Week Two Reflection

The reading this week highlighted so many areas where action research can be utilized.  As described in the Dana text, the nine major areas where they viewed action research as critical, basically touched all areas of an administrator's position.  While this was very good news, I did find myself getting caught up in trying to figure out how data would be captured to help formulate a plan for action.  For example, I started wondering about staff developments and how beneficial these are to the teachers and to the students.  Then I started questioning how would I actually quantify this with data!  I also was getting caught up in wording my question properly!  I was not trying to "change" people but in a sense, you are trying to change behavior.  It is very possible (likely), that I am focusing too much on detail and not the big picture.  I do see the value in action research but I am also leaning towards the understanding that it is likely going to be more of a group effort to be efficient in your research!  With all that is on an administrator's plate, spending hours doing research on what others have done is not going to sit well!  I did like the comment made by Johny Briseno where he said to take 15 minutes and read an article that interests you regarding a certain topic.  This is a valid point that research is not the traditional approach of going to a library and spending hours upon hours reading.  Research can be reading blogs, reviewing articles, and talking to other people in your same situation.  The main point I keep going back to is to never stop learning!  I believe the phrase used in the Dana text is "Be the Head Learner!"