Week 2 Reflections

I think what I learned the most about this week was how many areas of research exist. As I went through the 9 wandering of school leaders I realized how vast action research can be. I realized that you could take a really big topic and pluck one small area and generate a lot of questions. I think we often hear reallybroad things such as: How can we improve our TAKS scores? or How can we creat a safer school? This week I realized that it is important to find an area within the broad spectrum to narrow in on for action research. I also found that as I explored areas of potential action reasearch for myself I wanted to stay as far awayfrom testing and scores as possible! I wanted to look at climate, culture, staff, etc... I wanted to relate to the people aspect of education instead of the paper and number aspect. Ultimately, I decided that I really wanted to look at extra-curricular activities. I think that art, band, sports, etc are so important to a school and often do not get valued as much as they should. Students need these activities for several reasons. First, it provides a break from the core subject, and also it facilitates thinking in a different way. So much concentration goes into sight reading a new piece of music and lots of recall goes into running a play in a basketball game. I also think that students who are involved in activities feel more connected to their scohol. It creates a sense of pride and belonging which I think creates a more clear mind for academic learning. I think this week offered new insight for me on not only my desired action inquiry, but other areas that I had not thought of previously.