I enjoyed reading the other posts this week and felt inspired by many of them.  I'm excited to get started on the action research project.  Having feedback from other people was very helpful.  

On the downside, I was flabbergasted by trying to keep up with the technology.  Both blogging and tweeting are completely new to me.  In the past I haven't even read blogs if I could avoid it.  Sadly, my novice Twitter and blogging skills are holding my academic experience back at this point.

I was able to read the blog responses to the questions and tried to comment on many.  Unfortunately, most of the time I would write out the comments to only have them dumped instead of added to the blog.  I haven't figured out why that would be.  I was able to make a few stick, so there is hope....possibly. 

How I helped others learn?  Hmmm...By sharing my ideas on my own blog?    I'm sure I helped by commenting on the blogs I was able to navigate.
 
For example:
Mrs. BannerSeptember 13, 2013 at 10:37 PM
I like your comparison of action research and the sst protocol. I was a chairman of and sst for 10 years and I got to know that pattern really well. I remember that I felt like the best thing I could do for the team was keep really good records so that we wouldn't lose track of a child's progress. Interestingly, the better we kept the records of interventions, the more likely we were to be effective. I'm sure that action research will be the same way. Thanks for your comments. 

What I learned:  I'm impressed and inspired by the blogs of others.  There are some very slick blogs out there.  I suppose my greatest learning was in the revelation of how much I need to learn.   I appreciated everyone's comments on action research.

Next goals:  1. Find out what in the world I'm doing wrong trying to post comments.  2.  Nail down my action research topic.  3.  Try to keep my Twitterangst at bay!

     To me, action research seems like a way to document the reflective practices that most of us, as teachers already use.  Aren’t we always looking for ways to improve student learning, to increase instructional efficiency, and to solve the problems we deal with every day?  Haven’t we all been frustrated by the answers provided by research done far away, by someone who hasn’t been in our shoes?  Don’t we get tired of feeling alone in our classrooms, as if those researches would think differently if they could meet our kids?  So, action research will help us answer our questions?  Bring it on!

    Susan Abbott (1994) says, “Action research is personal.  It should be done with an eye for improving instruction, building teaching skills and building professional networks”.

    Abbott uses the term “teacher research” and calls it an exploration into what she does as a teacher and how well and sometimes poorly she handles things in her classroom.  She reflects on her teaching, reads about her issues, interacts with other teachers for feedback, and analyzes her results.  Her research is an exercise in teaching self-analysis and improvement.  She uses her research to document, learn, and plan for the future.

     Thomas Diana says that:  “The main purpose of classroom-based action research is to develop change in the teacher’s classroom”.  He adds that, “By becoming a reflective teacher and carrying out inquiry based projects, a teacher gives himself or herself the opportunity for improvement year after year” (Diana, 2011).

“Action research is conducted by the K-12 educators themselves, often in their own classrooms.  In fact, teachers are the researchers examining their own practice in an attempt to improve their teaching and, ultimately, the students’ learning” (Diana, 2011).

Action research includes fives stages:  Problem formulation, data collection, data analysis, reporting results, and action planning (Diana, 2011),

There are details to learn, formats and templates to establish and analysis to do but it sounds to me like action research could help me define and measure the reflection I’m already doing.  It could give me a way to validate the work I’m doing.  It could give me solutions to problems that I’ve been facing.  Like all of us, I sometime get some fairly good ideas in my classroom.  I would love to be able to measure the success and failure of those ideas in a objective way. 

“…we end this article the way we began it, with the assertion that research is worth it-that research should be seen as an essential guide to policy an practice” (Duke, Martin, Akers, 2013).

Works Cited

Abbot, Susan. "What Would Happen If...A Teacher's Journey with Teacher Research." English Journal (1994): 59-61. Web.

Diana, Thomas J. "Becoming a Teacher Leader through Action Research." Kappa Delta Pi Record (2011): 170-73. Web.

Duke, Nell K., Nicole M. Martin, and Anne Trice T. Akers. "10 Things Every Literacy Educator and School Librarian Should Know about Research." Teacher Librarian 40.4 (2013): 8-22. Web. 10 Sept. 2013.