Action Research - What is it?!?

First of all - the title for my blog is a little cheesy, but I think that's because I was more than a little stressed out when I created the blog.  So, please try and get past the title and feel free to offer any advice you can think of as we go through this process.

What have I learned about action research?  I like to think I am someone who uses common sense more often than not.  As I read through the Dana text, the journal article, the Harris text, and the Martin text, I realized that I do an informal version of action research in my classes on most days.  The students vary in ability in my classes and I am constantly making adjustments to learning styles and teaching style even within the same class period.

I have decided that I want to focus my action research project on determining the correlation between students enrolled in CTE courses and their performance on the EOC exams.  Obviously there will be more to it than that, but that is my jumping off point. 

Here are a couple of the obstacles I will need to overcome to successfully complete this project:

1. Time management.  One of the main points that stuck out as I read the reading is this is something you take on in addition to other parts of your job.  As I am writing this, I am thinking about the grades that are due that I have yet to enter as well as the weeks of lesson planning that I need to get done.  I also am thinking about UIL, prom, and any other commitment I have made.  Oh yes - and the rest of this master's program!
2. Cooperation and buy-in from my peers and administrators.  My site supervisor is not on campus with me, but she is the CTE Coordinator for our district.  We work closely together, but I will also need the cooperation and collaboration of the campus principal, the counselors, and the teachers who are preparing the students for these exams.  Because I am not a core teacher, I do sometimes feel isolated. I don't know much about CScope or the EOC, and I want to use this inquiry to broaden my knowledge base so that I can be a leader and learner at my campus. 
3. Being in charge of my own learning.  I want to make a difference.  I want to help my students and my colleagues, but sometimes I doubt my ability and/or my impact on others.  If they don't care, why am I doing this?  I do not want to have this attitude.

As apprehensive as I am about this process, I look forward to what I learn and how our school can use this information to improve student performance.

How can educational leaders use blogs?

As I created this blog, I realized I had created a blog several years ago to use in my classroom, and for whatever reason never posted a thing.  Not a single word!  I don't recall what my plan was with the blog at that time, but now I realize I should have used it to post assignments, remind students about project due dates and upcoming quizzes and tests, get student feedback on projects, and share with parents the success of their students.

An administrator or educational leader can use a blog in the same way.  He or she can post announcements for staff, recognize student and teacher achievement, post pictures of events, and also use the blog to keep the community updated about projects and happenings at the school.  An educational leader can also use a blog as his or her journal.  Being able to reflect on decisions made and get feed back from others (if an open community blog) keeps the educational leader from feeling isolated.

Leadership groups or PLC's could create blogs to keep members up-to-date, post reminders of deadlines, and comment about the progress of the project.  Also, members can post links to journals and other literature that would be helpful on the project.

Blogs can be used in a variety of ways.  Some may be restricted to certain members (such as a class blog) and others can be public.  

I hope you enjoyed this very technical entry to my blog.  Please feel free to comment.  Constructive criticism is welcome - negativity is not :)