Feminism

Like feminism, I have a strong interest in critical theory. I don't want to focus on just one group of individuals, the way feminists, critical race theorists, etc do however.

Much like the principals in the Smulyan article who did not see themselves as feminists, I can see how not being a feminist would make it nearly impossible to view issues through that lens objectively. I do think that anyone, including a male, can be a feminist. I find it ironic that it was said that males couldn't be a feminist since this is a mindset of exclusion, when feminism by definition is about empowering. Based on Reinharz' definition of feminist research, it would seem possible that anyone who considers themselves a feminist or part of the women's movement can be classified as a feminist. I guess that means, I think I'm a feminist, therefore I am. Makes sense right?

Multiple Annies

1. Did you interview the 2 supervising teachers to gain their perspective on the student teaching experience?

2 Do you think the ages of the cooperating teachers played a factor in the comfort level of Annie as well as her perception of "power"?

3. Did you get the perspective of the students in each classroom to find out how each teaching style helped them with their understanding of the content? Did they have a feeling of a power struggle?

4. It's obvious how the author and Annie feel about the Sheila;

"Annie adopted multiple selves in Sheila’s classroom and was able to slip back and forth in response to Sheila’s dominating presence, which determined—even translated—Annie’s way of being a teacher."

but could part of the structure Sheila was providing be a way for her to share her craft knowledge with Annie in a controlled environment so that when Annie was in her own classroom she could draw from many perspectives of teaching? It seems that one cooperating teacher believed in providing little guidance and letting the student teacher find themself, while the other mentor felt that structure and guidance play a vital role in developing the art of teaching.

Ready, Set, ACTION......research

In many ways through our reading I've felt like a blind man in a maze, feeling my way through unfamiliar territory, not knowing where I was going or if I was any closer to my goal than when I started. Although I found much of what I was experiencing very interesting, I kept waiting for that "eye opening" moment when it would click with me. Action research provided that moment for me. In my present position this is our approach to improvement. We attempt to systematically build a body of knowledge about students and learning to incorporate infomation about an effective program of teaching and learning. This approach allows me to be both researcher, as well as participant. We look at barriers and enablers to our success. Since excuses are not an option, we don't play the blame game (if the previous year's teacher had only better prepared them, if the parents had only read to them more, if the student would only do their homework and try harder, etc)

Some of the quality tools I use in my current position that fall in the action research paradigm are:
Consensogram (as I used in our presentation for class) Consensograms can be used as a preassessment/postassessment tool to gauge the participant's understanding, knowledge base, or feelings before and after a task over time.
Force field analysis -can be used by the group or individual analyze behaviors or beliefs that may be “enablers” or “barriers” of the attainment of goals/objectives. and want to begin analyzing root causes.
Action Plans-Action plans can be used to record tasks that need to be completed in order to reach targeted goals. An action plan designates persons responsible, timelines, resources needed, and monitoring/ evaluation tools.

The goal of my research at work, much like the likely goal of my dissertation, is to engage participants in an active role to determine ways to continuously improve and then to provide those participants with the "tools" necessary to achieve their goals. When I work with teachers I ask them to look at their students and answer these 5 learning centered goals:
1. What do they (students) need to learn?
2. How are you going to engage them in this learning?
3. How will you know if they've learned it?
4. What will you do if they don't understand it?
5. What will you do if they know it already before you begin teaching it?

This process empowers teachers to take ownership of their student's success and learning and to develop plans of action, identifying "boulders and fishes" along the way. They search for root causes that keep them from being successful and address those through a systematic process of empowerment.

Much like Morpheus in The Matrix I too have chosen to take the red pill. My enlightenment through our journey and discovery have given me a new perspective of my professional world where I will not be able to view things the same anymore. Phrases thrown around like "research based" and "best practices" are being more closely scrutinized.

Interpretivist

In education, although much of the comparative data we are subjected to is on the surface collected using a positivist approach. However, any quality educator knows that the numbers tell only a small piece of the story. To truly gain an understanding of the needs of students, schools, staffs, and communities, researchers need to "dig deeper" using an interpretivist approach. The lived experiences of the researcher as well as the students provide a lens from which the data is viewed. The data can't be effectively understood in a vacuum.

To understand data, I understand the fact that the data is not a static reality, but yet a snapshot of a point in time that is greatly influenced by outside factors including social issues, funding issues, etc. An effective data analysis must include digging into those factors, looking at the "whys", and using methods such as case studies, phenomilogical studies, and ethnographies.