Article Link: http://exchangepress.com/article/action-research/5018074/
Amy Andrews put her head in her hands. Another training gone awry! She had planned what she felt was an important presentation for her staff on room arrangements. But as some of them left, she heard their whispers: “I don’t see how this applies to my classroom!” and “She just doesn’t understand what we really need!” The days after the training had not revealed any meaningful changes in the classrooms. Her efforts to train her staff always fell short and she was getting discouraged about ever motivating them to make the changes she felt were necessary to run a high-quality program.Offering training to promote positive change seems easy, but getting teachers to implement real change in their classrooms is not. Many administrators are using action research �" which many teachers use to improve teaching �" to address training issues and to facilitate problem solving.
A personal experience with action research
Many of our lab school staff had expressed fears and concerns regarding the use of technology in their classrooms. As the designated ‘computer geek’ in our Child Development Department, I was asked to provide training. I wondered how I could make it interesting, relevant to each teacher, and be something that would ...