BTAR Ch. 8

BTAR Ch. 8
Living Action Research as a Professional Teacher

I have spent many years as an instructional assistant learning and honing the tools and methods that I use to motivate, inspire and teach students with special needs. The process of becoming a master teacher, winning coach or a martial artist is a never ending process and cycle. What works today may not work in the future. We must discard or modify old techniques to adjust to our ever changing environment and context. I have noticed that this mind set can be difficult to attain for some people. Certainly in some areas of my life I am less flexible, less open to change, less open to self analysis, but in many and in fact most areas of my life, I am open to belief revision. I want to be the kind of person and teacher who is able to change with the times, who will admit when I am wrong, and change with the evidence. I think that this mindset is the essence of action research.

In a previous blog , the first blog I wrote about Action Research, I compared this process to my experience coaching high level basketball teams. This comparison is even stronger for me today as I am reaching the end of the BTAR book and nearing the actual action research project that I will embark on. While I know that I will have many questions and sticking points during my first “real” action research project, I also know that I have the right mindset to carry out this task.