![\"an](\"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/action_research.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nLast year two educators at Crossett Brook Middle School undertook an amazing action research project that directly improved their interactions with students.<\/span><\/p>\n Mollie Burke-Bendzunas, speech pathologist, and Melanie Zima, special educator, took a three-day class together during the summer. The class focused on structured teaching as a strategy for working with highly autistic students. \u00a0Mollie and Melanie thought that it could be applied more broadly to address a wide range of student needs.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n As detailed in this blog post<\/a>, you should consider doing action research because it:<\/p>\n We\u2019ve also described\u00a0how to get started with action research.<\/a><\/p>\n Mollie and Melanie walked us through the website they developed to showcase their researc<\/a>h and shared the insights they gained through the process.<\/p>\n You’ll see a succinct research question: “In what ways does Structured Teaching foster independence in students?”<\/p>\n They also included a synthesis of the research literature that forms a rationale for the Structured Teaching approach.<\/p>\n And lastly you’ll find an implementation plan with descriptions and images that depict how Structured Teaching was used with the focus students for each of the researchers.<\/p>\n You’ll also see they data they reported and analyzed followed by their thoughtful discussion of the results and implications for future practice.<\/p>\n Awesome, right? Now check out the interview below to get a behind-the-scenes look at their collaborative process and final thoughts.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n Melanie:<\/strong> This structured training that we went to last summer has been the most, one of the most functional things that I\u2019ve ever learned about and that we\u2019ve actually implemented in use. Often times you go to trainings or workshops and you leave. You\u2019re like, \u201cOh, that wasn\u2019t all that helpful.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n But this was\u2026 this has been life changing.<\/span> It\u2019s been really nice to see kiddos who maybe need more adult support to be on task or to complete tasks. To see them be able to navigate through these systems independently, complete the work and have a true sense of pride and independence. Where maybe most of their lives that\u2019s not the case. I think that that is so empowering and so life changing for those kids. They\u2019re going to grow up and become adults. And that\u2019s what you\u2019re expected to do as an adult and have those adult responsibilities.<\/span><\/p>\n Mollie:<\/strong> I agree with you Melanie because we came into the school year knowing that we wanted to setup these systems for kids based upon that class that we took this summer. But I think this really kind of just gave us that accountability and that drive to really follow through with it. As you know the world gets busy, and things kind of trickle here and there. Your original plan might not have happened because other things takes its place. So, this sort of thing kind of really kept us on track, and really focused. I thought it was very helpful.<\/span><\/p>\nWhy do action research?<\/h2>\n
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But how does action research work?<\/h2>\n
![\"Screen](\"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Screen-Shot-2018-01-23-at-1.09.51-PM-1024x535.png\")
<\/a> <\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Chart-1024x528.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nHow did you choose what to study?<\/b><\/h2>\n
![\"visual](\"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/visual_schedules.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"task](\"https:\/\/tiie.w3.uvm.edu\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/task_strip.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Pivotal](\"https:\/\/i.ytimg.com\/vi\/Q9fqZ3B_xks\/maxresdefault.jpg\")