action research meeting

Third meeting of the network, feeling very good about it. As i was sitting listening to everyone discussing their ideas for their own action research projects and how they were going to involve the learners i felt very proud. It was so close to how i pictured the meetings to be. A chance for tutors to support and encourage each other in being creative in the classroom.

There were 8 people there, (including Vasiliki and myself) only one person was honest enough to say they hadn't had any useful ideas. A couple of others had some general ideas while 3 people were more specific.

There was only 1 person not available to attend who's still interested. A couple of people have dropped out, with no discussion. One person feels like she needs to pass on it this year due to taking on a new role, and not having enough 'space in her head' to be able to put enough into this. She has agreed to be interviewed about her experiences so far and would be interested if it ran again next year.

What I hope to have achieved

I am feeling much more positive about the project than I was last time I posted. After speaking to Paul in Lancaster he asked me to think of five things I hope to have achieved by the end of the project:

shared lots of good practice with other sfl tutors, (esp. in thinking of creative ways of including the learners in action research - i have recently added the brackets and italics as, if i am totally honest this is interesting to me but not a large aim)
to have evidence to show SMT that a foramalised network impacts positively on teachers and learners (and teaching and learning) and put a convincing argument to them to fund such a group through INSET.
to have introduced other tutors to the idea that practitioner research is beneficial and interesting.
to have experienced carrying collecting, analysing and writing up different kinds of data.
to have been creative in the classroom.
to have presented the project to others, either in workshop or a publication.

OK, so that was six. Having planned the next meeting for this Weds with fellow STs and discussing the NRDC project with my fellow practitioner-researcher has also settled me a little. I am feeling a little more confident about splitting up the different roles I have within the project. And after speaking with vasiliki I am starting to feel excited about the project again, esp. about starting to think about organising collecting the data in the new year. There is a lot to do but it's all feeling quite managable.

It will be really interesting to see what things V adds about what she hopes to have achieved by the end of the project.