Pages in a Book *Multimedia Digital Story*

Reflections on Action Research

Things I reflect on from this course are the reality of how timid people are with technology; the freedom in action research and how examining improvement can be done without losing what is already working. First, as I read blogs of my classmates, I realized that as inquisitive, passionate and excited as they are, there is a lot of timidity in their inquiry almost causing an underlying lack of confidence. I can’t empathize with these classmates of mine because I have a pretty positive mindset about technology. Personally, it has enhanced my own inquiries and academically, I’ve seen how the release of control benefits my students and moves me into more of a facilitator’s role. I am excited to see how my peer’s action plans will boost them and their campuses into a more technology savvy state of mind and free them to move with the educational current. I also witnessed some colleagues of mine express their doubt towards how “inappropriate” blogs and wikis were in an educational setting. This motivated me to begin my blogging early! As I ran into my colleagues at pre-school year professional developments, I added them to my blog and demonstrated how to get on and even posted interesting, educational blogs to get them thinking about the school year and had them add comments. Second, I used to think research was boring and mundane and absolutely hated the thought of having to conduct it. As I read about Action Research and its components (data collection, cyclic nature, action plans in place), my mind about research changed. I began to embrace the idea of composing a plan based upon my inquiries. I realized that research is actually freedom, not constraint. It’s a series of inquiries that lead to another set of inquiries, all tested in efforts to continue change. Finally, when I read in the Harris text about the C.A.R.E model, “Too often educators focus so exclusively on what needs to change that they lose perspective on what does not need to change in the process”, I found new ways to implement change on my own campus via my inquiry plan (p.97). I realized that affirmation could help maintain a healthy and strong community of colleagues and their work ethics while seeking to address the changing needs of our students to improve their achievement. Morale is what drives educators, alongside their passion. In addition, when they see data improvements, they buy into those methods upon which aided in the growth; not until they have played an active part in that growth does the improvement seem real. These reflections are all reasons upon which I found a cause to revise my Action Plan draft. A combination of my readings, blogs and discussion with both my peers and site supervisors/mentor all aided in these revisions and this reflection.