Passions of Research

I learned this week that there are nine different passions, or areas, that can be the starting point for your inquiry question. I think my action research project about parent/teacher communication can fit into more than one of those areas. As I was reading the text this week, I saw many good examples of action research, and several things popped out at me that I thought were important to remember. First, to be an effective leader you must be willing to set an example. If you want your teachers to continue learning, then you must show them how. In each of the nine passions, there were examples of principals leading the way in inquiry. I'm sure we can all think of leaders that would be good examples of this and a few that would not. Another thing I found important was the willingness to self-evaluate. It's hard to realize that you're not always as successful as you had thought or hoped in a certain area of teaching. The great thing about action research is that the goal is not to find fault or lay blame but to find a better solution! This leads to the cautionary note by Dana (2009) to "be careful not to focus your wondering on controlling or changing other people's practice" (p. 64). How true is that?! Mainly I realized how many different "wonderings" and questions there are to research, and that you might start in one direction but end up going in another. I like the idea that it can be fluid if needed.

Dana, N. F. (2009). Leading with passion and knowledge: The principal as action researcher.  Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.