J. (2010). Examining what we do to improve our schools, Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education