Between one research geek and another

How exciting is this - actual students creating my research! Okay I admit it, I'm a research geek. This insight is based on the extraordinary rush I felt watching students complete my pre-assessment (more on this on my own blog). How goofy is that! Hopefully this excitement will carry over as I begin the arduous process of plowing through my data.

Preliminary sifting of data has unearthed little gems of information that pique my interest. Some of my favorite, and perhaps most inane bits of data that SURELY I'll be able to use SOMEWHERE include: how many minutes each student spent on the pre-assessment writing activity, the length of each writing sample (which doesn't necessarily reflect time), how many students I observed engaging in some type of pre-writing activity, and whether or not they completed a spell-check on their own. Can't wait to correlate this data with the student's self-evaluation of their writing skill, the number of college classes they listed that included a strong writing component and how well they 'perform' on the pre-assessment scoring rubric. Not to even mention the writing samples themselves.

So much data for just the pre-assessment, and the project itself doesn't start until next week! EEK! And I was concerned that I wouldn't have enough data!

Food for thought

Okay, I avoided blogging on Monday in the hope that any visitors to the blog would comment on the earlier blog to help me out in getting ready for school to start - but alas, that was not the case. Anyway in preparation for my fall class I've been reviewing back issues of Art Education to see which articles I need to assign students. I came across an article that needed a reread because it seemed so relevant. "Living the Questions: Technology-Infused Action Research in Art Education." How appropriate is this! At any rate it brought back vivid memories of the AI with several specific quotes - these made me think perhaps I'm not as far out of the loop as I've been thinking. Sara Wilson McKay made some of the same insights we/I did this summer...

"...what looks like learning in one context may not be the same learning in another."
"...live the questions of art education, particularly in designing a technology-infused action research project addressing these questions, because it is in such shared efforts that our endeavors can become meaningful."
"Art asks us to revise our view of the world"
"Question: are we all talking about the same thing?"
"...joining together to really overcome isolation in our work. Whether it is the perpetual state of being in the service of others, or simply the sheer numbers of student we see in a day, we rarely are afforded the opportunity to connect with each other."

The last quote is most significant for me. My greatest enthusiasm for the CSUWPAI came from thinking about no longer working in isolation - hopefully fall will return structure to bring everyone together again and our network of teacher researchers will reconnect.

Okay, time for step one

Well it seems that time is winding down and our projects are really on the horizon. I feel like my head is in the clouds but I'd like to know my feet are firmly on the ground. Although there is a pre-conference meeting on Saturday, September 19th, I'm still feeling a little shaky on my pre-assessment evaluation and would love to get together with anyone else interested in checking for a firm foundation that will help get the research off on the right foot.

So - if you're out there and interested please let me know - I'm up for any input I can get.