Wonderings to Be Done
Falk & Blumenreich, ch. 3
"It is about learning about something that you really care about; about finding out the "how," "what," or "why" of something." (Falk and Blumenreich, p. 21) This is the sentence that resonated with me the most in this chapter. Teacher research is not simply about developing a hypothesis and trying to prove that hypothesis right or wrong as most research is conducted. However, this also lends itself to many more questions. For example, what is it exactly that I want to know about my students or my teaching practice? I know that I want it to focus on behavior because I am having issues with behavior in the classroom. But what is my exact goal? Until I have that goal and I can figure out the why, it will be nearly impossible to come up with the research question.
There was mention in the reading of reading examples of teacher research and journaling about possible questions. Journaling is easy to do and it is not overly time consuming, but I feel that I do better when I have concrete examples in front of me. The examples on pages 29-33 were helpful, but I find that it is more productive for me when I have someone to discuss examples with and discuss the process. I am hoping that we will have time in class to break down some examples of questions and then discuss possible research questions for ourselves. I also appreciated the examples of sub-questions as there is no way that one question will be sufficient to complete our research, and I feel that it will give a focus for journaling as we can fit our observations, interviews, etc., on these sub-questions and categories that we have found to be crucial in answering our overall question. A key piece to this project will be organization, and these sub-questions will be an important piece to help us stay organized throughout.
"You Just Got to Keep on Tryin'"
Jones ch. 2
While reading this chapter, I felt that Jennifer McCreight was fighting a very uphill battle with her student Mack. There were clearly issues with Mack that were unidentified, and this is typical of a kindergarten classroom I'm sure. Having students come in at a young age with very little to no school experience, it is impossible to have the workup on a student in the same way that we do in the secondary schools. When we do get students with issues that are unidentified, we normally question how that was possible from the elementary schools. So this chapter gave me a lot of respect for what elementary teachers have to struggle with on a daily and yearly basis.
However, what I found really interesting was the introspective nature of Jennifer's work with Mack. she knew what she was trying to target, which was the small moments when Mack was able to display his own culture and knowledge in the classroom, and other small interactions between herself and and Mack. When she was able to make identify these small interactions and debrief with herself about the results of these interactions, she was able to make small changes which boosted his confidence as a student and an individual. This is the hope that I have for my own research. I hope to make small changes in the way that I approach students and handle interactions in order to make a more positive and productive learning environment.
Hello Ben,
ReplyDeleteAs teachers we are always looking for those small moments, those interactions with our students. Students will certainly open up to you when you allow them to bring their life experiences and share them in a non-judgment zone. I agree with you wrote, these interactions, teacher and students small interactions changes the learning environment.
When we allow their stories to be shared and heard, students fell they have a voice, they fell confident and more willing to participate fully in the learning process. All families and students have a story to tell juts like we have own own story to tell. We must make sure our students know we care about them. We must show them that we welcome and value the knowledge and life experience they bring to the classroom and somehow connecting their stories to the curriculum, will definitely welcome and promote productive and meaningful learning.
I agree that subquestions will help focus and organize research -- what a great idea to have them organize journaling! I worry about getting a question that is focused enough that will lead me to meaningful research -- maybe I need to work on my specific goal first to help me narrow my scope. You mentioned that you are interested in classroom behavior -- are you planning to focus on one student? I thought the way Jennifer approached her research was very interesting and so specific, yet it led her to bigger (but still small) actions that seemed to help her own classroom.
ReplyDeleteI agree with on the making the most of those "small moments." I think that's what the best teachers do. And of course, that might be the hardest thing to teach teachers to do, too. I hope with that with regular observations in our classroom, we can become more aware of them and be able to make the "small changes" (that may lead to big outcomes) you referred to.
ReplyDelete