Final Reflection

     Donald Schön, a philosopher and educational researcher stated that "The experience in reflective teaching is that you must plunge into the doing, and try to educate yourself before you know what it is you’re trying to learn." I agree with this statement because I feel in order to learn, we often must jump into a situation and many times not really know what the consequence may be. As educators we are often faced with a situation in which we are forced to make a choice and then follow up by taking the appropriate action. As, a result this course on Action Research was very inspiring in my development as an educational leader.

     During this course, we were also given the opportunity to watch and reflect on interviews from various educational scholars whom use action research in their educational careers, I learned a great deal of information from each of these scholars. During one of the  interviews I learned that future leaders should read and research via the internet and journals what other schools are doing to resolve issues that I may be facing at my campus.  The other interview explained that teachers should always continue to learn. Teachers need to be action research oriented, and bring in the qualitative data to be successful in the field of education. As leaders we can no longer just focus on impacting a few students, we need to use the data to may an impact on all. In summary, action research is the key to success in the current educational system. As educational leaders and facilitators we need to really learn how to read, understand and interpret data to impact the lives of students.

     According to the text, Examining what we do to improve our schools: 8 steps from analysis to action by Sandra Harris, Stacey Edmonson, and Julie Combs, there are 8 steps that we must utilize as educators to improve our schools. The 8 steps mentioned in this text provide an excellent academic blueprint which has helped me greatly in preparing my action research for this course. In addition to using this 8 step approach I also learned that we can  support and sustain action research by using strategies such as Force Field Analysis, Delphi Method, Nominal Group Technique, and CARE model.

     Lastly, but not least if it wasn't for the amazing colleagues, course professor and assistants, blog sites, Facebook site, and discussion board this course would not be what it was....amazing! I am happy that I took this course, as it will help me become the leader that I always knew I would be. Thank you all! 

References

Dana, N. (2009). Leading with Passion and Knowledge: The Principal as Action Researcher.

Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. 

Harris, S., Edmonson, S., and Combs, J. (2010). Examining What We Do To Improve Our Schools: 8 Steps From Analysis To Action. Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education, Inc.

Schön, D. (1987, April). Educating the reflective practitioner. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Washington, D.C.