Completing the action research in my classroom last semester reminded me a lot of doing cycles of inquiry but in a much more formal manner. My first teaching job was at a high school and we often completed cycles of inquiry in our classrooms. We would identify a problem or area that we wanted to improve and then we would perform an action and evaluate how well it solved the problem. We would then decide if we would want to perform a second cycle on the same problem or identify a new problem. I sincerely enjoyed collecting the data that I did from my action research project. It was interesting to be able to see trends in the data amongst my 160 students. It was very challenging to conduct the research required for the paper we wrote. There had not been very much research performed on students digital literacy skills. Moving forward, I much preferred the more casual cycle of inquiry. Writing this blog made me realize that even though I do not write 18 page papers in my classroom, I am conducting cycles of inquiry and mini action research projects weekly if not daily in my classroom. There are always problems that we identify with a specific student, a specific content standard or even a classroom management challenge. As a teacher we ask other teachers, read some articles on the topic and make a plan moving forward. We then reflect on how well our actions worked in solving the problem. In my opinion, teachers are experimenters and researchers on a daily basis. The thing that has stood out the most to me from the reading of Dervin is her focus on the researcher focusing on the user. Researchers should use methods and language that is familiar to the user. I think this is so important to our research as teachers. I often give out surveys to my students, even before this class, to collect data on how students liked or disliked a certain unit, tool, or method in my classroom. I always tried to put the language in the simplest forms so that the students would feel comfortable sharing with me how they felt. Once I established this culture with my students, they felt much more comfortable and free to share with me constructive criticism that has helped me develop my curriculum. I think surveys like these can be given by teachers to help understand how students are making sense of information or bridging a gap.
3 Comments
Shawn
2/25/2018 07:16:48 am
I couldn't agree more, we are constantly completing inquiry cycles in our classroom in a less formal way. As a teacher it is important that we create a classroom community in order to create an environment were students feel safe to express their needs in the classroom.
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Diana
2/25/2018 08:47:58 am
I saw the correlation to completing the cycles of inquiry as well. Its funny, when we were first learning about what we would be doing I was thinking to myself..."wow, this sounds like BTSA." When I went through induction, I always gained a lot from my action research but I have to admit with a schedule that always seems to fill, I had fallen away from those cycles in my own room. I am so glad to be completing them again!
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Joseph Williams
2/25/2018 10:56:44 am
Agree, agree, agree. I love that you take input from your students in the form of surveys. By empowering students to give input it is increasing their investment into the academic structure. Being of the same mind of wanting feedback, I appreciate when students tell me when something worked or didn't work because it gives in insight into how they make sense of information, not just how I want them to make sense of it.
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