Seeing themes and moving toward analysis

Two weeks ago, you started developing codes for your data.  You probably started to see themes and patterns across the different kinds of data that you have.  These can be emergent (coming from your data) or a priori (emanating from your questions). 

List three themes that you see in your data, and choose one theme to describe and analyze.

Description answers the question "what is going on here?"

Analysis offers some possibilities as to how and why the pattern may be occurring.  

Both are based in data.  You can use direct quotes from interviews/surveys as data exemplars, but you never let data just hang there without analysis.  Here's an example:

Theme from my social justice teacher data: Professional Safety

Description: 

After being chastised by his principal for bringing in texts that addressed gender and sexuality, Daniel said:

“I toned down [the theory] and took out anything related to LGBT issues…I just feel like we are just being very superficial.  And so I wasn't into it as much.” 

 

Analysis:

For Daniel, teaching for social justice was an important part of his teaching identity.  However, he also knew that the school and community culture did not welcome discussion of these issues.  As a result, he "toned down" his pedagogy, which in turn made him less interested in teaching.  In order to feel professionally safe, he felt compromised in his teaching and his commitment to social justice.

  

Unlearning

One of the terms we use in teacher education is "unlearning."  What we mean by that is creating space for teacher candidates to unlearn what they thought they knew about teaching based on their experiences as students, or through what they thought teaching actually is.  In other words, to question what they think is true about students, the profession, and teachers.

 For example, when I started teaching at Aurora Alternative High School, I was appalled that some of my students would want to attend the local community college (never mind not go to college at all), as opposed to a state college.  I had to unlearn my assumptions that everybody who was going to be anybody in life was either a) a natural genius and didn't need to go to college or b) would go to a four year college.

What my students taught me--what I "unlearned"--is that "smart" looks different according to context.  I unlearned seeing my pregnant students as victims.  I unlearned that all graffiti was trashy.  I unlearned that smart meant being good at school.

Teacher research is all about unlearning: about questioning our assumptions and taking risks.  It is NOT about proving a particular hypothesis.  So what assumptions have you questioned about your students, teaching, or yourself during this process?  What new truths have you uncovered?  

Research Memo: articles or your work

Researcher choice this week.  Choose one of the following to guide your blog:

1. Write a memo on what you are discovering from your readings.  How does this literature inform what you have discovered so far in your own research?  What are some gaps in the research that your work may fill?

2. Write a research memo similar to two weeks ago, in which you synthesize this week's data in order to make meaning.  What new discoveries and questions have arisen?  What might you have to change (i.e., research questions, data collection practices) as a result?

Finding research on your topic

This week, we will be meeting in the library at the reference desk.  You will be looking for work that others have already done in your area of interest.  This will hopefully inform your practice and research, and maybe even give you new ideas on what to look for or questions to ask.  What is it that you already know about writing a literature review?

Now that you've been writing fieldnotes, and perhaps collecting other data, for a number of weeks now, what are some terms and phrases you might look for?  What is it that you want to see from other teachers and researchers to support you in exploring your questions?

 

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.

Acknowledging the Mess

"Hauling apart rhetoric and reframing and developing new ways forward is likely to be a variable, unstable, and messy process" (Cook, p. 281).

How comfortable are you with mess?  What might you anticipate being messy in your research?

Memo #5_Playing with Research Questions

What are some research questions you are contemplating?  Look at the models to notice the format of the overarching question and then 2-4 subquestions.

Be sure to provide supportive and helpful feedback to your classmates' questions as well.

Memo #4_Response to Campano

Which of the case study chapters resonated with you?  When did you recognize students, situations, or yourself?

In chapter 9, Campano writes about teacher researchers having multiple identities: activist, interested, vulnerable, and relational.  What do these mean to you?  In what ways do you feel valued and supported in these kinds of identities, or do you have others? 

In this climate of standardized testing focusing on results rather than relationships or process, it is often difficult to sustain these identities, which is where the second classroom comes in.  How can you use your agency and community (whether it be your colleagues at school or other places, like this class!) to cultivate and sustain your teaching identities, however you name them?

Memo #3

From your fieldnotes/teacher research journal, share some of the insights and questions that came from writing for 10 minutes every day about what has been happening in your classroom (or various classrooms, in Chris' case).  You can share excerpts from different days or choose one day's entry to copy and paste here.

Something that has come to mind for me, in thinking about how/why some kids resist schooling practices, is the impact of the new generation.  I have heard that businesses and colleges are changing their expectations and practices to meet the unique needs of millenials, but as far as I can tell, K-12 schools aren't taking them into consideration, and are just operating in a business-as-usual mode.  We spend a lot of time talking about how different cultures don't know the "hidden transcripts" of schooling, but I wonder if it isn't broader than this.  Just something to throw into the mix as you consider your research questions :).

Response to Sagor

Chapters 1-3 in Sagor provide an overview of the whys and hows of teacher inquiry/research.

We will be working through the processes he describes, so don't worry if they are not clear to you right now. The first step is "finding a focus" (p. 12).  Without overthinking, what are some issues/problems that you could see researching?  These could be big picture issues about pedagogy, such as grading, for example, or they could be one kid or a small group of kids who are having specific issues in your class, either academically or behaviorally.

Why are these issues important to you?  When did they arise?

Chris, you can even think about what it means to be an effective substitute.

Response to Campano

Campano advocates moving from a deficit model, in which kids are positioned as not having the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that are expected and tested; to an enrichment model, where we see kids’ histories, experiences, and locations as assets (pages 14-19).  Can you give some examples of how this could be (or is) put into action in your own classroom environment—in your pedagogy, in your curriculum, in your relationships with kids?

Memo #1

Post Memo #1 here.  Remember to write it in Word first and then copy and paste to this document.  I look forward to reading about how you frame your identities in and out of the contexts of teaching.

Remember to post comments to your colleagues' posts.