This week in our action research course, we listened to veterans of action research describe some of the "dos and don'ts" of conducting research in a school setting. I found their comments and thoughts to be very insightful and helpful. As I'm headed into a new school year, teaching a TAKS tested subject for the first time, I noticed a focus on data and the value of using data to drive instruction. All of the experienced administrators talked about teaching teachers to use data to make real-time adjustments. Most of the people who have been in education for a number of years are just learning how to do this for the first time because it wasn't such a focus in education classes twenty years ago. I appreciated the reminder that we need to be data driven in our instructional choices.
My biggest takeaway from this week's work is that when we research, we are working with real people. Although we might look at an AEIS report and see numbers, what we're really looking at are children and teachers. This is not to say that we should stop doing research because we're experimenting on children. Rather, this means that we need to take care if and when we share our findings. We have to make sure that we are treating everyone in the equation with dignity--researchers, administrators, teachers parents and students. Our kids are not a means to an end for us as researchers. They are the end.
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I love the way you talk about research and how the kids are the end result and we should not take that lightly. I never thought of it in that way. Wow, an eye opener. I think sometimes we get so caught up in doing and forget to take in the little things. So thanks for the insight and eye opener. I hope you keep this first in your mind while doing your research.
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