Reflections from 5301

This course has provided me with a lot of insight that I will be able to use as I go forth in my coursework for my Master’s degree. Action research is something that I thought I had a solid base of knowledge in, but throughout the course I learned that there is much more to action research than I thought. Like many other people my age the internet has always served as my primary tool for research. This course taught me that you have to pull from several resources in order to research a topic effectively. Another lesson that stood out was the fact that you have to fully understand the problem that you are facing before you try to fix it. Often times we can identify a problem, but never fully understand how it’s effecting student achievement or whether or not a change will help. Finally, this class taught me how important it is to constantly be searching ways to improve your action throughout your investigation and once you have implemented some of your findings. Schools often keep the same strategies and procedures in place for years, or even decades without taking in to account the fact that the population of their campus has changed. The same things that were effective five years ago may not hold true for kids today. We must always challenge ourselves to continually search for what is best for our students.