Reflections on Action Research

Thinking back over the past five weeks of this course, there are a number of things that stand out to me. One of those things is the importance of reflection as a leader. Whether I am a leader of a school, classroom, or library, reflection is what will cause me to look at what I am doing and gauge whether or not it is effective, is it getting closer to my goals. I realize now how important it is to build in time for reflection – not only as I’m learning how to be a school leader, but also in my job as the school librarian. I have always wanted to feel more intentional about what I am doing with students and teachers; taking time for reflection each week is big step towards being more intentional.

Another thing that I found intriguing in this course was learning about action research vs. traditional, scholarly research. Before taking this class, I imagined research in the traditional sense (scholarly) because I had never heard of Action Research. Because I am a librarian, and research is something I teach on a regular basis, I thought this class would be easy for me. I quickly found that that was not the case! Frankly, I’m thrilled to be learning about action research. While I see the place for scholarly research, as an educator working with students every day, action research is SO much more practical. I thought Dr. Kirk Lewis described it very well in his video interview. He states that theoretical research might look and sound really impressive, but that it won’t help you as a teacher (or leader) unless it is real-world, practical research. Our goal is always student success and students will benefit much more from practical research, as opposed to theoretical research.

One thing I have definitely learned from this class is the importance of collaboration and flexibility! While I began forming my idea for my action research project in Weeks 1 and 2, trying to finalize the project with both my site supervisor (principal) and the leadership team has been a lesson in patience! I have really had to get my ego out of the way while forming the plan for this project. Because this project affects the entire school, it is one that must have buy-in from everyone. Each time I have presented a plan to my principal, and then my leadership team, I have had to go back and make revisions. This is definitely good practice for working in a collaborative community.

One other big part of this class for me has been learning to communicate in an online professional community. While I have done Facebook and Pinterest, I have never participated in an online community for anything other than social reasons. That has been a HUGE help for me. Having other people who are dealing with similar issues and being able to share and get feedback from them has been so helpful. I really hope that the people I have started an online professional community with will continue to communicate throughout our masters program and even beyond that.