This week we explored the passions that drive many educational leaders and naturally lead to topics for action research projects and inquiry studies. I was particularly interested in the topic of staff development and the role of peer coaching in the growth and reinvigoration of master teachers. We also looked at how data is driving the educational research being done today and how important it is for teachers and educational leaders to possess the skills to effectively employ the results to improving classroom teaching as well as showing growth in student performance. Accountability is a key word in education today and for better or worse we are being judged on the results of high stakes testing.
Instead of helping me to narrow down my focus this week's readings provided me with a whole host of additional topics I would like to research. I do feel more comfortable in how to approach a topic and how to focus on its purpose and significance. I still struggle with how to make sure my topic is not too unwieldy and can be actually be accomplished in a reasonable amount of time. I am still very interested in researching the use of word walls to improve student vocabulary and reading comprehension on the end of course exam, but I'm not quite sure what data I want to specifically study to determine the effectiveness and success of the project. I also have a tendency to get distracted with unrelated topics while reviewing the literature, a common problem I know. My goal for next week will be to discuss my project with my site supervisor as well as with my content area team to get their input on how best to implement my vision. I'm excited about narrowing down the scope of my action research project to make it feasible and applicable to student achievement in my classroom.
No comments:
Post a Comment