This course has been my favorite out of the two that I have done. I have learned very valuable information during these five weeks. Like everybody else, I was aware of the most common type of educational research there is. The research that is done by outside experts that are not in the classroom or school campus on a daily basis. I have always thought that these outside experts do not really know what is actually going on and thus far their research is in some cases ineffective. The research can work if you have the same type of students that they had in the case study. Unfortunately, as all educators know no two students are alike and they do not all learn the same way. In some cases this makes it very difficult for this type of outside research to be effective. This being said I have come to appreciate action research since it is based on the researcher’s wonderings. Action research is a process in which administrators examine their own educational practice systematically and they take action on what has been learned.

        Being an aspiring administrator, there are thousands of concerns that I question that could help improve my current campus. Upon meeting with my principal, I expressed various concerns and asked her advice as to which topic I should look more into. I was very intrigued by several issues that I have seen in my six years as a special education teacher. I finally came to a settlement on which topic I feel more passionate about. My question is; How effective are tutorials for special education students? This wondering was brought about from my years in special education as a Resource/Inclusion teacher at the beinging of my career.

        We were also given the opportunity of listening to some excellent examples of experienced leaders that LAMAR University has produced. There were two interviews that caught my attention as to what they had to say. One of them was Dr. Timothy Chargois, Director of Research Planning and Development-Beaumont ISD and Dr. Kirk Lewis, Superintendent of Pasadena ISD. Both of them gave excellent points on how important it is to conduct action research within you campus/district. One comment that caught my attention and is still on my mind was mentioned by Dr. Lewis, he states how in order for this method of research to be effective, the topic needs to have direct meaning and connection towards you. As I mentioned in week 2 I agree with his comment and believe my topic has a real connection with me. Also, with the methods that we learned in week 4 they will allow me to gather more information for the improvement of my topic. I will use the Delphi Method but not exactly as it is intended since I will not be summarizing the teachers’ answers when I meet with them in regards to each student’s performance.

        The discussion board and blog have been very helpful in developing my action research plan. In the sense that I have had the opportunity to look at what others are doing and how there plans are formatted. This helped because it made me go back and look at my plan and make sure that I had explained all of the areas of the plan well. I also received several comments that were very encouraging and I hope that I also encouraged others with their research plans. I look forward to reading the progress of some of the action research plans that I am following and I hope others also look forward to reading mine.