Week 5

The practitioner research course was very time consuming, but had an enormous amount of information that is useful to both principals and teachers.  The most important aspect I took from the course is the need for constant reflection.  This is referenced many times in the Dana text and was an ongoing process throughout the course.  In the first course of the program, we had to read a leadership book and I choose the book, Monday Morning Leadership, written by David Cottrell.  The book had two of the eight chapters dedicated to reflecting in a leadership position.  I only bring up the previous course to further illustrate the emphasis put on reflection for the leader of an organization.  In the remaining parts of this reflection, I will discuss three examples of reflecting we did in the class.

The first example of reflection is the assignments that required us to look at our research and the research of others to find areas that might encounter trouble.  We were required to complete this task in week three.  The reflection on this topic did not just occur in week three, but also occurred when we looked at our research plan with our site supervisor in week four.  This type of reflection forces the researcher to think through their research process and attempt to minimize problems that are foreseen.  Each step of a research plan should be reflected upon and looked at by numerous people to ensure that potential problems are negated.

The second example of reflection was the week two assignment “common action research.”  In this assignment we had to read several pages about different areas of research for education.  The second part of this assignment had us discuss a wondering from the reading or our school that pertains to that area.  This assignment involved a great deal of reflection to determine need within the school or district.  This type of reflection is a process that all leaders should work through at least once a year if not twice a year to find new wonderings.  The more reflection a leader does, the more prepared and informed they potentially will be.

The third example of reflection comes from the week five reading in the Dana text, “what are some quality indicators for practitioner research?”  For the assignment we were asked to reflect on our research to determine how we can use the indicators while writing our design.  The reflection does not stop there, because the questions for each indicator help a researcher find problems within each section of the research problem to ensure that you have a purposeful and needed wondering and design.  This reflection should be done throughout the implementation of each project being completed.

        Anyone can be put in a leadership role, but not everyone is a leader and not all leaders are in a leadership role.  As I have gone through the first two courses I am finding that the most key attribute a leader has is the ability to properly reflect on their situation and know what to do with those reflections.