June 28 Log

We have re-clarified the schedule and had ‘mood announcements” :)

Morning Pages Prompt – by Steph J
How does the teacher’s investment in their research question and the students’ background about the teacher’s topic affect the research?

Much conversation about the prompt

Natalie questioned her students’ backgrounds in writing. Is it the demand to write outside of a writing class?

Steph questioned her enthusiasm. Does it force her kids to be enthusiastic about poetry?

Jason also questioned his enthusiasm and wondered if it caused blind spots in his teaching with technology.

Cindy said – “Teacher research is just too intensive (again, think positively) to take on if you aren’t invested in the topic. And while this goes against the traditional notions of the Researcher in the white coat with the pocket protector and his (and, yes, the image has historically been male) supposed objectivity, there’s got to be some passion back there somewhere.”


Rebecca pondered perameters. There have been enough “Cindy groupies” in the district that the students know about book clubs.

Jason C. discussed the assumption that students are comfortable with tech to begin with – the setup is a yearlong process. He discussed his vision of how to do this next year. He does not want to wait to do all the setup at the end of the year. How do I set up the groups?

Renee was contemplating her bias. Is she becoming anti content writing because she wants students to love writing? Are her expectations fair?

Now we contemplate assumptions and agendas that are created by research

Comments worth noting:

Steph - “we do not have to worry about the administrations’ agenda, cause that is just silly” and “I am nothing if not professional”

Natalie – “We need to agree to agree even if we disagree about what we agreed upon”

Natalie – “Maybe they don’t know what they know, ya know?”

Steph – “Would it kill ya to give a word bank for 2 weeks?”


Jason Clarke’s researcher chair continued – see Steph’s notes J


Natalie placed our pictures and quotes on our boards – very creative. We will have to post pictures of our bulletin board.

Data Analysis – Cindy’s Presentation.
Living With the Questions: A Guide for Teacher-Researcher

Primary Data Collection All research findings are provisional

Constant Comparison:
RQs being compared to your data / The thing we are trying to learn is …. Then check data
Pieces of data to one another (ex. Surveys to student work)


Triangulation
Deliberately collect 3 different kinds of data
Example: Field notes, student work, video tape, blogs, etc.


Open Coding – focused coding
What do you do? I have 3 different types of data…now what?
Open coding is what happens you are using your research questions as a filter to understand your data (it is your first pass through your data)
When you do this – themes and patterns begin to emerge
Make list of themes and patterns
Come up with a method to track the themes and patterns
· Highlighting
· Sticky notes
· Reference to data type/date (ex. blog entry)
· Table of contents
· Etc.
The responsible thing to do with your themes is to go back and focus code. This is where sub-themes begin to emerge.
Sub-themes = nuanced analysis

Good places to start for first pass analysis
Sarah Capitelli’s webstie: Inquiry Context, Teacher Reflection, Student work
Inquiry – where is came from
Teacher reflections – this is like her open coding or first pass
Student work – the triangulation piece in action, usually student produced work

Create a sheet for Analysis with these text boxes: Context, First thoughts (what strikes me is…), Emerging themes, Data to cross reference (make list), New questions or hunches/ Things to think about later.


We went into inquiry groups, lunch, and independent study, and then Stacey's topic was discussed in Reseacher's chair.