Use of Blogs

I thought that the Dana text statements regarding the role of blogs was pretty obvious. Blogs are a great resource an administrator can use to collect and reflect on their own thoughts. The sharing/following feature is also a pretty neat tool to use and allows collaboration with other inquiring minds.

Using Action Research

Administrative inquiry or action research is the process by which an administrator systematically assesses and affects change within their campus. It includes the collection and analyzing of pertinent data and a continued effort to monitor how effective the resulting changes are. Dana notes that this method lends itself to the overall professional development of principals (2009). The main difference between action research and traditional educational research is that with action research the principal (and anyone else included in the inquiry) are active participants. With traditional educational research administrators are given a set of data or curriculum which they are intended to implement and troubleshoot. This means that administrators have little or no role in the research they are being presented with and expected to carry out (Dana, 2009). In contrast, administrative inquiry is generated by the campus' administrators themselves and is specific to the needs of that particular campus.

I can think of a couple of different ways I can use action research on my own campus within the next year. I was recently put in charge of a committee which will be responsible for making changes to our campus' week of back-to-school activities this coming August. This basically amounts to a leadership team and one in which our principal will also participate. I plan on using the committee to examine what various teachers think are the most important aspects of our program and begin making changes that would be more beneficial to both our students and teachers.

I am also currently working in a PLC with three other teachers within my district. We are currently researching a portion of our district's new strategic design and developing solutions for how campuses can best meet the needs of that portion of the strategic design. Our research is focusing on creating comfortable and collaborative spaces for 21st century learners. We will collaborate with other teams within the district throughout the remainder of the year.

Dana, N. F. (2009). Leading with Passion and Knowledge: The Principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press