BTAR Ch. 7

BTAR Ch. 7

Telling the Story of Your Action Research

When I think about presenting my research or as the book puts it, “going public,” I try to imagine it as something that is useful and possibly inspiring to other teachers that work in a similar area of special education. I want to find the best way of showing how this project is personal to me but at the same time I do not want to come across as if I am ranting, complaining, or preaching. The authors try to tear down the myth of the “academic” voice and I appreciate their efforts. When I read academic papers, most of them have a similar voice. My goal is to avoid this academic voice and to find my own.

Traditionally, academic language is valued and thus papers written in this way will be better received. This however leads to the very dry writing style that we have come to stereotype academic writing as. I want to make a point, I want to show objective data, I want to clearly lay out my thoughts and ideas so that it can be understood by virtually anyone. This is the tension between the professional and the personal that they talk about.

I appreciate the many tips given to guide the “going public” process. Understanding and clearly communicating the purpose of the research and understand the audience that will be reading it is very important to me. I feel like I know where I want to go in these areas. I am just not exactly sure how to get there. As I experiment with different ideas and data collection tools, I am beginning to see why the authors are constantly telling us that we need to let our critical question change and evolve.

Finally, this chapter lays out a very clear road map to developing the action research paper. This will be very useful to me as it conforms to the way that I like to put a paper together; section by section, linked by interlocking ideas and concepts. I think that I might even start an outline of my paper rather soon and build in the information and content as it comes to me. Later next year as I am conducting my research and gathering new ideas and data I can incorporate into this project.

BTAR Ch. 6

BTAR Ch. 6

Final Data Interpretation

The chapter begins by challenging us to define interpret. My definition would be; to reconstruct a message in a more understandable form. The authors draw a line between interpretation as instruction and as provocation. This is a difficult concept for me. I want to ANSWER my critical question at times. I want to do an experiment and solve the mystery. The authors suggest that we never truly solve these types of problems and that we never find “truth.” I agree with this concept when it comes to many claims, even many scientific claims.

This book can be frustrating. At times it is describing technical means of data collection and analysis and then quickly turns to “personal meaning making.” These shifts from hard scientific techniques and processes to the “touchy-feely” makes for confusion.

I like the clarity of the general steps to data collection. The tip of taking time with the data, revisiting it, and analyzing it over many sittings makes sense to me. I am familiar with a few data analyzing tools, such as excel pivot tables and slicers, and I know I will use that tool. The other ideas, including, mind mapping, color coding, and charting the “thought-know-want to know” of the data will be helpful and make logical sense to me for my research. However, I will not know until I attempt these processes and use these tools.

Finding colleagues and mentors to bounce ideas off of has always been helpful to me. With my research question in particular I will need to hear from multiple self contained classroom teachers in order to get a feel for what works best for building a strong staff work environment. The book suggests seeking out different perspectives as one of the many layers of data interpretation.

Finally we are given the criteria for trustworthy teacher action research. The idea that jumped out at me the most was “thick data.” This means using multiple perspectives, consulting with mentors and distant colleagues, and illustrating the themes of the research and your recommendations in a way that shows you are on a thorough and unique journey toward improving yourself as a teacher.

BTAR Ch. 5

Ongoing Data Analysis

I am immediately struck by the distinction between data analysis during the research project and final data interpretation after the study is completed. This is a distinction that I have not considered before and I generally assumed that while you might "peek" at your data as you gathered it, analyzing it would not be beneficial until you completed the length of your study. The chapter goes on to outline important terms and techniques for research data.

Analysis : Breaking down data into smaller pieces. A dissection to look at each part.
Synthesis: Putting all of the parts together to observe the data as a whole. Looking for what the big picture is telling us from our data.
Deconstruction: Taking apart our methods and looking to see where we might be influencing data or making assumptions about the data.
Contextualization: This is a meta process of viewing how we view data. Understanding who we are as observers. Understanding the culture, location, historical influences, social influences, etc. that may be skewing our view of the data.

We have been given the task to start an observation protocol and I am finding it difficult to perfectly locate my targets, however chapter 5 suggests being open to ongoing data analysis that changes, adapts, and evolves as the study progresses. I know that I will need to do this with my critical question. Ultimately, chapter 5 is urging us to be mindful of the data that is coming in, journal our thoughts, make notes on what is working and what is not, be open to the possibility that our focus could shift as the data reveals new information, and to deeply analyze where we could be missing something or making mistakes based on our contextual views.

Designing Research

Moving from the conceptual to the execution of a study, specifically my unique study area of teambuilding among instructional assistants, is a deep concern of mine. Infact I have been weighing the idea of making a dramatic shift in my research focus to better allow me to approach this project from a slightly more traditional direction. Similar thoughts begin to arise when I consider the implementation of my strategies. At the moment I am considering team building, staff meeting, and group involvement strategies to “test” on the staff that will be under my supervision. My goal is to build better communication and sense of “team” within the staff that will ultimately have positive effects on the students in our class. I can already imagine implementation fidelity issues with my current plan.

I do not think that having a comparison group will apply to my current research question. However I could see using interviews and narrative reports from staff on their previous experiences in self contained classes as a form of comparison to the interventions that I would like to implement.

The design experiment, described in the article is interesting and I think it might be more applicable to my study. I have a goal (staff feeling appreciated/part of a team) and I want to try various tools to increase this feeling among the people I work with. Perhaps this is a direction I should go…

In general I would say that this article is scaring me off my current area of interest, which is too bad because i am passionate about the importance of building and maintaining a cohesive team for self contained classrooms. As I read through the measurements section, I found myself wondering “how will i get multiple measures of the ‘feeling’ of being appreciated and part of a team?” This is just another of the many concerns that are bubbling up for me.

*Steve, if you think that I am way off base with my general idea of studying IA staff as it relates to their perceived levels of appreciation and “team,” please tell me.

They Say, I Say Ch 4

Ch 4

“Yes / No / Okay,But”

Three Ways to Respond

The chapter immediately addresses a thinking problem that I often encounter. “I am not smart enough to disagree with the experts.” The chapter lays out three ways to respond to researchers ideas, agreeing, disagreeing, or a combination. I appreciate the simplified approach to get the writer started. I often struggle with how to get into the conversation with the researcher/author, but just simply stating my agreements and disagreements is simple and makes sense.

The disagreement templates are useful and looking at simple examples triggers many memories of reading similar sentences frames in the research paper that I am currently looking at.I also found the agreeing with a difference or addition to be thought provoking. Saying, “I agree that X benefits Y but I can also see it adding to Z…” This is a method that I will use in my upcoming action research paper. The “yes but …” statements are also clearly outlined but I find them to lack the strength of argument that I would want to convey in my writing.

BTAR Ch. 4

Ch. 4 BTAR  Questions

Content Questions
1. The analogy of curriculum design can be used for action research in most cases. Creating the basic frame work of where you want to go with your lesson, why it is important, and how you will get there, maps on to both a curriculum plan and an action research project.

2. Having a critical question is the foundation of action research. The action research plan is a guide for how to get the best possible answer to your question. This is an area where I have been struggling. I am starting to see that the more refined and directed my action research question becomes, the easier it is to see a path to answering that question.

Process Questions
1. I think I will be able to find a balance with my particular question because I will be immersed in the environment and working with the instructional assistants that I am studying and questioning. My position in the study will be very beneficial because I am an instructional assistant and I want to learn how to better work with, direct and lead instructional assistant under my supervision in the near future.

2. My action research project is to understand special education instructional assistants in self contained classes. I want to know how they view their roll within the class, how they view the teachers roll, and how they best work within that self contained class as a team to best serve their students.  - - After talking to a classmate, I know that I need to get more specific about what I want to know. In general I want to make the job of an IA more fulfilling, more enjoyable, and more cohesive with the teacher/supervisor. I want to find out HOW to do that by interviewing and studying IAs and  teachers. Now I am seeing that I have more work to do in refining my question.

Chapter 3 Content Questions:

1. Triangulation means to use 3 measurements to locate a point in a space or region. This metaphor fits action research well. A more complete action research project will look at a question from different viewpoints (or coordinates). Looking from 3 points of view will allow the researcher to more accurately locate their question and its implications.
2. Action research is based on the idea of asking a specific question about your work in education. As we dig into this question we need to use research methodology tools to sift for our specific question.
1. Will the research methods help us return to the critical question? If yes, then the methods are purposeful.  
2. The focus of our research methods need to shine a light directly onto our critical question in order to be considered focused.
3. More data does not make it more trustworthy. Data that relies on research from distant colleagues and draws from multiple perspectives will be the most trustworthy.
3. “Open, honest, and above all do no harm” - my slogan acknowledges the idea of informing the students that you are researching about what you are in fact looking for. It also tells us that we should be transparent with staff, administrators and parents. Finally, our research should not take away from the educational experiences of our students. We are embedded in classes already and doing our jobs, our research should be designed to fit this context but never take away from what we are doing in the classroom.

Chapter 3 Process Questions

1. Time is always a limiting factor. Time is needed to design, implement and analyze collected data. The size and scope of your research is also a limiting factor due to how we are positioned in our jobs within the school we may not be able to get a solid cross section of students. Acknowledging these limitations and designing your research to look at your specific question in your specific context will make the process easier on ourselves.
2. The context is essential to my action research design. Because I am able to observe and survey students and teachers in general ed core content classrooms, my research design will be tailored to that context. I want to capitalize on the resources and access that I have in my current position by designing my research to fit where I am now.
3. For the students that I have a good connection with they are often surprised and excited to know that I am “in school just like they are.” I hope that these conversations will lead to students working with me with an open mind on my research question.
4. I anticipate my survey being difficult for students to assign a number value to how they see themselves as note takers. I will try to set up my questions to make them clear and I want my students to feel comfortable enough to give open and honest answers. To accomplish this I will try to survey students I have a good relationship with and possibly offer a small reward for their purposeful participation.

They Say, I Say Ch. 3

I immediately appreciated the authors focus on finding the correct balance of quotations in our research writing. Personally, I struggle with finding a proper balance in my own writing.  Some time has passed between my undergraduate course work and finding myself here in the Pacific University special education masters program. Writing some of these papers has been a challenge for me. The authors are speaking directly to me when they warn of quoting with anchoring the quote to the context of what I am trying to say. To solve this issue the “quotation sandwich” is suggested. I like this framework and will try to use it more. Again, as I have previously stated in other blogs on this book, I appreciate the sentence frames. They are like training wheels to get beginning writers, like myself, up and moving.