New Ideas about Action Research

I think that action research is good for schools. It really helps the teachers and leaders of the schools take a look at what they are doing and keeping the focus where it needs to be. If the focus of education is not on students, why do we even have school? All types of research help teachers become the best teachers they can be. Teaching can sometimes be like working a very large, 1000 piece puzzle. If you keep focusing on the same things over and over again, it can be easy to lose sight of what is important. Many times as educators, we look at the same things too many times and fail to step back and see what we are doing. When working the puzzle, if you focus on one piece at a time, you cannot see what you have accomplished. But when you step back, you can see the progress you've made. I sometimes get so bogged down on what my students are not doing, I have to remind myself to step back and look at all the progress that has been made. I know that I will start to focus on "one piece" too much, but using different action research techniques can help me step back and see the progress that is being made in many different lives.