Me?
Teacher-Researcher?
If someone
had told me
six months ago that I would enjoy research, I would have laughed at her. In fact, I felt a sense of dread as I
registered for EDUC 600, “Teacher as Researcher.”
However, I have to admit that teacher
research has transformed my teaching, my students, and me.
Let me start at the beginning and share my
journey with you. I hope my story will
inspire and change you just as the stories of other teacher-researchers
inspired and changed me.
As I began my
fifth year
of teaching, I felt burnt out. I was
excited because I looped from third to fourth grade with an amazing
group of
students, but as the school year continued, I was exhausted. I didn’t feel the drive or passion I used to
feel about teaching. The realities of my
profession truly hit me, and it wasn’t easy to manage. It was really
hard to
come home and forget all of the faces and lives I impacted everyday. I needed an outlet for my feelings, and that
was when I started my journal. Although
it was an assignment for my research class, I loved it!
Every night, I turned on John Coltrane or
Norah Jones, drank a cup of tea, and poured my happiness, sadness,
frustration,
and questions into my Dell. That was
when I felt a bit of change taking place inside me.
I had always
thought that
research was conducted by people who were not working in classrooms. I always thought that researchers were the
scholars, and we were just the teachers.
That is when I realized that I didn’t dread research, I was
intimidated
by it. However, as I read Living the
Questions: A Guide for Teacher-Researchers (1999), I began to learn
about
teacher-researchers, and my old ideas vanished.
In their book, Hubbard and Power prove that “teaching is research and research is teaching”
(p. 21). This book inspired and empowered
me. As I read the words of
teacher-researchers in
the midst of their studies, I realized that it was meant for me. That was what I needed to reinvigorate my
passion. I would become a
teacher-researcher.
The
Evolution
As
I continued to collect my thoughts, I
allowed my research question to evolve. Hubbard
and Power states that “the best research questions are located in a
taut spot
between two points…once you find a gap that needs to be traversed…you
have
found territory in your classroom that is ripe for questioning” (p. 25). After collecting my ideas and questions, I
found my gap. I was struck by a phenomenon
that was occurring in my classroom. I
was teaching the fourth grade social studies curriculum for the first
time, and it was extremely dry. I managed to plan “acceptable” units on
How
can my students become engaged in learning?
A multitude
of
subquestions emerged from my research question, and they helped focus
my
study:
Do
the students lack strategies used to comprehend the nonfiction social
studies textbook?
Do
they lack background knowledge?
Do
they have trouble working in groups, and therefore, cannot focus on
comprehension?
Would
they be more engaged in learning if they were participating in
“hands-on” activities
instead of reading the textbook?
Would
they become more engaged if the lessons were not “teacher-directed?”
After I
determined my
research question and subquestions, I
had to create a plan for my research. I
reflected on the words of teacher-researcher Myron Berkman from the
National
Writing Project (1996). He
acknowledges
that “as teachers, we are constantly making assumptions and judgments
about
what we see everyday…a teacher’s view of the classroom, while valuable,
is just
one piece of the puzzle” (p. 52). I
realized that although my journal would be a valuable research tool, I
also
needed to hear what my students had to say.
Therefore, I decided that I would use journals, interviews,
audiotapes,
and surveys to allow the voices in my classroom to emerge.
Student
Journal Number One
My first step
in determining
the answer to my question was to have my students respond in writing to
the
following question: What do you like or
dislike about social studies? At the
time the students responded to this question, they were reading the
socials
studies textbook aloud or to themselves, discussing the information,
and adding
the information to their “travel suitcases.”
The suitcase was a fun way for them to take notes as we
“traveled” from
region to region. After I collected
their responses, I analyzed their answers by color coding themes as
they
emerged. I noted that two themes were
prominent. The first was that the
students had difficulty comprehending the text.
One student wrote that “it is kind of hard to understand the
textbook,”
and another wrote that “social studies is hard to understand” (
I
also thought about how I feel about social studies.
I realized that I like to give them a passage
to read so that I can get myself organized.
I have been using this block of time to do some grading and
planning
since I have so much to do. I am more
impatient with their questions because I am focused on what I am doing
instead
of their learning. I think this is very
interesting. I also realized that when I
do teach, I am very teacher-directed. I
am the one who is presenting the information, and they copy information
into
their “travel suitcase.” This could be a
factor in their lack of interest.
As I
reflected on my journal
and my students’ journals, I realized that the students had every right
to be
bored with social studies. I wasn’t
doing anything to make it engaging for them.
Instead, I was giving them busy work.
My data initially showed that the students had a difficult time
comprehending the textbook and that the instructional technique I
implemented
affected their level of engagement. I decided to introduce a variety of lesson
formats and allowed the students to share their feelings about those
lesson
formats. I already collected data on how
they felt about teacher directed lessons.
My next step was to plan a group activity and a partner activity
and
gather data as they worked.
Group
Activity
For the group
activity,
the students had to read specific pages in the textbook, take notes,
and
present a lesson about their topic. I allowed the students to assign
responsibilities for every member. I
decided that while the groups were working, I would take observational
notes
and reflect on those notes in my journal at home.
At first I
struggled with
how I would take observational notes.
However, I devised a plan to watch two groups at a time, take
notes on
them, and then move to the other two groups.
I tried to strategically position myself so I could watch and
hear the
two groups and remain inconspicuous at the same time.
However, in my journal on
What
did you like or dislike about working in groups? Write
your reflections about working in
groups on this project.
The students’
journals confirmed
that some groups really struggled with cooperation.
One student vented by writing, “I would like
to change how some people are bossy and some are nice.
I think everybody should understand that
there is no I in team” (
Student
Interviews
After
analyzing my students’
journals, some insight was beginning to emerge.
However, I wanted to learn more. Because
of parent-teacher conferences, I lost my social studies time, and I was
unable
to move to the partner activity.
Instead, I decided to create a generic interview and conducted
interviews with every student. To
analyze the data collected in the interviews, I created a master list
of the
questions and all of the answers. Then I
coded the answers to look for themes. Finally,
I wrote a reflection about the themes I found in the answers to the
questions. I was excited because the
data corroborated with the data from the journals.
The most
important thing
I learned from the interviews was that the students lacked strategies
to
comprehend informational text. I had
assumed the students knew how to read and comprehend the textbook, but
this
interview showed that my perception was incorrect.
When the students were asked how they learn
social studies, they couldn’t verbalize appropriate strategies that
they would
implement to aid their comprehension. One
of my highest students said there was too much information on one page
and he
would like to be able to break it down, but he didn’t know how. When asked how they would help another
student learn in social studies, most of the students said they would
“help”
someone, but again, they couldn’t explain appropriate strategies to
help. In addition, when asked what they
would like
to do better in social studies, many students said, “understand it
better.” This showed me that I didn’t
take enough time to work with the students and teach them comprehension
strategies.
The
interviews continued
to show interesting data. I asked the
students to name someone who was good at social studies, and they had
to
explain why that student was good. The
answers showed that the students associated being good at social
studies with
being good at cooperating. When I
thought about the inception of this assumption, I realized that they
associated
being good at social studies with being good at cooperating because
they were
working on the cooperative group activity at the time of the interview. Although many students said they enjoyed
working in cooperative groups, many students also said that they wanted
to
cooperate better. I realized that when I
asked them to work in groups to create the lessons, I failed to provide
them
with an appropriate structure for cooperative learning.
Partners
in Learning
Because I
observed a
group activity, I wanted to see if the students felt differently about
working
with a partner. I designed an activity
where each pair had to determine the climate, resources, landforms, and
bodies
of water of a particular state. Then we
put the states together and analyzed the region as a whole class. Once again, I decided to take observational
notes. As I was observing the pairs, I
noticed one pair that was working very well.
My observational notes about this pair stated “talking in silly
voices
but working. Asked excellent questions
about labeling resources- coloring together.
Focused entire time.” After the
students completed the activity, I had the students respond in writing
to the
following question: What did you like
about social studies today? I stapled
the partners’ reflections together so when I analyzed the responses, I
could
compare how each partner perceived the activity. On
I
really liked doing this way of social studies.
It was a lot more fun than doing it with groups.
My partner worked great with me, and we got a
lot done. It wasn’t boring at all. We laughed sometimes and sometimes we were
serious. This is the best!
It’s not hard. I used to not like
social studies but now
it’s fun! I think I did really good. We should do this kind of way more often!
After reading
all of the
comments, I began coding the papers for common themes.
Overall, the students enjoyed the partner
activity. However, I was amazed to find
that 11 students, including the student above, mentioned that they
enjoyed the partner
activity because they “got a lot of work done” (
Initial
Conclusions
My student
journals and
the interviews provided a wealth of information. I
began to notice that themes were emerging,
and I was beginning to learn how my students became engaged in learning. First, I noticed that the students lacked
comprehension strategies for reading informational text.
This seemed to cause a lack of student
engagement. Second, I noticed that when
I taught the lessons, my students were bored, but they became more
engaged as I
changed the lesson format. My
instructional technique affected their engagement.
Third, I noticed that my students had a
preference in how they learn. They became
more engaged when they had to cooperate in groups or work with a
partner, but
they wanted more structure for group work.
Finally, I noticed that my students were engaged when they were
able to
accomplish their work goals.
One
Student’s Piece of the Puzzle
I wanted to
delve into
those themes. I decided to interview one
of my highest students. This time I
decided to tape the interview so I could transcribe and analyze her
answers to
gain further insight. In addition, I
created questions that addressed the themes that I saw emerging. This process was fascinating! Although this student was only one
piece of
the puzzle, she provided a wealth of information that shed light on my
research. When asked what she liked
least about social studies, she said that she didn’t like learning
about new
landforms because “there’s a lot of them and it’s kind of confusing to
me”
(3/25/04). In
addition, she said that in the textbook,
“they use big vocabulary, and, like, I don’t really understand it.” Her favorite activity was a simulation
activity we completed on
Literature
Connections
As the themes
emerged, I
wanted to learn more about these topics.
In addition, Hubbard and Power state that the “willingness to
link
research to reading, regardless of genre, can lead to creative leaps in
thinking and writing” (p. 163). Since
the students lacked comprehension strategies, I wanted to learn more about teaching
informational text. Therefore, I referred
to Guiding Readers and Writers in the Middle Grades by Irene
Fountas and
Gay Su Pinnell because my school uses this book as a resource for our
reading
program. Fountas and Pinnell state that
“informational texts contain ideas, facts, and principles related to
the physical,
biological, or social world” (p. 399). Informational texts can be picture books,
essays, articles, diaries, journals, reference books, brochures, etc. They state that informational texts help the
students develop “content literacy” which “involves the strategies
required to
read, comprehend, and write informational texts in a variety of
subjects” (p. 400). Students must
learn how to summarize,
collect information, synthesize information, and connect learning to
prior
knowledge. The students must be aware of
the features that are included in informational texts such as print
features,
graphic aids, organizational aids, and illustrations.
They need to learn how to use these features
to comprehend their reading.
Informational texts also follow a variety of structures, and
they
explain that the students must be familiar with the structures so they
can
implement strategies to comprehend their reading. The
text structures include description,
temporal sequence, comparison/contrast, cause and effect,
problem/solution. After obtaining a
background on informational
text, I also wanted to read a practical book that showed how to put
these ideas
into practice. I found a book entitled Comprehension Activities for Reading in
Social Studies and Science
by Leann Nickelsen (2003). She
states
that teachers have to use the textbooks mandated by their district,
which is
the truth in my case. She gives ideas
about how teachers can lead their students to comprehend these
difficult
textbooks. She believes that teachers
should integrate social studies and science into reading.
She quotes Becoming a Nation of Readers
(1985) as stating, “the most logical place for instruction in most
reading and
thinking strategies is in social studies and science rather than in
separate
lessons about reading. The reason is
that the strategies are useful mainly when the student is grappling
with important
but unfamiliar content” (p. 4).
Nickelsen also makes a statement that struck my research: “informational writings tend to be the most
difficult for children to comprehend because they often deal with
abstract,
unfamiliar concepts” (p. 5). She also
made a statement that seemed to answer one of my questions. She said, “by using the strategies in this
book, you can help students succeed at reading expository material…they
will
spend more time on social studies…They’ll comprehend more and enjoy
learning”
(p. 5). This was what I was searching
for! She quoted Patricia Cunningham from
her book Classrooms that Work as stating that informational
texts “answer
questions, encourage critical thinking, stimulate interest and
curiosity,
create a sense of wonder, develop understanding of people, place, and
things,
provide rich vocabulary, stimulate the making of connections, enlarge
the
storage of background knowledge, and engage students in multiple ways
of
knowing/thinking/behaving” (p. 5).
Research
Creates
Change
As
I compared and contrasted these two sources, I gave myself time to reflect on how it
affected my research and my
teaching. I was finishing the states and
regions unit with my students. Because I
team teach science and social studies, I was about to begin teaching
the unit a
second time with another class, and I wanted to use my research to
improve my
teaching. In my journal on
I
read the Fountas and Pinnell chapter and the book by Nickelsen. I
made a huge
realization. I failed to activate and
develop background knowledge for my kids.
I was in such a rush when I was planning and when I was teaching
that I
just jumped right into the textbook! I
didn’t teach them strategies for reading the textbook or how to
approach the
variety of text features in the book. I
just assumed they already knew how to do that.
I also assumed they understood words like region, climate,
resources,
etc. I was so shocked at myself as I
read these books! Now I realize why my
students are struggling. I did not
activate their background knowledge,
develop key vocabulary, or
develop map skill strategies that they needed to comprehend the text. I realized that I didn’t teach my students
the format of the text in the textbook.
It’s in the teacher’s manual, but I missed it.
I’m so happy that I get to teach this unit
again. I took all of these realizations
and changed the way I will teach the beginning of the unit. I am taking a week and a half to develop
vocabulary, map skills, and text format.
I’m using some of the activities in Nickelsen’s book. I will write how I think this affects my
students.
The learning
from my
research permeated my teaching not only in social studies, but in
reading as
well. On
I am beginning a unit on
historical fiction. I was ready to have
my students begin reading the book, and then I realized I needed to
activate
and develop their background knowledge.
They will read a Dear America book about a girl who
lived in
As I
continued to reteach
the states and regions unit, and as I included changes I made because
of my
research, my data was confirmed. In my
journal on
In
social studies, I had the students work in groups to create posters for
key
vocabulary words. The words were
climate, geography, location, region, natural resource, land form, and
physical
feature. I am embarrassed to admit that
I did not do this with my last class. I
assumed they knew the meaning of these vocabulary terms.
I realized that even I didn’t know the subtle
difference between “weather” and “climate.” They
worked in groups to find the definition,
they wrote the definition on poster paper, and then they illustrated it. They gave a presentation to teach the meaning
of the word. I have to say that the kids
were truly engaged in this activity.
They were using their index and glossary. I
feel that this was a very important
activity.
In addition,
on
Today
the students completed a worksheet on new vocabulary.
They had to think about what they thought the
word meant, and then use it in a sentence.
We discussed what they thought the words meant.
The words were geographical terms like
plateau, mountain, plains, canyon, etc.
Then they created vocabulary cards for each word.
They were able to illustrate the words. Then
they had to go back and create a
sentence that showed the true meaning of the word.
The students really enjoyed this activity as
well. Once again I hate to admit that I
did not do this with my kids! I am truly
shocked at myself, and I am beginning to realize that a lack of
background
knowledge could be one of the main reasons the students were not
engaged. They didn’t understand the
meaning of the
landforms they had to find in the textbook.
In the interview I transcribed, my student said, “I didn’t
really like
when we had to, like, you learn about these new landforms, and I
understand it,
but there’s a lot of them, and it’s kind of confusing to me.” She is one of my brightest students, so if
she didn’t know the definitions, then I am sure many of the other
students were
confused too. I took her comment into
account, and this was one of the main reasons I created these new
lessons. She was right!
I was so
proud of myself
because I used my research to improve my teaching.
I made some changes when I retaught the unit,
and the effects were amazing. The
students were excited, energetic, and engaged in their learning. Because this discovery made such an impact on
my teaching, I wanted to delve into another theme that had emerged in
my
research.
New
Forms of Data
I had
collected data as
the students were in the midst of the activities. Since
my students were finished with social
studies and involved in their science lessons, I wanted them to reflect
on all
of the lesson formats and rate them. I
also
wanted to collect data in a new way, so I decided to give my students a
survey. I asked them to rate the partner,
group, and
teacher-directed activities on a scale of 1 to 5 (see attached survey). 1 meant they did not like it, 3 meant it was
ok, and 5 meant they really liked it. We
discussed how to use the score of a 2 and a 4.
After the students completed the survey, I decided that I wanted
to represent
the data visually, so I presented their ratings in pie graphs (see
attached). The graphs showed that the
students preferred working in partners.
62% of the students scored the partner activity as a 5. 29% scored the cooperative group activity as
a 5. Only 4% scored the teacher directed
lessons as a 5. This data confirmed
that the students preferred group and partner work over
teacher-directed
lessons. At
the end of the survey, I included the
following question: “This unit will be
repeated for the next class. Is there anything you suggest the teacher
removes,
changes, or adds to make the unit better?”
Only a few students responded to this question, so I wanted to
analyze
their responses. I typed their
responses, printed them out, and then cut them up.
I sorted them into common ideas. I
was stuck, so I invited two other teachers
into my classroom and asked if they could identify any connections. They gave me some great ideas and opened my
eyes to connections I was unable to make.
I found two main points the students were making.
First, the
students
showed me that they want to be engaged in their learning by searching
and
participating. One student wrote, “Don’t just give them
the information have them do some research,” and another student wrote,
“I suggest you take out the
second thing- read out loud SS book to the
class/ teacher
tells us what to write (too easy)” (4/14/04).
Those
comments fascinated me! Teachers often
think students are lazy and try to complete the least work possible,
but those
comments refuted that idea. My students
were
saying that they did not want me to give them the facts.
Instead, they wanted to find them on their
own. I also thought it was funny that
they mentioned that the activity I gave them was too easy.
I learned that they equate easy with being
bored. Challenging work engages
them. There must be something about
researching or searching that engages them.
I had made social studies teacher-directed, but they proved many
times
that they didn’t like that.
Second,
I found that the students wanted to work together.
One student wrote, “You could have us work in
pairs for more than one region” (
Cutting up the
quotes and
putting them into categories allowed me to look for new connections. I never knew my students wanted to be
challenged, and I don’t think I would have learned this information by
simply
reading the surveys. I also found it
very beneficial to have other teachers look at the quotes for
connections. This enabled me to gain
feedback from
teachers who were not immersed in the research and who were able to
give me
unbiased feedback. I felt that I was
looking at my data through a filter, and I felt it was beneficial to
have other
teachers look at my data for new connections.
It also helped me confirm that I was on track with my data
analysis.
Cooperative
Learning
This
new form of data also led me to search for more literature. Because the students proved that they were
engaged when they worked together, I searched for literature on cooperative learning. A colleague in my school raved about the
cooperative learning structures created by Dr. Spencer Kagan, and my
school
conducted workshops on his structures, so I decided to read an article
about
his research. In his article, Kagan
Structures: Research and Rationale
(2001), Kagan states that his cooperative learning structures are based
on a
variety of learning theories from multiple intelligences to
transference
theory. The structures teach thinking
skills, social skills, improve student character, and prepare students
for the
workplace of the future. He proves that
if cooperative learning is not structured correctly, the students will
be
unable to successfully cooperate. He
believes that best practice for cooperative learning is to give
students
successful structure. Again I was
excited because this helped me realize why my students preferred
partner work
to group work: I hadn’t taught them a
successful structure for group work. I
am planning on attending the workshops in my school, with the idea of
implementing
one or two structures next year.
Multiple
Intelligences
My students
clearly
showed me that they were not engaged in learning because I did not
present
lessons that matched their learning style.
I simply presented the information in a teacher-directed manner,
and
they did not find this effective as it failed to engage them in
learning. Spencer Kagan mentioned
“multiple intelligences”
in relation to his cooperative learning structures.
Therefore, I read information about Howard
Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences.
In an interview with the
National Education Association (1999), Howard Gardner explains
that his
theory of multiple intelligences states that every person has a set of
intelligences, and a person learns best when he is able to use his
dominant
intelligence.
Implications
As I began
the data
analysis, I was nervous that I wouldn’t be able to find what engaged my
students
in learning. However, the answers
emerged from my students’ voices and from my own voice.
I was amazed at everything that occurred over
the past few months. I created a plan, I
collected data, analyzed it, and found ways to allow the answers to
change my
teaching. I liked that I was able to
collect data and analyze it immediately.
I had to move with the data because I wanted to implement
changes when I
retaught the unit.
Four answers
emerged. First, the most powerful answer
to my question was that the students’ lack of strategies needed to
comprehend
nonfiction text and lack of background knowledge led to a lack of
engagement in
learning. As I was reading the
literature, I read charts, tables, and graphs.
I realized that someone had taught me how to garner information
from
these elements of nonfiction text, yet I failed to realize that I
needed to do
the same for my students. I have to
admit that teaching the unit a second time with changes was a powerful
experience. As I wrote in my journal on
Although I’ve finished collecting data,
I can’t
help but mention the difference between the class I’m teaching now and
my
class. I had this class create and
present information in groups. It’s the
same group activity that my students completed, but the difference is
amazing. For this class, reading and
taking notes was a breeze. They
organized the jobs that needed to be completed, and they created their
lessons. Some of the lessons even included
the
definitions of new vocabulary. I was very
impressed with the group that presented climate because they defined
the
various climates of the region before they told the class what areas
had that
climate. It was so cool!
I truly believe that teaching them the
strategies to comprehend the text and providing them with background
knowledge
made the difference. They LOVED this
activity. They were excited and
engaged. This continues to give me proof
that developing background knowledge and teaching comprehension
strategies
helps students engage in learning.
This
continues to
fascinate me, and I continue to read about teaching nonfiction text. I have approached my principal about teaching
content reading instead of social studies and science next year. I explained my research, and she is very
willing
to give me support in this area of interest.
I cannot believe how this research has affected my teaching in
the
present and how it will affect my teaching in the future.
The second
answer that
emerged was that my instructional technique truly affected my students’
level
of engagement. In addition, my students
had a preference in how they learned. Now,
I continually analyze my teaching to ensure that I present my lessons
in a
variety of formats. I realize that I
have a teaching style that I prefer, but I have learned from my
students that
my style may not match their learning style, and I need to provide
teaching
that matches their needs.
Third, in
connection with
learning style, I realized that my students became more engaged when
they had the
opportunity to learn and work together.
However, they said that they needed more structure to be
successful at
cooperative learning. I plan on
attending workshops on cooperative learning, and I want to implement
one or two
structures next year. I do believe it
will make a difference.
Finally, I
realized that
my students became more engaged when they were able to accomplish their
work
goals. They didn’t want me to give them
information, they wanted to search for their knowledge.
In the future, I would like to continue to
determine how I can work with my students to continue to guide them
along this
positive path in learning.
Changes
Although I
have mentioned
the positive nature of my research, there are changes that I would have
liked
to make. First, I have realized the
benefit of research partners. I read
about the value of a research community in Hubbard and Power, but I
didn’t
believe it until I asked some of my colleagues to analyze some of my
data. They provided me with a wealth of
information. I also thrive on the support
and
encouragement given to me by my colleagues.
Conducting research alone was difficult, and I would have liked
to
further involve teachers in this process to help me gain an unbiased
lens for
my data analysis.
I would have
also liked
to collect data from the new social studies class and compare and
contrast the
data to what I collected from my class.
That was my original plan, but I realized that I was
overwhelming myself
with data. I wanted to narrow the scope of
this research to my class.
Finally, I
would have
liked to use photographs as a method of data collection.
I did not understand how they would provide
data, so I did not use that as a method of data collection. However, as I viewed the pictures of a
research partner in class, I realized that they could have provided
information
for my research. I now realize that I
shouldn’t have made my judgment about the data collection method until
I
implemented it.
Yes.
Me.
Conducting
research in my
classroom is exactly what I needed to reinvigorate my passion and feel
energetic about teaching again. It felt
so good to be excited about planning and teaching.
After I finished writing up my research, I
laughed to myself. In essence, my research
about engaging my students in learning actually helped me to engage in
my
teaching.
References
Fountas,
comprehension,
genre, and content literacy.
Gardner,
H. (1999, March ). Interview with Howard Gardner. NEA Today: Extra!
Extra!
Retrieved
Hubbard,
R. & Power, B. (1999).
Living
the questions: A Guide for
teacher-researchers.
Kagan,
Spencer. (2001). Kagan structures:
Research and rationale. Kagan's
Online
Articles.
Retrieved
Articles/FreeArticles/ResearchRationale.html
National Writing
Project Urban Sites Network.
(1996). Cityscapes: Eight views from the
urban
classroom.
Nickelsen, LeAnn. (2003).
Comprehension activities for
reading in social studies and science. New