Blogging for Principals

What if a principal could communicate with parents, encourage teachers, act as a learning role model for students, and keep a record of his or her ideas with one tool? They can with a blog. An administrator could use a blog as a professional diary, choosing which entries to post and which to archive. Information shared with parents, teachers or students could stimulate conversations that might never happen in person. As for the posts not published, this provides a journal of ideas or reflections that allow a principal to look back and evaluate their handling of different situations. Between information gathered from others' responses to the published blogs and that gleaned through reflection, an administrator is can develop a host of inquiries. Any of these inquiries could be the "wondering" that improves the education their school provides to students.

Action Research!

     Action research is a process requiring the input, analysis, reflection and presentation of the practitioners. The entire process takes place in the real-world setting of, in the case of education, the classroom, school building or larger organization within the district. Participants are the people who will ultimately implement the action determined to affect the changes in the desired outcome. The practitioner(s) poses a question or “wondering” about a specific need or problem. They then participate in the collection and analysis of data. Through collaboration, they derive a plan and then begin implementation. Reflection and continual evaluation then allows for course correction or affirmation. The process is a collaborative and allows the participants to hold a stake in the outcome of the project. By making the practitioner a stake-holder, they are more likely to affect the changes and produce the desired outcomes.   

     Technology and action research seem to go hand in hand. The use of educational technology requires a constant evaluation cycle. "Wonderings" are plentiful. How can we best use technology to raise math scores in a specific sub-group? How could the use of individual passwords help curb inappropriate use of technology on campus,  and what steps would be required to implement and maintain them? My current favorite question: What form(s) of technology, i.e. Twitter, Facebook, Wikis, blogs, or combination thereof, would best serve parental communication when added to our website? My goal would be a turn-key template to implement the most up-to-date communication tools a school, the parents and the community.