Week 2 Reflections!

During my reflections of Week 2, I have learned that when participating in action resesarch, we should definitely resesarch something that we are truly interested in; something that gets our heart pumping! Just as we always tell our students, if you are truly interested in your topic, you will do a really great job in researching important factors to support it. If it is something we are passionate about, the research no longer becomes "work", it becomes fun and challenging!

So, let's stay interested, focused, and practical!

Action Research Rocks!

During this first week we have taken a look at action research. I have participated in action research before without knowing that was actually what I was doing. It plays a vital part in problem solving while using data analysis to udnerstand current problems or situations. It takes this data in a controlled environment and assists in implementing a plan to improve the outcome. I guess I thought it was something that would be extremely difficult to understand, but in reality it is something we use in the classroom throughout the school year. Sometimes the research is simple and sometimes a little more involved.

In Desktop Publishing the students learn how to make various types of charts. One of the lesson plans the students participated in was to divide up into groups, choose a topic of concern for students on our campus, and survey students about the particular concern. After compiling the data they had to chart their findings. Since their topics were true areas of concern, our students were able to present their findings to our administrator. Although nothing has been done, as of yet, the issues will be looked at again during the Fall semester of this next school year. Our adminstrator was able to look at the data and review the concerns through the eyes of the student and found some to be legitimate.

Hopefully, with the data that was collected, some of these concerns will be addressed and changed for the betterment of the students and campus.

Analysis of How Educators Might Use Blogs:

There are many ways educators can use blogs to engage students in the classroom. One might use a blog as a type of chapter review. The teacher could post discussion questions about the chapter and the students could respond. It could also be used as a way to keep daily journals. The educator could post a thought for the day and the students could use the first 10 minutes of class to respond to the thought. They could be issued a specific code from the educator so the student could remain anonymous if needed.