I have learned that Action Research can be a powerful tool in analyzing and changing situations in your school. It is a unique way to look at things from the perspective of those involved in any given situation. It is not just posing a question and looking to outsiders to find solutions, it is posing a question and finding your own solution that works best for your unique situation. It involves working together with the people that are directly involved in making changes necessary to carry out the solution to your research. It allows principals and teachers to study ways to make changes to better your school. It also allows teachers and administrators to have an open dialogue about issues relevant to your situation and to learn from each other and from others research as well. The benefits of conducting action research seem quite obvious after reading about it. Action research involves focusing on specific problems related to your situation. It takes into account your specific school, teachers, students and community and focuses on changing the situation based on your specific situation. It is not based on a generic, outsider’s response to similar situations but rather a very specific response to a specific situation where the control and direction of research is in the hands of those that know the situation and possible solutions for their situation best.
I believe that action research can be used to discover the reasons for teacher stress in today’s schools. It is a good method to use because all buildings are unique, and what might be a stress in some instances may not be relevant to others. Using action research can help to identify the top reasons for teacher stress that are unique to each campus. This research can not only identify causes of stress but will hopefully generate some real solutions that could help alleviate these stresses from the people who are actually experiencing it.
Educational leaders can use blogs to determine teacher’s true thoughts about situations without worrying about being reprimanded for their feelings or ideas. It is a good way to get a lot of information from people that are directly affected by a situation in a short amount of time. It also allows people to be part of a conversation that can generate ideas for solutions and to learn from others experiences or successes.
For those of you who visit this blog, I would love to hear the top three stresses you experience as a classroom teacher, the grade that you teach, the socioeconomic area that you teach in, and ideas about how those stresses could be alleviated.
I think that this wil be a thoughtful study as most teachers live in a place of stress 99% of the time. Since you asked, I think the three biggest stressors in teaching are the daily unknowns, so much work and not a lot of time, and pressure for high test scores, achievement. I think with accountability, test score push won't change. I also think unknowns from students, parents and just things that come up are part of the job. However, I do think we could address the time issue if each teacher had a secretary to handle paperwork and such:-) I look forward to following your blog!
ReplyDeleteI look forward to reading your blog. I know the teachers at my campus are extremly stressed over scores and paperwork. I know they feel that as soon as they figure out one system it changes and they feel like it never stops. This year seems to be an extremly stressful year regarding parents and their aggressive actions. I am at a Title I elementary school. Good Luck!
ReplyDeleteI plan to visit your blog quite often----as the stresses in education seem to be never ending. I know this year on my campus the number one stress factor would be the great unknown pertaining to the new STAAR test. We all feel like we are sitting in the dark waiting for the light to come on. In addition, we have had many cutbacks due to budget restraints and this has become a stress factor. Teachers feel that they not only don't have the time to get things done, but now we are lacking means of resources in order to meet our teaching needs. It seems like a big black cloud is above every school building in Texas and we are just waiting for the worst to come.
ReplyDeleteI completly agree!! This STARR test has left everyone feeling like they are in the dark. Our school has made huge cuts in support staff AND increased class sizes so I know performance is weighing on everyone's mind. I will be really interested to see how all of the cut backs effect our school's performance.
DeleteI know that this is a real topic of interest. I am still wondering how to "fix" the problem. I can do research and determine the causes but what can I do to alleviate the stress??? I feel like principals/ and people in the administration building have to be on board or no real solutions can be found. What do you all think???
ReplyDeleteWell, I am still waiting for final approval to research this topic. I have gone back and forth on whether or not to make this my research topic. After thinking a lot about it I am going to try to continue. I really think there are a lot of teachrs out there that probably do have realistic solutions to alleviating stress in their classrooms so maybe something can be done if everyone keeps an open mind!!!
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