First Steps

The first thing I learned about Action Research is that I have actually been interested in it for a long time, without knowing what to call my yearning. It seems a natural next step on my own personal journey to be creating this new understanding of inquiry.

Nancy Fichtman Dana, in Leading with Passion and Knowledge, defines inquiring professionals as those who seek to change their own practice through exploring a series of “wonderings.” The administrator involved in action research becomes a “knowledge generator” as s/he reaches into a concern based on his or her own actual school experience. Thus, the research conducted is grounded in the realities of modern education, not removed to an outside entity who is neither personally invested nor fully aware of the complexities that surround student learning on a day-to-day basis.

This seems to me the only natural way for a practitioner – and thus, a school – to grow. The “outsider” research I’ve been exposed to in my 10-year educational career has generally been viewed as “one more thing” by my colleagues, and has been shelved rather than been made a part of a process that brought about change. In the past two years, however, I have transitioned from the classroom to a district curriculum position, and my perspective has transformed. Reflection has become one of my favorite words, and data is my newest (and least-expected) obsession. My mind circles the systems in place and sees many areas that don’t seem to make sense, but that our institutions seem powerless to change. The inquiry/action research process promises to provide a clear pathway to relevant use of data, pertinent and effective reflection, and perhaps solutions to problems that plague our schools. I can’t wait to get started!