Week 4 Assignment Visual Interpretation

Journal Reflecting: Action Research

Pamela Weems-Baker

EDU 694 Capstone 1: Educational Research (EDF2029A)

Dr. Newton Miller

July 27, 2020

Reflection

The topic selected is improving pre and in-service training, mentorship, and team building. Action research is, without a doubt, a powerful tool for helping educators navigate through the many challenges they encounter in the teaching-learning process. It empowers educators to be ongoing problem solvers in their work with learners, as suggested by Argyropoulos et al. (2009). With repeated cycles of reflecting on their performance in their practice and observing classroom activities, educators involved in action research can purposefully and consciously identify problems within the classroom setting and implement positive changes that will lead to improvement among learners. It cannot be argued that educators can better serve their students when they take the time to examine their teaching practice. The teachers get to explicitly consider how to tackle the challenges that exist in their practice to improve student outcomes.

For educators to become real leaders in their respective schools, it is necessary to provide them with pre-service and in-service training on action research to develop their expertise in action research. Generally speaking, the bottom line for any educator working with students is to improve classroom performance. Pre-service and in-service training, with a focus on action research, will nurture and strengthen the abilities of soon-to-be educators and practicing educators in identifying classroom-based educational problems and their potential solutions. The most effective way of knowing whether a possible solution to specific problems or concern within the classroom will yield the desired outcome is to collect and analyze data about this solution to assess its effectiveness, and then after that make an informed decision based on the assessment results. When action research is prioritized during pre-service and in-service training, the result will be educators who are better prepared to individually and collaboratively engage in data-driven decision making (Efron & Ravid, 2019). The connection between professional development and action research is undisputed. The entire action research process is itself an eye-opener for educators. When educators embark on action research, they gain insight into areas in their practice that need polishing. The realization of existing gaps in their practice is made possible through action research. Not all educators accept the idea that action research indeed serves as a sound basis for professional development. Mentorship results in a shift in mindset. It prompts educators to perceive the action research approach as a step towards professional development. Mentoring educators' on the value of action research as a professional development activity leads to more educators embracing action research. Through mentorship, educators get to master the art of developing their own specific professional development goals based on the results from action research inquires. Mentorship also adds to educators' sense of commitment towards collaborative action research, as agreed by Mertler (2019).

Team building moves the action research process from an individual effort to a collaborative effort. It serves to strengthen partnerships between educators and other stakeholders in the school environment as they work together in determining the strategies that they should adopt to increase the success of action research as a collaborative effort. Team building fosters participatory action research, as noted by Bradbury (2015). It strengthens individual educators' ability to collaborate with other stakeholders in all phases of the action research process, right from the reflection phase to the observation phase, planning phase, and implementation phase. Through team-building, educators get to see that the action research process, aside from being an individual undertaking, can also accommodate other additional participants and still the desired results within the classroom environment.

References