Week 2 Research - What I Learned

This week I felt that I had to just sit and reflect on my classroom and campus to decide on an action research project.  When I brainstormed I came up with 10 different ideas and questions.  There are so many ways I could go, so many questions I have, and many areas for improvement.  I feel once I get through this first question for action research, I will probably go right into another one!    After reading about the nine different areas that many people in education wonder about I realized, that I was not alone with many of the questions I had. 

This week I also learned from listening to the Sccholar Practitioners that reading about your question of interest is beneficial.  The more you find about your topic, you might find a similar campus or district that has gone through a similar issue that has already found a solution that could work for your own situation!

My action research TOPIC!!

The purpose of my action research project is to investigate needs of the Gifted and Talented in the classroom.   In my district the GT students are only seen once a week for one hour by their GT teacher.  How are the needs of the GT students being met?  An action research plan must be implemented to find a way for the needs of the GT students to be met.  A bridge needs to be put in place of this gap in the curriculum.

The significance of this project is that the students will definitely benefit from this project.  The students will have their needs met and will be challenged in the classroom.   Future students will also benefit as the teachers are more aware of the needs of the GT students and GT program. 

Educational Leaders and Blogs

Educational leaders could use blogs to communicate with other leaders from other districts or even from around the world.  They could use information and gain new insights from others that they could apply at their campuses. 

ACTION! Research

Action Research is something new to me that I haven’t heard of before.  I have always thought of the word research with such a negative connotation.  Even my students hear the word and just groan.  This action research is different though.  Action research involves actually doing something more than reading out of a book and citing where the information is from.  All the back ground work you complete reading out of a book will be able to see put into good use!

Action research is a four step process for evaluating current procedures and asking where there is room for improvement and growth.  From your posed question and a topic identified, literature is read on the topic and key personnel are surveyed or interviewed.  Once literature is read, an action plan is put into place. This action plan is then evaluated and reflected upon to find if improvements were found or not. 

I believe I will be able to use this action research in my own classroom.  I currently have RtI students as well as GT students in my classroom so I am constantly struggling with making sure I create the time needed in the classroom to be able to meet the needs of all the individual students.  GT students are my main focus because in my district they are only served by their GT teacher once a week for one hour so I feel as their classroom teacher I must bridge the gap.  I will be able to use action research to actively collaborate with others and read information to help me to meet the needs of those students.  I will be able to create an active plan of attack from my information gathered then implement it.  Once implemented for a measured set of time I will be able to evaluate and reflect on my plan and if student learning was improved and if I met the needs of all my students, especially the GT students.