Lessons Learned from EDLD 5301 Week 2

I have just finished week 2 in my EDLD 5301 graduate class.  This week was filled with viewing and reading about action research conducted in education.  Some of the highlights of my learning follow.

• Teachers should read in their area to constantly grow.  I feel that if you don't read and stay on top of the latest news and information regarding education, you have the tendency to get into a rut.  I did, but I am happy to say that I have found my passion again!  I feel like I did 16 years ago when I first began teaching.  I am fired up and I can't wait to use some of my passion to improve the quality of education in my class, school, and district!
• Be data driven!  Let the data show you where the needs are and make decisions concerning your next step in instruction based on the results.  If you discover a problem area from the data, research it to find out if others have had the same problem and how they solved it...no need to reinvent the wheel!
• I recieved confirmation, this week about the idea that I had for having the students learn to be data driven as well.  The confirmation came after viewing an interview of Dr. Timothy Chargois, the Director of Research, Planning and Development in Beaumont ISD.  Dr. Chargois was encouraging teachers to be data driven.  I will also try to get the students to be data driven.  Each student will be responsible for setting goals, looking at the results from a pre-test and a post-test, and reflecting on this data.  The questions will include: “Did you reach your goal?”, “What specific actions did you take to reach your goal [or not reach it]?”, and “What can you do in the next unit to improve?”  In essence, the student will be conducting action research on his/her individual data.