Week 2 Reflection

This week's content dealt with the nine key areas for action research. According to the Dana text, these are:

1. Staff development
2. Curriculum development
3. Individual teachers
4. Individual students
5. School culture/community
6. Leadership
7. Management
8. School performance
9. Social justice

I was very surprised to read about all of the many areas that could benefit from the use of action research. Prior to last week, I had not heard of action research, and based on what I learned last week I was certain that it would apply almost exclusively to student performance. While this is still true to an extent - when you take into account that all of the other areas will ultimately affect student performance - there is a wealth of other topics to pursue in a quest to find answers to current issues.

In addition to the readings, the interviews with three current scholars was insightful in that I learned more specific ideas on how this process can be used in the classroom, school, and district.

My ultimate end goal in this course is to actually initiate an action research project. At the end of last week, I was sure that my inquiry would involve analyzing our campus' RTI process and the effect it has had on raising reading levels of our students. However, after reviewing my inital plan with my administrator, I was disappointed to learn that our district has begun its own review of the RTI process. My principal was concerned that I would not be able to complete the project because our processes will likely change, and I would not be able to gather the needed information in the coming school year. She suggested that I decide on another topic of interest. So here I sit at the end of week 2, hopes crushed, and still wondering...