Sunday, March 8, 2015

Research Memo

Last week in class, we talked about the differences between fieldnotes and memos.  Fieldnotes consists of "raw" data, and are mostly descriptive.  Research memos, in contrast, are analytical and interpretive; i.e, they are an attempt to make sense of what you are seeing across your raw data.  Notice that I said "an attempt" here.  Leave yourself open to intuition and gut feelings here in these early stages of memo writing.

For this week's memo, look over your last week(s) of data collection.  What are some recurring themes and patterns as you review your fieldnotes and other data?  What new questions/surprises have arisen?  Write up a research memo that addresses these issues.

28 comments:

  1. As I look back at my field notes I see a few patterns. So far I have written 16 entries since February 5th. It does not seem like a lot of school days, 16 in over a month, but February was a tough month. I noticed that my beginning field notes were very sporadic in my thoughts and observations, there was no clear goal to my writing. In the last week or so I have become more focused on what I am looking for.

    My beginning observations are generalizations about my students and the interactions I have with them, I focused a lot of one student who has since left my classroom. I would have liked to see him stay in my class through this process and get to know more about him as a learner and a person. He was a prime candidate for the focus of my research: engagement and self-sufficiency. February 10th I wrote:
    “I explained how the "I don't get it" slogan is not enough for me. They come in often and don't have homework done, and their excuse is they don't get it. When I ask if they looked in their notes, or if they reviewed the book, or asked a parent or friend or sibling to help they look dumb founded. I feel this generation is so used to having access to everything and every answer at their fingertips they don't know how to persevere and look for the answer or widen their understanding.”
    This is when I really started to look into the issue engagement and self-sufficiency.

    Another major theme I have noticed in my field notes is that I need to take more time in class to observe the students, allow them to work though a problem before jumping in, and I need to stop asking leading questions, instead let the students ask and answer their own questions. My focus on engagement and self-sufficiency in my classroom is making me more self-aware of the role that I take on as the teacher in the classroom.

    The last item that I noticed that I brought up a lot was time and time management, when classes worked out well, and when it felt rushed. I know I have commented on my lack of time this year, but instead of complaining about it maybe I can look into ways to maximize class time. What should I put more value and time into: going over homework, direct-instruction, guided practice, partner or independent practice?

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    1. Jenny - your observations about wait time and questioning are so important. Many of us became teachers with the goal of "helping" students, so jumping in to save them while they drown in uncertainty seems like the natural thing to do. However, as you are noticing, this immediate intervention doesn't foster students' ability and confidence to work through problems with their peers or own their own.

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    2. Jenny, I like the fact that you say that this research "is making me more self-aware of the role that I take on as the teacher in the classroom." This is so true, and I feel exactly the same way! I thought I would be mostly focused on the students, and I am...it's just forcing me to look at the ways I do things and the way I react to certain situations that is certainly enlightening. I also feel like I complain a lot in my field notes, so I'm also looking at ways to redirect that energy.

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    3. Jenny, I was going to pick out the same line that Melissa did here - I think this project and the taking of notes every day does make us hyper-aware of some of our choices and actions in the classroom. One of the issues you say you are having is time and time management - part of that is simply the fact that you don't have a lot of time with your students every day. Often, I feel as if the 50-ish minutes I have with my students flies by, so I can't even imagine half of that being my only time with them!

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    4. Jenny, I love that you have gotten to a place of moving beyond dealing with the givens (i.e., your time issue) and are onto what to do with what you have been given. Beautiful memo here.

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    5. Jenny
      It took me such a long time to learn to make the students uncomfortable with wait time, and to ask probing questions instead of leading questions. At one point my first year teaching, I gave a practice exam with 20 questions, we reviewed every one, in detail, and that Friday, I gave the same exam, the same 20 questions, in the exact order, and let them use the practice exam (like an open book test). More than half of the students failed the test! I think that was the moment I started looking at my practice, rather than their deficiencies (although it took a frustrating week) and started to try to inspire them rather than spoon feed them. The fact that you are looking at your time management and questions, suggests that you are already adjusting and maximizing your efficiency.

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  2. When I started my research journal I was more focused on students when I was writing. In the beginning, I was figuring out how and what to write in my Teacher Research journal. I never really had a designated time to write because it was something new in my routine. Sometimes I started mid-morning, when I had free time, or at the end of the school day just jotting down something. When it became routine, I started to write ‘blurbs and bits’, and then I started to write fluid paragraphs in a 10 minute time frame. I noticed my writing became more about a single feeling in the moment-- rather than different feelings throughout the day. I feel that the writing in my Teacher Research journal became more pronounced, than the bits of unrelated sentences—it flowed better. The 10 minutes at the same time at the end of the day became my designated time.

    In the next few weeks, my TR journal started to become a little more intimate where I shared more of my feelings and how things felt. I noticed that I got my feelings out on paper; February 10th and 13th seem to be the start of when my feelings started to come into my writing. Here are some examples:

    Feb 10, 2015:
    “I feel stressed, I planned 10 days for the two weeks before vacation and now because of snow days it became 7. I feel very stressed… I wonder how the kids feel. STRESSED??

    Feb 13, 2015:
    “…no real dialogue today w/students because I felt a disconnect with them when I greeted them at the door… do they know how to talk with someone in school if they are having difficulty”

    “I don’t know why I feel like this.. I did not share a lot in my advisory today, or yesterday. That still bothers me a little bit”

    It becomes more and more about how I feel at the start of March 2015. I think this might help me recapture the same feelings when I look back and dig for “how I felt” on some days. This might be crucial to the “puzzle” when I can talk about the data and how I felt as a reflective practitioner.

    Many of the days in January and early February were frustrating because of the lost days. I think this is when I started to hone in on my feelings. The breaks helped me catch up and think about creative ways I could make my lessons more engaging, but because of the inconsistency of the days, it really did not matter about how engaging it was.

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    1. Ken - From the latest version of your research questions on the blog, it does seem that your project focuses on the academic and social effects on your students. So fieldnotes from their point of view with their words will be helpful. But it will also be interesting to have some reflections on your own feelings about the process. It will be interesting to compare your reflections and the kids'.

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    2. Yes, Ken I agree...it does sometimes feel like more observation than intimate feelings. However, I think that is ok because what I noticed today as I was doing this memo was that what might have been observations as I was writing them have turned more introspective/intimate as I write about them in this format. It's just weird how my perspective has changed from the time I wrote the observations to today...I wonder if you were feeling any of that as you wrote your memo.

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    3. Ken, I think that one of the biggest pieces of this puzzle we are putting together is us: our own teacher self, and how that fits in with our goals and teaching philosophies. Not only is this project important for your students, but it's also super important for you.

      p.s. I kind of felt that disconnect too, mid-February, and I think it really did have a lot to do with all of the snow days that we missed. Like anything, consistency is key...and any variation from the norm seems to throw everyone off!

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    4. I can second what Tina has said. I also feel like this teacher/ action research is just as much about our teacher selves, as it is about the research that we are doing. I think that the choices in our research have helped us each dig into our classroom and really get into some of the questions that have been in the back of our mind.

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    5. Yay! Love Ken's attention to the emotions of teaching, and how you all replied in support. Teaching is an emotional endeavor, not just intellectual. It's why tests and other quant measures will never will measure the effectiveness of a teacher.

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    6. Ken, I think that both student data and what you observe, and your own feelings and self-observations should be included and validated through your TRJ. Your read and interpretation on what is happening in class reflects how connected you are, and your connection is what allows you to adjust your practices as needed. For instance, if your "read" is that something is not working, and you adjust, and your class responds to the change, it validates your connection. I believe this is one of the most critical aspects of teaching, and one of the best predictors of success, and it seems like you are way ahead of the game here. On another note, very sorry to hear about your ankle, I have been there, be patient with the downtime and rehab.

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  3. “Why don’t you focus on one class?” Melissa asked casually.

    A wave of relief rushed through my body.

    “Right. You can still assign the same project in your other classes, but you just don’t have to collect all of the data so formally with them,” Jenny added.

    I felt my shoulders slack and my face fall free.

    “You two are the greatest.”
    ____

    Since this conversation with Melissa and Jenny on Wednesday, my data has been a bit more focused. Before, I had been noticing all of my aggravations with my unsuccessful lessons and somewhat successful attempts to connect with certain students. I had noted their attitudes coming to class and their completion of their work. I asked questions about their motivations, often giving myself a to-do of follow-up questions for the next day or week.

    I am still tracking these aggravations, challenges, and triumphs, but now for one class instead of four. I had been taking notes on about six students pretty consistently, but they were in different classes and I was feeling very overwhelmed by how I could string all of it together. Now, with my attention toward one class (and three students in particular), my project is much more manageable.

    I used these field notes and the common topics I was discussing - arrival to class, verbal/written participation, prompted/unprompted participation, my assessment of their understanding - to create a draft of my engagement and performance chart. From this data, I am noticing that a student’s arrival to class (whether they are on time, go right to their seat, have their materials with them, come in quietly vs. making noises, etc.) plays a major role in their engagement and performance.

    For example, on the two days that L came to class on time, went quietly right to his seat, and had his materials prepared, he volunteered to participate verbally in front of the whole class multiple times without prompting, completed his small group and individual work without prompting, and asked two relevant questions along the way. However, on the day that he only came on time and went to his seat (but was making distracting noises to gain the attention of a few peers and did not have his materials prepared), he volunteered verbally once with the whole group, but required prompting in order to complete his small group and individual tasks.

    I admit that this is a very tiny sample and that I am not surprised by the outcome, but this apparent correlation between readiness for class and engagement/performance is important to recognize. Organization is a huge piece of middle school development and anything we (yes, me and the students) can do to be more aware of these patterns is important - and part of taking a learner-centered approach. I am reading about how a learner-centered approach “engages students in the hard, messy work of learning...includes explicit skill instruction…[and] encourages students to reflect on what they learn and how they are learning it.” Though organization skills are not necessarily an official part of the curriculum, I may need to add this daily check in with some students. I am now thinking about how I might adapt Jenny’s “Student Reflection on Questions and Understanding” for my own students. I am also starting to get excited about interviewing my students and hearing their thoughts about themselves as learners. We write reflections frequently, so I am curious how they will respond to a one-on-one situation where they get to talk as the expert rather than feel obligated to write something down.

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    1. Haha Brittany!! It's like those words came right out of a soap opera!! I love the observations you make about student L and the connection between his behavior as he walked into class to his engagement in the class. You also mention patterns and I think the idea of patterns is crucial to your specific research. Can't wait to hear how your interviews go!

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    2. Brit, I like how you talk about redirecting (or re-channeling) your focus to one class instead of all four for the purposes of not driving yourself absolutely batty this semester. Your discussion with Melissa and Jenny sounds similar to the one we had in our group last week, and how I finally whittled my focus down. Even though we may only be looking at this one class or one specific issue, the others will certainly not go unnoticed. When you notice certain approaches or ideas that work well, you can easily try it in the other classes too, but without the stress of having to gather more data. OH, and I'm interested to hear how the interviews go!!

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    3. Brittany, it is great to hear that your focus on one class has already given you some data to work off. I agree with the organization thing as well. As we have discussed this year, I am someone who likes to be organized, I have been trying since I started teaching to get my middle-schoolers organized. Sometimes it catches and makes all the difference in the students ability to be ready to learn.

      I am also interested in your research into students reflection into what they are learning and how they learned it. I asked my students How do they think about their thinking in math, and the most common response was they didn't....

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    4. Britt, great observations here. It IS a small sample, and you'll have to see if that theme is repeated. Organization is a huge part of classroom management. Given your focus on PBL for one of your questions, which provides a different sort of organization, it will be interesting to see how the kids with organization problems respond.

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  4. After last week's plunge into our research proposals and finally (FINALLY) narrowing down my focus, it seems as if many threads and pieces are weaving themselves together. Looking back at my field notes now, I can see recurring issues and patterns just screaming to be analyzed. I feel silly for almost overlooking such a complex issue that is evident in so many aspects of my school.

    Early last week, as I was going through Writer's Notebooks that my students submit every week, I came across Gabby's. Gabby is one of my strongest, most insightful writers, and one of my quietest, brightest students. Her most recent entry, "gay," questions why it is acceptable to use the word "gay" as an insult. "When people use 'gay' as an insult it really bothers me. It makes me believe that they see homosexuality as a bad thing." I flipped through some of her past pieces, and came across several from earlier in the year in which she opens up about transgender issues and people being judged based on their sexuality. "I don't think anyone should be judged based on their sexuality. You'd think by 2014 people wouldn't still say horrible things about homosexual people, but then again there are still racist people." Although I wasn't planning on it, I am starting to think that several student interviews might be really insightful to see how they feel about some of these issues.

    Then on Friday, one of my basketball players came to find me because she needed to talk. After recounting an incident earlier in the day that left her in tears and sad spirits, I couldn't help but start to make connections. She told me that in her gym class, during a push-up activity, one of the boys (who is also a student of mine) had laughed and said that Becca's didn't count because "she didn't go all the way down since her boobs are too big." Immediately, I thought of my research project and Gabby's entries.

    Based on these two completely separate incidents, and several other conversations I have overheard within the past week alone (which I may not have connected if I wasn't focusing on issues of gender and sexuality in regards to power and privilege), I have begun to realize just how badly these students need a conversation to take place, in their classrooms, with people that see them every day. It is not enough for Day One speakers to come in for four sessions with students to talk about dating violence and leave until next school year. Gabby shouldn't have to deal with "hey, baby" comments from her peers (which she writes about in her notebook because she thinks nothing will be done if she tells someone), just like the word "gay" shouldn't be used as an insult, and Becca shouldn't have to be ashamed of her body just because it is more developed than those of her peers.

    So this is where I come in, where this research project will pick up and hopefully gain some traction. This conversation is not one that should take place after an issue like one of these happens, but rather it needs to happen with all students so that they understand the seriousness and importance of issues of gender privilege and sexuality, to stop them from making such comments.

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    1. Tina, you are so right when you say you have "begun to realize just how badly these students need a conversation to take place, in their classrooms, with people that see them everyday." I had an incident occur today as my students were having a discussion on gender inequality and the fact that men still make more than women in the same jobs. One of the male students made a comment like, "well, they can always be strippers." This was coming from an eighteen year old male "honors" student. It is comments/attitudes like that that make me realize how important (as you mention) it truly is to have these difficult but very,very necessary conversations. Your work here, to me, is essential.

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    2. Tina - Wow to Gabby. Even though she "thinks nothing will be done," she clearly sees you and her Writer's Notebook as a safe place. And that is definitely a start. I also agree with you and Melissa about the importance of these conversations, not only to "stop them from making such comments" but to also understand WHY those comments are so problematic. Can't wait to hear an update!

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    3. Wow. I am in complete agreement. I know these conversations need to be had and we spent most of last semester talking about how to have these kinds of conversations with students. But I still find it hard to find a place to bring them into the conversation. I think I am still a little intimidated in my environment as well. I would love to know how you work it into your curriculum and the response you get from your students, peers, parents and supervisors.

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    4. Tina, love that you provide concrete examples here. You have some savvy, self-aware young women, and they need support as individuals, in addition to the curricular changes you are offering. I wonder if that can be part of a "second classroom" for you? maybe hosting a lunch once a week for girls who want a safe place to talk about these issues?

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  5. Research Memo
    As I began writing in my teacher reflective journal, I was already thinking about some ideas for my research. I knew that I wanted to focus on students’ preoccupation with grades and their reluctance to revise their writing. For some reason, I feel like I started really strong in my journal, but recently my ideas have not been flowing as well. I’m not sure why this is the case. Was I working with more momentum when I first started writing?? Am I just overwhelmed?? Or, maybe some of the things I’ve been trying out are starting to work and I’m not simply venting. I think what I need to focus on now is maybe recording times when I’m noticing students willingness to revise/reflect.

    Because I’m focusing on ways to encourage students to reflect and revise, some of my comments are centered on my students’ ideas and perceptions regarding these topics. On day 1 of my journal, I made the following observation: “A student (B.C.) asked me how I score the Socratic seminar. I told her that I basically keep track of the number of times they speak, textual evidence they use, insight, etc. and score them on the rubric. She said, ‘So, if I came prepared with three questions and only asked one, am I going to get points taken off?’ It’s almost like she discounted the amazing insight the group had displayed in the discussion by narrowing it down to the grade.” This was my observation at the time. However, now that I am thinking about it, I can understand where she was coming from in a different way. She probably was proud of her participation and wanted to make sure she was going to receive fair credit for it. Also, I probably could have acknowledged her question in a different way. I might have thrown the question back at her and said something like, “Do you think the discussion would have been richer had you asked your other two questions?” In this way, the focus would have been on the learning and interaction going on in the seminar, rather than the assessment. So, perhaps I play a bigger role in my students’ focus on grades than I’d like to acknowledge.

    Another topic I have been focusing on in my research is the role of self-assessment as a valuable reflective tool. I made a comment about my ninth grade class when I had them complete a self-assessment for letters they had written to authors. My comment was: “This was interesting because I had them do a self-assessment, and I scored them as well. It’s interesting how close the two scores (theirs and mine) were. They are pretty good at gauging their performance based on set criteria.” This comment makes me think about a couple of things. First, it makes me think about the role of the rubric in the classroom. In this particular case, the rubric was very specific and student-friendly. Students were clearly able to see what was expected of them and whether or not they were proficient. So, I think it is essentially important to set clear criteria and goals for students so they are able to do an honest self-assessment. Second, it has made me think about the role of grade level in completing an honest self-reflection. It seems as though many of the ninth graders are more honest in their self-assessments. Why is this the case? Is it because seniors are under a great amount of pressure to get into college and they are more aware of this? Are seniors just “playing the system” so to speak? What changes between ninth and twelfth grade? These are just a few of the questions I am still pondering…

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    1. Melissa - I love how you went to your previous entry about the socratic seminar and looked at in a different way. A willingness to rethink/reframe/talk back to ourselves is definitely messy, but seems to be the way to growth. Your comment about rubrics is also interesting. Like you said, when they had clear criteria, their score aligned well with your own. But, what is the role of rubrics if you want students to focus on feedback, reflection, and intrinsic instead of a grade (when rubrics are usually made for the purpose of more efficient grading)?

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    2. Melissa, I feel as if there are so many factors that are playing into your project, which is really neat. I really like your thoughts regarding the role of grade level - I don't think this is something you had originally wanted to focus on, but I think it would be so interesting to see if there are differences between grades. When you say that the ninth graders were more honest in their self-reflections/self-assessments, what do you mean by that? Are they more in line with your assessment of their work? Or are they more willing to write about certain things?

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    3. Melissa, I like how you rethought your interactions with BC. I think we say so many things to students everyday, and I have also noticed in my journalling different ways I could have approached situations. But this reflection helps us move forward and make us more prepared for the next time the question is asked or we are put in a similar situation.

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    4. Holy Batman, Melissa! I love that you are questioning how you might be complicit in the whole grading emphasis because of your policies. That bit of self-reflection is so valuable! what are some ways you can rethink grading this model? How much credit do you give for preparation?
      I also think it might be worth asking the seniors if they fudge a bit on their self scores...in other words, I wonder if they are aware that they are doing this.

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