· What action research is,
· Why it is important,
· The principal’s role,
· Professional learning communities vs. inquiry-based learning communities,
· And the overall importance of collaboration.
Action research simply stated is when people within educational organizations create workable solutions. It is important because teachers, administrators, and invested parties in their educational environment have the most insight and capability to make changes. As I read the Dana text I became inundated with the many responsibilities of a productive administrative. I always wondered what the principal was doing all day. I knew they were “working”. But what did that exactly entail. Dana (2009) noted that a principal should be concerned with staff development, curriculum development, teachers, students, school culture or community, leadership, management, school performance, and social justice. Do principals ever have any down time?
I appreciated the insight. It has helped me to understand all of the change that has been implemented at my school campus. My principal is adamant about collaboration. She has us work in departmental groups, grade-level groups, interest groups, etc. Chenoweth (2007) commented that professional learning communities (PLCs) helped schools be accountable for instructing every child. Harris, Edmonson, and Combs (2010) noted PLCs as action committees. These committees work together towards a common goal. Dana (2009) stated that PLCs increase the effectiveness of action research. Dana (2009) also noted that PLCs can be put together with a specific pre-determined agenda and questions to solve or they can be inquiry based. Now I understand why we would be put in groups with a topic and given time to assimilate our questions. Then we would take the questions and brainstorm ways to answer our questions or solve our problems. This collaborative process seemed stressful; however, now that we have done this for several years it is easier. In staff meetings when we are given issues now, the discussion and resolution process is shorter. This also gives everyone a voice on our team.
Now, I understand that collaboration in departments, grade level, or campus level must be intentionally orchestrated. Most of the time collaboration does not just happen. My administrator would design departmental meetings to share, incorporate the findings from departmental meetings into staff meetings, and then have team building skills while intermixing staff who doesn’t normally work closely together.
Since my campus has a high level of collaboration, I was guided by my mentor to pursue staff development opportunities for online programs. Our campus is at a great advantage to face technology fears together. We are used to sharing successes and areas of improvement. I hope to strengthen our campus’ technology base one online program at a time.
References
Chenoweth, K. (2007). It’s being done: Academic success in unexpected schools.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
Dana, N.F. (2009). Administrator inquiry defined. In C.C. Collins, B. Ory, & J. Haenel
(Eds.), Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action
researcher. Thousand Larchmont, NY: Eye On Education. Oaks, CA: A SAGE Company.
Harris, S., Edmonson, S., & Combs, J. (2010). Examining what we do to improve our
schools. Larchmont, NY: Eye On Education.
