Reflections+about+Action+Research+Projects+and+Leadership

Margaret Doan’s Reflection about: //Promise and Possibility for Aspiring Principals: An Emerging Leadership Identity through Learning to Do Action Research //By: Stella C. Batagiannis

The main idea in this reading is that action research is important for leaders. In order to be a successful leader, the person must figure out themselves how they want to lead and what needs to be fixed. The author makes the point that leaders can only do this through thorough action research which forces them to look into their own practice and make positive changes. He spends a lot of the article pointing out the fact that a positive leader is different than a positive manager. A true leader does not look for the quick fix, rather spends the time going through the process of action research. This is actually not an article, but a study that was done with collegiate graduate students that were aspiring to become principals.  I do agree with this article. When I was completing my graduate work at Saginaw Valley State University, we also were required to do an action research project. This was the first time I had ever done this type of research or even heard about it. I found the hardest part, like they mentioned in the article, was figuring out a topic. I tended to hone in on a management issue or something that I knew I could have a quick fix to. I wanted to be successful right away. The thought that I might have to try something and then go back and change my strategy made me very nervous. However, I could not escape doing the assignment, and once I was able to identify an actual issue in my classroom that would work, it was exciting to do the research on it. I also found that it made me a leader in my classroom because it gave me a clear direction and plan to follow that I was vested in. After the first action research project, I was also able to look at my teaching and analyze it without being defensive. I think that helped my leadership skills because I could allow myself to truly improve things instead of just shutting down when I knew something needed to be better. In the end, I had fun doing it and my teaching improved.  This study fit perfectly with the information I learned at the conference in the sense that everyone seems to know that //something// needs to be changed in education and that //something// is not coming from policy makers. At the conference, the general feeling was that teachers know what good teaching is and what it looks like. The only way to get back to good teaching and what kids need is to go with our gut instinct and go back to what we know. This can be done through methods like action research.  The entire conference motivated me to dig deep into my teaching. This article seems to be the “how to” to get that something started in the classroom. We could spend all day looking at slides from the conference with different statistics about scores and students. However, this action research is our key strategy to looking at our own kids and our own classrooms. This will give us the opportunity and tools to really look at what we have and what needs to be done differently. It allows us to look at our own teaching and make changes without feeling like we are being judged.  One of the comments that Dr. Michael White made was that we need to stop using the lessons that have always worked and we need to start teaching to the kids in front of us. This is similar to what this article is saying. With action research we can look into our own teaching. If our kids are not grasping basic reading concepts, we need to stop using our old lessons and figure out what will work through the process of action research. We as educators are smart enough to figure out what is going on if we take the time to look at the whole picture. But, like the conference and the article, we have to be careful not to fall for a quick fix or strategy in a box.  At this point, I am not completely sure or confident about applying leadership in my own school or district. I agree that the idea of leadership must come from looking at what you are doing everyday. I think that action research could most definitely strengthen my leadership skills. If I were to use action research as a way to improve my leadership, I am more interested in starting an action research project within my school or grade level than my classroom. I like the idea of collaborating with other teachers. I fear that if I did my own action research project, I would be isolated and get stuck. However, I can also see the problem of trying to do this in a large group. First of all, I do not think my school would make time for such an intense project. In addition, if not everyone on the team is familiar with action research, I can see the project turning into regular research with a focus on data and charts. I would imagine the project would fizzle out rather than flourish and make the positive change that it is intended to make.