Ch 2 ( Entry 3)

At this point limiting the topic has been the hardest part for me. After completing the staging plan I felt better about my actually topic choice. Getting to write out what your concerns are helps a lot. Reading Chapter 2 was very eye opening ,once again. One part that I thought was insightful is the fact that you need to reflect after each stage and not wait until you are over with something. Another section that helped me clear up some of my questions was Step 5. Knowing what exactly is considered data collection helps me feel that this is something that I can do. One data collection method that I had not thought about on my own was the field notes. I think that it will be helpful for me to have a journal to find details about what actually numerical data can not find.Action Research is a never-ending process, but something that you can continually build on. This speaks the same as for the art of teaching. Many teachers get comfortable with a set of lesson plans and ideas. They want to teach the same thing, the same way. The Action Research methods reminds us that we must continually grow our understandings, methods, and information. To ensure that we are teaching our students to the best of our abilities we must never settle for the easy route. We must strive to learn for ourselves, so that our students will achieve. One area that I am still confused about is the developing stage. I thought you created a plan to try and that was what you collected data on. I will need more clarification with that from my professor, or classmate. Referring to question 2, on page 41, I feel that Action Research would be more feasible to conduct in small groups. If a group of teachers meet together and tried to correct an issue together I think would be more beneficial. More ideas could be brainstormed to find a solution. More people's inputs could find an answer soon and more efficiently. Overall, I feel that Action Research is a wonderful tool for in-service teachers to professionally grow.