What is Action Research?Action research is a process in which participants examinetheir own educational practice systematically and carefully,using the techniques of research. It is based on thefollowing assumptions:

• Teachers and principals work best on problemsthey have identified for themselves• Teachers and principals become more Effective when encouraged to examine andassess their own work and then consider ways of working differently• Teachers and principals help each other by working collaboratively• Working with colleagues helps teachers andprincipals in their professional development

What is Not Action Research?

Action research is not what usually comes to mind whenwe hear the word “research.”

Action research is not a library project where we learn more about a topic that interests us.

It is not problem-solving in the sense of trying to find out what is wrong, but rather a quest for knowledge about how to improve.

Action research is not about doing research on or about people, or finding all available information on a topic looking for the correct answers. It involves people working to improve their skills, techniques, and strategies.

Action research is not about learning why we do certain things, but rather how we can do things better. It is about how we can change our instruction to impact students.

Team Project School teams have an opportunity to showcase,

reflect, and celebrate the success and outcomes of their learning at our culminating event.Project focus should be:

1. Professional development- to share/scale what the team is learning with the rest of the faculty.

2. Instructional- to co-develop a cross curricular project (PBL or Inquiry) unit of study that is co-taught by team.

Your development of the project will be transparent so others can follow and replicate if desired and so you can get feedback from the network along the way.

Steps in Action Research

Within all the definitions of action research, there are fourbasic themes: empowerment of participants, collaborationthrough participation, acquisition of knowledge, andsocial change.

These routines are looselyguided by movement through five phases of inquiry:1. Identification of problem/possibility area2. Collection and organizationof data3. Interpretation of data4. Action based on data5. Reflection

Team Project

Guidelines for the Design and Description of a PLP Project

The problem or question

What is the problem (or opportunity) you wish to address with your project?

Describe what you wish to change, for example, aspects of content (e.g. test scores), process (e.g. ability to collaborate), climate (e.g. morale), or increase of student directed tech use (e.g. seamless, embedded use of technology in instruction). Be as specific as possible in describing what you want to change.

This should be a team discussion(s).

ID an Issue• be a higher-order question—not a yes/no• be stated in common language, avoiding jargon• be concise• be meaningful• not already have an answer

An important guideline in choosing a question is to askif it is something over which the teacher has influence.Is it something of interest and worth the time andeffort that will be spent?

Team ProjectMultiple Supports

There will be many supports to help your team in the co-creation of your projects.

1. Team Project Group Room2. Team Leaders3. Connected Coaches4. Community Leader5. Small Group Elluminate Sessions6. Project Workshop – to fine tune during 4th E-Session7. Help Desk8. Skype or Google Hangout 1-1

The Plan (Step 1)• Meet as a team f2f and decide do we want our project to look at a scalable

PD issue or possibility or develop a project that examines a curricular focus connected to 21st Century skills?

• Decide if you would like to co-create with another team in another school and develop a collective action research piece. If so, make those contacts and start tossing ideas around.

Questions? Concerns?

It takes as least as much thought and effort to sustain a professional learning community as it does to create it. Using co-created content as a means for developing community and having a long-lasting, positive impact on student achievement is our goal. Your project should establish learning opportunities for the students or faculty that encourage collaborative learning, shared leadership, commitment to a common vision and where possible- collective action.