Action research to me means taking action, not being stagnant; being proactive and fully engaged in what is happening in our campus.  Everyone evolves in all aspects of one's lives, so too, we must evolve in the area where, in my opinion, it matters the most:  our children.  We must view ourselves as forever changing in order to bring about reform and success.  I learned that as administrators we must tap into the invaluable resource we already have within our grasp:  our teachers.  It does not matter whether they are veteran teachers or newly graduated, everyone has something to offer.  Action research is being actively engaged in learning new ways to improve our schools.  It can be with a group of principals working together to "identify problem areas in their campus" and designing ways to analyze, collect data, interpret data, and sharing the results with others. (Dana, 2009).  It could also be that the principal selects a group of teachers and they share the responsibility of solving problems, decision-making, implementation, and evaluation of results. (Dana, p 21).  Usually, when principals identify an area which needs improvement  and they carry out action research, more questions arise, which begins the cycle of research again.  All stakeholders benefit from inquiry research; the most benefit should be received by children, who must be at the core of every decision ever made.  Yes, it is to improve education by improving teaching practices, the ever present state-mandated assessments and district designed benchmarks, however, students need to be involved in the process as well.  How?  By receiving all that sound instruction based on the action research undertaken by the people who are in charge of their future.

     How can educators take advantage of Blogs?  The ideas are endless!  Educators can post daily on what is going on in their classrooms.  The blog can be the classroom’s newsletter.  It could also be where students find homework, due dates, future assignments/readings, their teachers ideas on how to tackle a certain assignment.  Teachers can also share pictures of students engaged in learning and creating.  Additionally, administrators can post their thoughts as well on current events at school.  They can also keep parents up to date on any action research the administrator is working on.    Parents could visit the blog and share ideas.  The ‘blogger’, whether it is the teacher or an administrator, must exercise caution and common sense when posting anything on the internet.  We must treat the blogs as sharing information in person with an individual.  Confidentiality guidelines must be adhered to at all times.  Another way to use blogs is for students old enough to use it to do so, of course with teacher supervision and parental consent.  They could too, comment on what the teacher or principal is posting.  By doing so, according to Dana, p. 86, we "gain new insights each time we visit" (our thoughts again and again).  

     We live in a society where students are thirsty for technological use in the classroom.  We as educators and leaders must find ways to use technology to our advantage in order to be able to reach our kids better. Webjournaling or blogs could serve this purpose.