Thoughts for the Week

This week I looked at three topics to consider for my action research plan: discipline, mentoring programs, and professional development.  For discipline I would like to take a look at the behavior program, Conscious Discipline.  I believe it would be beneficial to incorporate it into my classroom and see how it can impact discipline issues in the classroom.  If over the course of the year we were to see great improvements than this could be a program that would benefit teachers, administrators, and most importantly the students.  The campus could look into having a training on Conscious Discipline and then the next year have all the grades implement the program.  The second topic I considered was the mentoring program at our school and the types of support that helps new teachers succeed.  It is amazing all the research that shows how many teachers we lose in the first five years of teaching.  I see it as a duty of veteran teachers and administrators to find ways to help and support our new teachers so that we can retain as many as possible.  The final topic I looked at was the process of teacher led professional development and if it helps your new and veteran teachers continue their education.  I have heard many varied responses on this topic and find it very interesting.  At times it sounds like it is seen as beneficial to new teachers but what does it do for our veteran teachers?  Much research could be done on all three topics and each would benefit from an action research plan.  I have enjoyed looking into all three and after careful consideration and the meeting I had with my principal, I have decided to focus on discipline.  I am very much looking forward to all I can learn from my action research project.  If anyone has any suggestions or ideas that could aid in my process/adventure, please feel free to share.  The more information I can gather the better!  Thanks :)

Action Research- What I Have Learned

I have learned that action research is a chance to gain information and knowledge to improve your school, teachers, students, and climate. This is done by asking lots of questions, reflecting, analyzing, and making collaborative decisions. This is all done in an effort to improve students learning and the environment in which we work and learn. Action research is all about bettering yourself and those around you. It is a process that allows for growth and improvement. Many different topics can be investigated, and through these investigations we can take steps to find issues, conduct literature reviews, make a plan of action and then use and share the results. Now that I know more about action research I can apply it to a problem of importance. I believe the number of discipline issues that occur in the classroom greatly affect the learning environment. My plan of action is to incorporate the classroom management program, Conscious Discipline, in my classroom. I would like to see this help with conflict, management, and teaching life skills to my students. I am hoping this program will lower the discipline problems that can arise which prohibit the full potential of learning that needs to be occurring in the classroom.



Dana Fichman, Nancy (2009). Leading With Passion and Knowledge: The Principal as Action Researcher. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.


Ringler, M.C. (2007). Action Research an Effective Instructional Leadership Skill for Future Public School Leaders. American Association of School Administrators: Journal of Scholarship & Practice, 4 (1), 27-42.

How Educational Leaders Can Use Blogs

Educational leaders can greatly benefit from using a blog.  It allows them to connect with the community, share ideas, gather information and collaborate.  It can allow you to reflect, attain feedback from the community, raise questions and keep track of an array of data.