Reflection, Growth and Real-World Impact

Sonia Rodriguez | March 9, 2026

Throughout this course, I have learned a great deal about action research and the importance of thoughtful planning when approaching change and improvement in professional practice.  The process of exploring research, collaborating with peers, and reflecting on my own work has helped deepen my understanding of how intentional inquiry can guide meaningful decisions.  This learning experience has opened up a new world of possibilities for future action research plans.  I now see many ways that I can apply these strategies in my current role and in future projects that focus on improving learning and organizational practices.   I am currently working on new ideas for future action research plans.  At this time I am thinking about collaborating with academic coaches about action research on problem solving, allowing students to experience productive struggle  and multiplication facts.  These are areas our district is struggling with.  

One of the most valuable outcomes from this course is that I now have a clear outline to guide other projects.  Developing my action research plan provided a structured way to think through a problem, gather data, and evaluate outcomes.  This framework will be extremely useful moving forward because it gives me a practical model that I can adapt for different initiatives. Instead of approaching projects informally, I now have a research-based process that will help ensure my efforts are intentional, measurable, and impactful.  The research was extremely interesting as I learned a lot about my topic.  I was able to see different perspectives, identify strengths and areas of opportunity about my research topic.  It was also challenging to keep up with all the studies.  I created a color coding system to help me keep track of all of the studies and references.  Even with the challenges, it was super fun!

I also recognize areas where I can improve.  In previous courses, I have taken a stronger leadership role within my community group, but this semester I was not able to lead in the same way due to the heavy demands at work.  Moving forward, I would like to improve my ability to manage my time during stressful work seasons so that I can continue contributing as a leader within the learning community.  Even though I did not take the lead this time, I remained engaged in our GroupMe community where I interacted with colleagues in the course.  Angela Rios and Courtney Kemp were very helpful through out the couse.  We supported one another by sharing reminders about class meetings and sending emails to clarify assignment expectations, which helped keep everyone on track.

Overall, I would give myself a score of 89 for this course. I stayed engaged with the material and gained significant knowledge that will directly support my work. However, I did submit one discussion late due to extremely challenging demands at my job during the semester.  Even with those challenges, taking only one course allowed me to stay focused, continue learning, and still benefit from the experience.  The knowledge and structure I gained from this course will help me greatly in my current job and in future action research efforts.