ED 635 Action Research
Subtitle: Become a more reflective practioner through structured inquiry
Syllabus
Office: ED 203
Office hours: T 10-12 am, R 9-12, other times by arrangement
Office phone: 503.838.8518
Email: girodm@wou.edu
A
few words about this experience…
To
some research is a dirty word. It may conjure images of scientists conducting
experiments on teachers and students in laboratory settings far removed from
real classrooms and real issues. It may remind us of trying to wade through
research reports for other college coursework — cursing the language of research
and searching, often in vain, for the practical ideas it had to offer. For
others research may be almost completely foreign, not having any bearing at all
on the day-to-day happenings in classrooms. As a high school science teacher
each of these were apt descriptions of what I thought about research.
As
a university instructor, research is something I worry a great deal about.
Challenged with the task of teaching teachers about research methods I
continuously struggle for a better way. I firmly believe that research isn’t
what ends up in journals — it is a particular disposition to teaching and
acting in the world. It’s about being curious and having the skills and
knowledge to pursue those curiosities in ways that are beneficial to our
practice and our students. I believe research is very closely tied to the idea
of being a reflective teacher — a person who systematically explores both self
and practice in an effort to be a better teacher. I believe strongly enough in
this to add the subtitle to the class.
Our
study of action research and other methods will reflect these beliefs. We will simultaneously
try to become more reflective in our practice as well as learn more systematic
ways to explore what we do. At times balancing this dual agenda will be tricky.
Never allow conversations however, to veer too far away from issues of
practice. We are, after all, here to make ourselves better teachers.
Assignments
Work
in this class is divided into 2 major assignments and several unit activities. The unit activities will be completed
as the class unfolds so aren’t described here — know, however, that their
completion matters in the calculation of overall grades for the course. Major
assignments are described below. Keep the emphasis on honest learning rather
than on skimping and short-cuts as we are all
sometimes prone to do.
Participant observation and ethnographic writing assignment (3-5 pages)
This assignment is about practicing systematic observation, notetaking, listening, interviewing, diagramming... and other techniques associated with qualitative methods. Be sure you've made it through unit 6 before tackling this assignment! Specifically, your goal is to adopt the disposition of an ethnographer and to try to understand the nuances of a particular culture. You can pick a wide variety of settings to study... your school, the local coffee shop, a skatepark, the library, the grocery store... just don't pick your own classroom! Sometimes the harding things to see are those things with which we are most familiar! I wrote an interesting ethnography one time of the cultural patterns of behavior at Gold's Gym - there are absolutely unwritten rules of conduct in a gym!
Anyway... the first step is to go to this location. Take a notebook and just sit and observe for a while. When you're ready... sketch the layout of the place, show how traffic flows (if it does), write down snippets of dialogue you overhear... generally take notes. Return to this location at least 3 times for 30 minutes each time! As you gain familiarity with this place... you may find yourself talking to folks that are there and that's ok. Remember, your goal is to become a participant observer as quickly as you can. You want to adopt an emic perspective and write about this culture from the insider's view!
Some questions to consider might include:
In the end, you're going to write a paper about what it means to "be" in this place. Describe the place, describe the culture here, describe the values and the beliefs... and draw on your evidence to defend your assertions! Your
paper will be evaluated on your ability to clearly and compellingly articulate
what you did, how you systematically analyzed your data, and how convincingly
you answer the research question using your data as evidence, and how thorough
you are in addressing issues of method and trustworthiness. Consider this a
first attempt at writing research — likely a very different genre of writing
for most of you.
Consider these tips for writing this assignment:
Action
Research Proposal (4-6 pages)
Our major task for this class will be the planning
of an action research project that is largely negotiable between you and I. For
many of us, this project may include your systematic efforts to better
understand some aspect of classroom practice. Your job would then be to plan
for systematic inquiry around these issues. Here’s a description of the major components:
Your action research project proposal should
include each of the following sections:
Introduction. This section should
describe something about who you are, what you’re planning to explore, why it
makes sense to explore that question/issue/problem/whatever, and how this
effort fits with your own professional development and goals. This section is
all about why you want to do what you are proposing in your action
research project.
Methods. This section should describe
how you would go about investigating your question/issue/problem/whatever. It
should provide information about exactly who or what you will study, how
you picked that who or what, what methods you will use to gather your data,
what measures you will use (if any) and the origin of those measures, a sense
of the proposed timeline… this section is all about what you will do and how you will do it.
Analysis and results. This section should focus on how you will go about making sense of your
data. Describe the processes you will use to examine your data and how you will
make sense of it. The goal is to help the reader see that your thinking makes
sense so provide enough details to let the reader decide for his or herself the
degree of trustworthiness of your work. How will you represent your data? What
statistics will you use? Will you include student work? Case studies? Pictures?
Charts? Graphs? Why?
Conclusions. This section should address
what you think you may learn about the world and about yourself as a result of
the proposed project. Discuss potential threats to trustworthiness or validity
as appropriate. Consider potential problems or issues that may arise that
complicate your ability to draw high quality inferences from your efforts. Consider
this last section to be an analysis of “so what” in terms of your proposed
work.
This paper will stand as your final paper for the class so please make sure the grammar and writing
conventions are of the highest quality. You should also notice that my
description of the proposal report does not include a literature review. I
believe strongly in linking your ideas to the ideas of others but this is not
necessarily a requirement and this aspect will be negotiated differently for
each project.
*Your action research proposal is due to Mark via email by midnight on Sunday, June 6th.
Other
In-class Assignments (several throughout)
You
will also be completing several unit activities throughout the class.
Generally these activities are designed as practice opportunities that
will help you in completing your larger assignments. Completion of these
unit assignments does figure in to your participation grade and the overall
grade for the course.
Grading
In
true constructivist fashion, I don’t have a perfectly clear plan of what I want
you to "get" from this class. In fact, it is this "getting
it" metaphor that I think is one of the most damaging dispositions to a
true education. Of course, I have a set of ideas and skills I want you to
acquire in our study of education research but how your understanding of these
things looks is partly dependent on the prior experiences and interests you
bring to this course. Very rarely will your work as a
teacher be neat and tidy like a traditional test would have you believe. For
this reason, I believe the most authentic activities I can assign to evaluate
or judge the degree to which you are wrestling with these big ideas is through
writing. Part of what we’re trying to do is learn about research methods but
we’re also trying to express ideas about how they matter in clear and
thoughtful prose. You will be evaluated on your ability to do so.
Additionally,
I have identified the following characteristics I believe are indicative of a genuine
commitment to the spirit of this course:
·
Do
you support and respectfully challenge your classmates in discussions?
·
Do
you offer your own ideas for scrutiny from others?
·
Can
I see evidence in your writing that you are using reflective and analytic
strategies and questions to think about your experiences and practices?
·
Do
you submit the assigned work for the course in a timely manner with high
standards for content and mechanics?
·
In
discussions and in writing, do you provide explanation and support for your
claims and beliefs?
·
Do
you demonstrate a commitment to the intellectual work of the class and a
willingness to be moved by new ideas or ways of seeing your practice?
·
Do
you take advantage of opportunities to receive feedback and allow your thinking
and writing to shift as a result of this feedback?
I
believe very strongly in only asking teachers to engage in readings and
assignments that are important and meaningful. I believe the assignments above
reflect that. Although, as you all know, grading is the bane of teachers; my
experience has been this: engage fully — read, write, reflect, and learn with
reckless abandon and grades tend to take care of themselves. Come along for the
ride!
Just
so you know, however, I will weight our assignments according to the following
scale.
Assignments:
·
Participant obs. and ethnog. assignment 30%
·
Action
research proposal 40%
·
Other
weekly assignments and participation 30%
Grades
will be assigned according to the following scale:
A..... 94-100%
A-.....90-93%
B+.....87-89%
B.....84-86%
B-.....80-83%
C+.....77-79%
C.....74-76%
C-.....70-73%