I attended the web conference on Sunday March 25, 2012.  It was very nice to be able to put a name to a face.  When communicating to my fellow classmates on the discussion board, I'm not sure who the individual is that Im replying to  or vice versa.  So this was nice.  I† was also very helpful and clarified unanswered questions concerning assignments for the class.  Enjoyed learning and hearing about the several partnerships that my classmates are working with. It was also helpful and very imformative of the programs that they are establishing or already have in existence at their campus to improve student success.  Dr. Jenkins and Dr. Abernathy were very helpful answering questions.

Final Reflection

This class was very well designed.  The readings from this class were very good and helped with the start of my research project.  When completing the assigned readings I had a better understanding about what the assignment was asking me to do.  All of the readings were very informative and helpful.  Completing the assignment about creating a blog and following other’s blogs was very informative and useful.  I could see what others were doing and be more actively involved in my action research and give feedback.   Blogging is a great way for me to communicate with Lamar advisors as well as my site supervisor and classmates for comments to help better my research.  Since this class has required me to visit my blog weekly it will encourage me to continue using the blog on a regular basis.  I hope to use the blog throughout the whole program and research.  The assignments that I completed in the class along with the discussion board questions helped to further understand the readings.  All the assignments really helped me to get started with my research and helped me to determine what I wanted to research.  When utilizing the discussion board I learned how my peers interpreted the readings and how their research was progressing.  It also allowed a time for me to reflect on my own understandings and how my research was progressing.  I also enjoyed reading the posts that my classmates would post.  Overall, this class has been a big help in getting myself organized to begin my research.  It has also allowed me to see what topics others have decided to research and learn more about.

Action Plan

Action Planning Template
Goal:  To improve attendance to 97% across grade levels in order to achieve our goal of 97% school attendance
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
Improved attendance by grade level	Attendance Committee, Teachers, Administrators	Feb. 2012-May 2012	Incentives/Rewards	Review attendance daily and weekly
Improve attendance by school	Teachers, Administrators, attendance committee	Feb. 2012-May 2012	Awards for grades such as certificates	Review attendance weekly

In week 2 I have attained information that I think will be beneficial to me as I prepare to do an action research project and also become an administrator. This book will help teachers as well become more involved and learn how to do research. The nine passions were very helpful in many ways.  I will definitely use these to help me become a better leader and inspire the staff at our campus.

Educational leaders use bolgs to help them express their thoughts, comments,and experiences where others can connect and read their comments and respond.  It also helps them develop and challenge ideas about their practice.

Action research is a great and effective way to simply organize, investigate a problem or issues and make the necessary changes to adequately address and improve the situations.  The researcher engages in the design of the research, and the collection and breakdown of the data in order to make changes. When doing an action research, reflection is very important.  When you reflect on your progress you learn from your mistakes to improve on your outcome and future actions.  To be an effective school leader, an administrator must have the ability to step back and reflect and analyze how he is addressing the issues before him.  Through reflection, an administrator can evaluate the techniques he is employing to attack the issues at hand, as well as modify and reform those techniques to better suit the situations he is facing.  Every passing day should be another day's wisdom for the administrator, but if he fails to reflect on lessons learned and adjust and grow, the same mistakes and inadequacies will be repeated over and over.
The action research focal point is on the administrator's own practice.  With this in mind, by following this systematic approach I would defintely be able to do an action research to make changes and improve situations at hand.  Even though administrators are very busy with the hectic everyday situations that arise.