In Action: Journaling

Getting ready for my action research project I collected quite of bit of observational data up front.  I began keeping a very basic journal where I could record different behavioral observations in my classroom.  My project focus is improving the culture of my classroom through focusing on a variety of ways to improve upon our the PBIS system that we already have in place.  As I am working through my project right now, collecting data, and making observations, I am so glad that I wrote in my journal up front.  Looking back through my journal has really helped me to notice changes in classroom behaviors and cultures that I may not have noticed otherwise.  I think that when completing action research, a journal to capture both formal and informal observations is important.  There are many things that we see day to day but may forget over time when completing research.  For my baseline data, my students took a survey answering questions about our classroom culture.  This data is helpful, however, I think that my journal entries have helped me track other data related to students' positive and negative consequences as well as various interactions between the students.