What have I learned about Action Research?

I'm going to be honest, I was feeling really overwhelmed at the beginning of this week.  I didn't know what to think all the different jargon getting thrown around.  I'd never heard of the term Action Research and I put off getting started on the assignment this week because I really didn't want to think about it.  Well, by the middle of the week no fairy godmother had come and completed my assignment for me, so I figured I better get started!  :-)

I have found that I really enjoyed the readings this week.  I feel like Action Research is just a way of giving common sense and good teaching practices a formal name.  Granted it has a little more structure, but I feel like most veteran teachers and administrators go through the process of Action Research without calling it "Action Research."  Once I got into the readings and discussion boards, I began to feel more comfortable with the term and how to describe the process.

My mother recently retired after being a high school chemistry teacher for 35 years.  She also has her masters in education.  She is an amazing resource (for so many reasons) and she asked me what we were discussing this week in class.  Since she had never heard of the term Action Research, I began to describe what I felt was the best definition.  I couldn't make it concise!  I had trouble just defining the term and found myself constantly adding in descriptions to clarify my meaning.  Through our healthy conversation about our topic for the week, I began to clarify exactly what I think the term Action Research means.

The Dana (2009) text refers to Action Research as

"the process of a principal engaging in systematic, intentional study of his/her own administrative practice and taking action for change based on what he/she learns as a result of the inquiry." (p. 2)

Now I think that's a fancy way of saying that Action Research is a process where a teacher or administrator identifies an issue on their campus, brainstorms possible solutions, puts a plan of action in place to achieve the desired solution, consults data to discover results, and determines whether or not their adventure was successful.  Each Action Research plan often leads raises more questions and the process will begin again.  

I think I can use Action Research as I classroom teacher by simply identifying struggles of my students and coming up with a plan to help them.  By looking at data from their courses each six weeks, I will be able to tell whether or not my plan of action is working.  Again, I think I have done this naturally as a teacher, but with the new information I've received about Action Research, I'll be able to approach what I naturally do in my classroom in a more systematic way.

I'm beginning to feel comfortable with the new terminology and I really look forward to the continued challenges this course will bring.