Action Research Project - Problem & Questions

The problem I’ve identified for my action research project on my campus is:

Not enough teachers are implementing differentiated instruction to benefit their students’ varied needs.

The questions that I would pose to answer in my action research project are:

How can I help foster a culture of differentiated instruction on my campus?
How can teachers more effectively implement the strategies of differentiated instruction in their classrooms?
How can the students play a role in the process? (Take ownership in their own learning.)

What I've learned about action research

What I've learned about action research:

Action research is not meant to just study a situation or just to publish results for others to read about.  Action research is meant to bring about change.  Once we identify a problem, we can put the wheels in motion, in a systematic way, to solve that problem.  One of the items that spoke to me the most this week was Nancy Fichtman Dana’s comment about what normally comes to mind when we hear the word “research”.  We think of a scientific controlled setting that is void of external variables that could contaminate the results (Fichtman, 2009).  In the action research setting we consider all of the variables that exist in the situation.  After all, each student, teacher, and administrator come in with their own set of variables which contribute to the overall school climate.  The process of addressing the problem starts with asking some clarifying questions.  To answer those questions, we must gather quantitative and qualitative data from various means.  At this point reflection is key, and that is where the problem, the questions, and the data must be revisited to possibly modify the inquiry and go through the cycle again.  This process will bring about some of the best long-term solutions for our specific school.

How I might be able to use it:

I can use action research to identify some of the obstacles to differentiated instruction in my school.  We are nearing the end of our second year of training on differentiated instruction, but it does not seem to be a normal practice in most classrooms.  Action research can help me systematically identify some of the problems and solutions.

How educators might use blogs :

I’m looking forward to using this blog to capture my thoughts on my action research project.  As I collect data, I can reflect on what it means using this blog.  As I develop relationships with other educators, we can share our feedback on each other’s blogs and benefit from the insight of others.  The problems of our school must be solved by the people who work within the schoolhouse walls but not without the help of others.  The community must be involved, and in today’s world our community has become much larger.  As educators, our community stretches across schools, districts, states, and even countries.  That is a powerful pool of knowledge to draw from.

Reference

Fichtman, N. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: the principal as action researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.