Week 5: Course Reflection

                This course was truly one of the most helpful and insightful college courses I have ever taken. I really enjoyed learning about action research. The class was a challenge and pushed me out of my box, which is always good. I learned so much and I am very thankful for the last five weeks. Dr. Abshire was wonderful and I look forward to having her again. The material I learned in this course will be helpful throughout my career in education.

             The concept of action research was an eye-opening experience for me. I have shared it with many of my colleagues and I’m a huge believer that we all need to pursue this type of constant learning to make our schools better. Reflection is necessary to be a great leader. So many staff development hours are spent hearing about how others do things when each school has its own unique group of students with unique circumstances. Learning from and within ourselves will have a much greater impact on our school communities.

           I am excited about my blog! I have and will continue to enjoy following and reading other student’s blogs. It will be such a great community of learners to be a part of! I need to be better about journaling and documenting as I move towards a career in administration. My blog is the perfect place to do just that. I have struggled a little with the technology end of it but I’m learning quickly! The more practice, the better I will get. I am thankful for this requirement in our course because it is going to be life-changing for me and very beneficial to my career!

             I have thoroughly enjoyed the textbooks! I can’t remember actually enjoying and looking forward to reading a college textbook. But these have been so interesting and full of great information. It is so nice to read information you feel is relevant and can be applied to your daily life. These have become a staple in my educational library and I will continue to refer to them as I progress through my action research and educational career.

            The assignments in this course were at times challenging for me. I felt frustrated and confused the first three weeks but everything fell into place. As I read discussion and blog posts I realized most of us were in the same boat. I understand now why Dr. Abshire encouraged us to print off and read the five weeks of assignments. Once I did that, it all made sense. The assignments and readings were structured so well and resulted in me learning a lot!

            The web conferences were very helpful!!! I enjoyed them each week and especially appreciated Dr. Abshire’s good humor and smile. I always logged off with a sense of assurance that I was capable of this work. She was encouraging and our classmates were always helpful. It was amazing to me what I learned on the web conferences and what I would have missed out on if I had not attended.

            There are many people, especially my site supervisor/principal, who are anxiously awaiting the results of my action research. It gives me purpose and forces me to take this on with passion. I know, if I do this thing right, I could give our students a great opportunity to be more successful than they are right now. What a fabulous inspiration that is to me! I want to conduct my research in a way that will give a clear and accurate answer to my wondering. Because everyone is wondering!