What have you learned about action research and how you might be able to use it.

Action research as a whole scared me when I first started reading about it.  I have always been a little worried about the word research because it can entail such a broad spectrum of learning.  As for this action research plan, it does cover a broad spectrum, but is not scary at all.  I started by reading The Principal as Action Research by Nancy Fichtman Dana.  This text comforted me with much of its description of what exactly an action research plan is.  In the text, Dana simple states, “administrator inquiry refers to the process of a principal engaging in systematic, intentional study of his/her own practice and taking action for change based on what he/she learns as a result of the inquiry.” (Dana, 2009)  This is exactly what we do on a daily basis already as teachers.  This is simply put as creating an assignment, giving the assignment, grading the assignment and then adjusting on the next assignment based on what your learned from your inquiry.  Now I am fully aware that an action research plan is in much greater detail and has much more depth to it, but in a sense, we are just extending what we normally do on a daily basis.  According to John Elliot, “action research is a continual set of spirals consisting of reflection and action.” (Elliot, 1988)  We have to constantly reflect on our learning’s and put forth an action plan to battle this new set of learning’s.  Lastly, I learned about the many benefits to action research.  Action research is, “a meaningful way to grow professionally… allows for principals become role models… and engagement in this process can help best practices to flourish at your school.” (Dana, 2009) Action research I believe is going to be an exciting part of my internship into Education Leadership and Administration.