Intern Posting 10

I am well into my action research by now and have found myself as interested as ever. At the beginning of my research I was still uncertain of what paths to take or what data to collect, but today was one of the first days that I realized I am right on track. I have spent about 5 weeks collecting data. So far, my data collection has been extension and I realized that I have a huge amount of data. I have at least 5 different letter recognition assessment scores for each student, at least 5 different writing examples for each student, Benchmark test scores, learning preference observations and assessment scores, and also information from my mentor teacher in the form of notes. Today was the first day that I realized just how much data I have collected.

When I turned in my approval form to my small group facilitator, she made a note of how my action research seemed like a lot of work. I will be honest and say that at the time I did not understand why she thought this research would require a lot of work. However, now that I am deep into my research, I realize what she was saying. I may have collected a ton of data, but I needed to and I also need to collect more. With my action research I am looking at learning preferences, teaching styles, letter recognition, and writing skills. Although I am interested in all that I am researching, I now understand that I am taking on a lot of work.

I am pleased with all that I have completed to date and will continue my research as planned. I do know that I will have to make some adjustments. Some students have mastered letter recognition so I need to focus my participant portion of my action research paper solely on the students who have not mastered letter recognition of all 26 letters. Also, the students are rapidly progressing with their writing skills because they are writing everyday. I may need to realize that because writing is used daily, I may not be able to collect accurate data because I won't have time to collect each writing example. Some of my findings may be inconclusive at the end of my research. Although I want to be able to conclude something from my research, I am still very interested in what I am researching and will be happy with whatever outcome.