Initially I thought, “This class will be a breeze”. My bachelors was research intensive and I have to admit that I am the girl who as far back as I could remember absolutely loved science and the laboratory and research that accompanied it. Needless to say, my comprehension of “research” has expanded and I have a new appreciation of myself as a researcher. Traditional research, like I was used to, where a situation theoretically can be applied to any campus situation doesn’t always work when your variables are people who experience complex emotions and motives. While “outside” research is beneficial, one must engage in “classroom” or “action” research which affects the teachers and students whom the decisions actually affect.
One of my core values is to never stop learning; never become complacent and accept the mediocrity. This belief was confirmed as Dana insists that principals should, “take charge of their own professional development and become the head learner” (Dana 2009, p. 2). As I began this journey, however, I wondered how I would find the time. The “demands for a principal’s time and attention come from an astonishing number of constituencies’ he or she must serve simultaneously” (Dana 2009, p.1) and I have witnessed this first had when attempting to schedule meetings with my site supervisor. However, this course reinforced the importance and difficulty of truly being the head learner because principals tend to be more isolated as generally they are the only one, or one of a very few, on the campus that requires professional development on the administrative level. Additionally there is a belief that administrators should be “all knowing” and not broadcast the problems of the campus or district. This also lends itself to the difficulty of receiving true peer support. This common hindrance to professional development is needless as it is much like a physician’s visit for physical health, administrators are wise to enlist in action research and peer support for professional health. Therefore, I will not fall into the category of administrators that is not wise enough to be brave enough to seek improvements or foolish enough to fail to find time for it as “finding time for examining the improvement planning can be one of the greatest barriers to progress” (Harris, Edmonson, & Combs 2010, p. 7).
The greatest thing that this course taught me is how to take the reading and turn them into reality by completing all the inquiries and wonderings that later become action research projects. The “first role of any leader is to create a compelling vision that takes people to a new place and translate that vision into action” (Harris, Edmonson, & Combs 2010, p. 4). The vision is generally based upon a need for improvement and does not have to be unique. Dr. Arterberry states that sometimes you do not have to “recreate the wheel”, use work that has been done and apply it to your campus. These wonderings come from nine passions that are integral to the success of a school system; this vision is the first step in the action research process. The research must also contain the collection of data from various but appropriate sources. The collection of data is the most time consuming but integral step. One of the sources that were introduced in this course was “web blogging”. I found the blogs to be a valuable resource in this class as it provides a means to show progression in the study and the subsequent thoughts that develop. I have already hypothesized multiple ways in which blogging will be vital in my courses and in my administrative position. A deeper understanding must be developed and the researcher must engage in self reflection by examining the examiner’s goals, intentions, and biases. The researcher should make certain that the research is accurate by assessing the quality of the research and examining the patterns. Once the research is complete and deemed accurate, the researcher must find legitimate ways to share the results with those students, staff, and community members affected as well as their professional colleagues. This should be done by various means including but not limited to oral presentations, professional write-ups, and blogs. The results should be accurate and reveal the results, intended or not. The campus and district now should decide how to utilize the results for subsequent improvement. The meetings with my site supervisor and the initial wonderings that turned into the action plan were the most meaningful experience of this course for me. My personal action plan is in the rudimentary phases as I have discussed it with my site supervisor and created an action template with benchmarks and a timeline. I have not had the opportunity to present it to the staff but have presented to the Dress Code Foundations Team and will work on the actual forms with them this week.
In conclusion, this course has taught me how to identify improvements that can be made on a campus level and how to subsequently create a framework to improve them through action research. Moreover, I have been given numerous examples of each step that should be taken. I have used these steps to create a plan that is unique to my campus and plan to systematically carry out the plan, collect the data, analyze the results and present them to the appropriate people including my site supervisor. Finally, the class has given me an outlet to exhibit my commitment to the Lamar program and to becoming an administrator to all of the leadership on my campus. I have achieved this on the campus through a project that is completely tailored to the needs of my high school. The relationship that has been formed is the accomplishment that I most value from this course.
