Week 4 Action Research Reflections

This week’s learning focused on identifying various strategies used for sustaining improvement at the district and campus level. The strategies discussed by Sandra Harris included Force Field Analysis, Delphi Method, Nominal Group Technique, and CARE Model. Strategies needed to assist in building consensus with a focus on sustaining action research are as varied as are groups of teachers. While each strategy focuses on a particular end result, the common thread among all three strategies is collaboration. Without collaboration, consensus will not be reached. Utilizing one strategy to address current and future needs could result in limited agreement among the group members. Just as our students are a diverse population of learners, using the proper strategy for identifying how the district and/or campus will sustain improvement should be individualized and the proper strategy implemented. Use the correct strategy to meet the needs of the group.

While working on the descriptions of the three strategies, I was struck by how these strategies could be utilized in the classroom as a learning tool. The teacher could provide areas for students to discuss based upon the lesson that was being taught and used as an assessment tool. Sharing ideas collaboratively helps to solidify learning and help students make connections to their learning.

A meeting was scheduled with my site supervisor to discuss and review the action research plan created during Weeks 2, 3 and 4. Each activity was discussed and it was determined that the steps I have identified were organized in a logical and systematic way. Suggestions were given concerning the timeline and it was determined that I needed to change the time frame of data collection to a period of a minimum of two weeks and quite possibly extend the time frame to a month depending on the availability of the data. It was further suggested that I change the descriptions in the timeline to actual dates giving a range of time to work on each portion of the plan.

At the conclusion of the meeting, I was encouraged to consider creating a comparative study for each middle school campus and presenting the findings at a future school board meeting.