At this moment I would say that I am about half way through my research process. I will make necessary adjustments for the next (probably last) newspaper issue for the semester in order to hold participants and myself more accountable. I say myself because Randy Sprick (1998) was mentioned as saying, "If teachers are unclear about their expectations, the kids learn it's all a crapshoot, so you might as well do whatever you want," (as cited in Knight, 2007, p.143). I found the following video very interesting and relateable to my situation with holding my participants, or in this video's words, employees, accountable.
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel
As my research efforts are starting to wind down, I can say that I've truly enjoyed the process. My question, "What affect would the implementation of a school newspaper have on student writing?" I noticed, throughout this process spawned other questions in regards to student motivation, behavior, and accountability. This research process has allowed me to reflect on myself as a teacher, my peers, and our school culture as a whole. Today I found myself having a conversation with one of my colleagues and had a revelation that part of the reason that it was such a challenge to get my participants to turn in their work on time or even turn in their work at all was due to the culture of the school. Students not turning in their work or being late with their work is a part of the school culture! Something that I plan to do is the on task/off task behavior monitoring chart designed by Reinke (2007). I would love to perform this intentional observation in each of the fifth grade classrooms (because my participants were fifth graders) and present my findings to the fifth grade team.
At this moment I would say that I am about half way through my research process. I will make necessary adjustments for the next (probably last) newspaper issue for the semester in order to hold participants and myself more accountable. I say myself because Randy Sprick (1998) was mentioned as saying, "If teachers are unclear about their expectations, the kids learn it's all a crapshoot, so you might as well do whatever you want," (as cited in Knight, 2007, p.143). I found the following video very interesting and relateable to my situation with holding my participants, or in this video's words, employees, accountable.
At this moment I would say that I am about half way through my research process. I will make necessary adjustments for the next (probably last) newspaper issue for the semester in order to hold participants and myself more accountable. I say myself because Randy Sprick (1998) was mentioned as saying, "If teachers are unclear about their expectations, the kids learn it's all a crapshoot, so you might as well do whatever you want," (as cited in Knight, 2007, p.143). I found the following video very interesting and relateable to my situation with holding my participants, or in this video's words, employees, accountable.
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I have enjoyed the process as well. I think we have learned a lot from the whole research process. That makes complete sense now of why your students didn’t turn their work in on time. At least you know it wasn’t due to your research, it was just a common occurrence at the school. I’m sure the fifth grade teachers would love for you to complete the on task/off task behavior monitoring chart. I’m sure it would be interesting for them and for you to see the results. Did you send out the first newspaper? How did everyone respond to seeing it? I love the video! It is truly all about motivating the students so that they will want to complete their work and turn it in. We should definitely treat everyone as unique individuals.
ReplyDeleteSo amazing, LaShanda.
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