Engaging Classrooms

I like the idea of action research.  The fact that the research is done by the people the study most effects is the best part of it.  This also makes the outcome of the research more relevant than a broad research project done by an outside person.

One of the areas our district would like to improve in is creating more engaging classrooms.  On my campus we have several teachers that are hesitant about turning the classroom over to the students and letting them take ownership of their learning, thus being more engaged.  In my opinion the main reason teachers are hesitant is a lack of training in creating student-driven lessons and how to mange a classroom during student-driven lessons. 

After a discussion with my campus principal we decided the most relevant action research study for our campus would be how to create more engaging classrooms.  The proposed action research study is listed below.

 

Proposed Action Research Study:

Why are teachers hesitant  to implement student-driven lessons that are more engaging, opposed to teacher-driven lessons?  What prevents teachers from being able to create student-driven lessons and creating an engaging classroom?

Who will benefit from research:

1.      Teachers – the concerns of the teachers will be identified through the research and then addressed in the proposed plan of action.  The desired result is for the teachers to be equipped with the knowledge and tools to be able to create and implement student-driven lessons.  Also, one of the intended outcomes is for individual teachers to be able to identify areas of weakness and fears so they will know what they need to improve in order to increase the level of engagement in their classrooms.

2.      Administrators – will gain be able to identify the type of staff-development needed to help the teachers create student-driven lessons and in turn increasing the level of engagement.

3.      Students – will be in more engaging classrooms and participating in student-driven lessons in all subject areas.  As they participate in the student-driven lessons, the students will learn critical thinking and problem solving skills they can use in everyday life.

Educational Leaders and Blogs

Blogs can be a very powerful tool in education.  Sometimes the teaching profession can feel very isolated.  Teachers do what they do in their classrooms and all too often do not talk with other teachers or school leaders about success and failures within the classroom.  Through blogging, teachers and/or school leaders become more connected with one another and create a collaborative community where ideas and concerns can be shared.  Blogs can also give teachers and school leaders a place to record their thoughts and wonderings which can easily be reviewed at any time. 

Action Research Defined

Action research, according to Dana, is done by the practitioner to address issues or concerns relevant to them and is not done by outside researchers (Dana, 2009).  The intent of action research is to bring about change in the classroom, school, or district.  This approach to change is valuable, because each school has its own unique issues and those issues are identified and addressed by those who deal with them on a daily basis.  Outside research on a general issue does not always provide solutions that work in every school.  Action research is also beneficial because it involves all of the stakeholders, such as teachers, students, parents, administrators, and the community during the collection of data and formulating a plan to address the issues.  The involvement of all the stakeholders increases the level of buy-in for the plan of action and ensures more teachers will implement the changes.  The inquiry process also creates an environment of collaboration in a profession that has typically been done in isolation.  Finally, action research is a continual process of inquiring and evaluating outcomes of changes made and determining the need for other changes.

I believe action research can help address several issues at the campus I am at currently.  The push at my high school is for teachers to create classrooms that are engaging to the students.  This means the students need to be actively involved in the learning process and not just sitting quietly, taking notes as the teacher lectures.  The classroom becomes student-driven and the teacher becomes a facilitator as self-discovery takes place.  There are many teachers on campus that have not been able to change from the teacher-driven lessons to the student-driven activities.  Through action research, I would like to identify reasons teachers are not buying in to the student-driven classroom approach and also identify those teachers on campus who have successfully shifted to student-driven classrooms.  Once the reasons for not creating a more engaging classroom are identified then a plan of action can be devised that will help teachers successfully create a student-driven classroom that is engaging.