Dear all,
Here are my reflections related to the article by Heather Thomas.
First of all, I chuckled when I read the introduction, which mentioned drawing and the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. The thing is, four days before starting this course, I'd started a course on drawing. Three days into the course, I noticed that I'd stopped ignoring the way things looked and found myself staring at objects, analyzing the patterns of shade and light. So, her point about ‘not really seeing’ things struck a deep cord with me.
Regarding the lessons I learned:
- I agree that it’s good to have an idea of what sorts of insights can be gained from transcripts. I’m trying to glean some kind of framework from the readings and from our weekly meetings – so far it’s been a slow process, but I’ve achieved some progress.
- The procedure she described (focus on one aspect of a lesson – notice anything related to that aspect – categorize what you noticed into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ – consider how good can be bad and vice versa – formulate a specific action to try out) sounds very actionable and I think it has a lot of potential. I’ve got three questions related to that.
These are questions that I'll probably be pondering for quite a while.
Question 1: what aspects to focus on.
Question 2: how to analyze the results of the change. I think John has a very good point that we need to ask the learners – I don’t do that enough – but my experience also tells me that learners are very likely to prefer things not because they yield learning but because they’re novel or pleasant. I’d really like to do some action research, collecting not only qualitative but also quantitative data – so another question I have is, what is the best source (book?) on action research that would be practical but also would treat the topic in enough depth, so I could learn about collecting data and analyzing them, really seeing what the data indicate, and not what I might THINK they indicate?
Question 3: one key element in the procedure Thomas describes is that it has a social element - a group - which meets over a prolonged period of time. I'd love to be part of a group like that, or to have a long-term 'reflection buddy', but am I going to find that group - or that person?
P.S. Sharing a pic of the drawing I made last night - day 10 of learning to see. :)
I very much like your pictures (the shapes, shades, and shadows). I also like your questions. Having been part of reflective groups at some points in my teaching life, I can attest that it is a valuable experience. And non-judgmental-ness and trust are key elements to sustain that kind of group.
ReplyDeleteOlya, like Anne, I like the pictures.
ReplyDeleteYour final question first, I am sure you can partner with one of the other participants in this course, or more than one to continue your exploration. One purpose of the course is to connect teachers. With the internet we do not need to work only with colleagues, some of whom may not want to explore at this stage of their careers.
Question 1, what aspects to focus on, you can stop the recording at random or at a place you found puzzling or where the students were engaged.
Or, you can take something like wait time--and pause the recorder at random and then note the number of seconds you provide between asking a question and a student responds. Or you can look at the types of reactions you make after a student responds--OK, very good, Huh?
You can see how many times you follow a question that no one answers with a paraphrase of the question. In many cases when students do not respond we re phrase. But as one of the other teachers noted, students did not understand the first question nor the second question and did not know that the second question was a paraphrase of the first.
Question 2, the best book on action research is mine--Small changes in teaching, big results in learning.
The second best one is by Jerry Gebhard--Teaching English as a Foreign or Second Language, Third Edition: A Self-Development and Methodology Guide. Jerry is one of my former doctoral students at Teachers College, Columbia University in NY.
Re the comment students like activities that are novel or pleasant but do not necessarily learn from, consider that students can learn only from activities that are novel and pleasant. If they are arduous and routine they can be boring and yield no learning.
BELIEVE NOTHING I SAY.
Hi Olya
ReplyDeleteI loved reading your post: the questions made me think (and like you, I was asking John about the criteria for selecting an aspect to record/transcribe/reflect on. I guess recording will need to become a habit (to me), in which case transcribing when time allows will bring reflective space and focus.
To your question 3: I agree with what Anne Hendler said about reflective groups being a valuable experience (I think Anne and I only met in person in such meetings in South Korea a few years, if I remember correctly). I am grateful to be a member of such a group in Ukraine, but since I moved to a different city there are now much fewer chances to attend the meetings. We run them face-to-face, not online. Maybe we could think of starting one online (and I promise to be a better learning peer, in this course, and beyond!)
Warmly,
Zhenya
Olya, You say that transcribing when time allows--remember that you can have your students transcribe as part of a lesson and they can learn together with you--you learning more about teaching and what your students need to learn and they learning about what they need to learn and seeing their progress.
ReplyDeleteAt some point, I remember one of you, maybe you Olya, saying you were keen to do some action research that is both quantitative and qualitative. When you do any quantitative analysis, limit your analysis to counting--how many words each participant says, how many errors are made, what types of errors are made most and least, how much time are students given to complete a task, etc. Forget test scores and using any statistical formulas to find out correlations or probability. The statistical measures that are talked about in research articles in journals were developed to be used with very precise measurements that scientists can make--how many cells were killed, how many millimeters of one liquid are needed to remove algae from a pond, etc. They were not used for the rather gross data that we have available from recordings and transcriptions.
Re teacher groups, the internet is so powerful that we can meet regularly with others in other places very easily.