EDU 6990 Reflection One Standard 3

Med. Program Standard 3

Teacher leaders will improve teaching and learning through the use of education research at the classroom, and school levels.

Courses Aligned with Standard:

EDU 6979

EDU 6980

Original Assumptions:

Before coming into the program I did not have much knowledge about research in the
educational setting. In my undergraduate studies I understood the purpose of a study and
how the basic scientific process was. While teaching I found the term to mean something 
different. I have always heard from administrators and other district officials starting a new 
claim with,“research shows…” and continue onto something about a new system being 
implemented that may or may not be effective in the school. From those experiences I have
 not thought of any research highly because of what districtsuse with the information. What I 
did not know was the discovery that researchers go through with its vast data collection,
 literature review, and conclusions they make based on the data.

Learning Experiences:

Over the course of the program I looked at two classes which focused on my learning on
educational research. From EDU 6980: Applying Research in the School Setting I learned
about the critiquing and understanding of research by different researchers and their studies.
In almost all of the readings for the class we have went through there was quite a bit of
information that has helped me learn more about applying action research. The idea of action
research has been shown to be an integral part of improving teaching and reflection (Fishman,
Marx, Best, & Tal, 2003).  For example, the use of action research is a process in which the
teacher identifies a certain problem, creates a solution, implements the said solution, and finally
assess what the outcome would be (Ravid, 2011). From the course I took what I learned and
applied it to a topic For my class it was the idea ofunderstanding a mathematical concept and 
see how a student views it and how they perform on solving equations. Now I have been applying
 it into my classroom by identifying issues that have arisen then researched, implement the strategy
 and look for an increase in assessment. Enclosed is the final from the course on how effective the 
study was and potentially the flaws that may be there.

The other course, EDU 6979: Action Research in the School Settings looks at the idea of
applying action research in the classroom and how it can be useful toward our teaching. The
main goal is to focus on the practice of what I am doing in the classroom and how I could
apply the strategy of action research so I can refine my teaching strategies. The norms and
practices that support professional inquiry have a major impact on student performance
(Reeves, 2010). From the class I wanted to learn how I could create best practices for my
students. We truly expect that every participant will experience success if this theory of action
is implemented as displayed (Sagar, 2011). With that I look at how my students are doing in
the classroom and what I can do to help create a stronger educational experience that my
students can thrive with. The goal of performance is not who is doing it, but, rather how are
they being done (Senge, 1990).

For the class I decided to look at action research with my instructional practices of the

use of iPads. Specifically how the iPads in differentiation had an effect on the my students’
math assessment scores. I used last previous years scores as a baseline to show how I taught
before using an iPad when I differentiated instruction then tried it again that year with my
students. Overall, there was a positive growth. Now I implement it in my classroom whenever
I differentiate the instruction and work with groups of students. Enclosed is the findings I found
while using action research in my classroom.

Value of Experiences

From all these experiences I have learned quite a bit. The two biggest ones are the use of action
research and the use of analyzing research. From the action research I have learned how to
properly implement it into my classroom and be able to analyze the data of it. With the goal to
see whether or not it should be useful to continue with or does there need to be any
modifications. With critiquing actual research I can tell what has been good research versus
what is not. That bit of knowledge can help with creating new strategies that can be effective
when implementing them into my classroom. Overall I found these classes to be very effective
in my understanding of different types of research and their purpose.

Sources Cited:

Fishman, B. Marx, R.,Best, S., & Tal R. (2003). Linking teacher and student learning to improve
professional development in systematic reform. Teaching and Teacher Education: An International
Journal of Research and Studies, 19, 643-658.

Ravid, R. (2011). Practical Statistics for Educations (4th ed.). Landham MD: Rowman & Littlefield
Publishers, Inc.

Reeves, D. (2010). Collaborative action research for professional learning communities. Bloomington,
IN: Solution Tree.

Sagor, R. (2011). The Action Research Guidebook: A Four-Stage Process for Educators and School
Teams. (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Seng, P.M. (1990). The fifth discipline: The art of practice of the learning organization. New York:
Houghton Mifflin.