1.30.13 Post for Chapters 9-12

Reflections on Readings – Chapters 9-12: The Qualitative Dissertation

1.28.13

As I have said in previous reflections, I am grateful to be in this class and reading this text so early in my Ph.D. program.  Both are allowing me to think about what I might study and write about in my dissertation.  The reflective interludes are particularly helpful as I begin to “try out” various ideas and topics.  In this blog post, I am responding to a reflective interlude that came early in the assigned readings because they connect with where I am in my process.  Questions in later chapters will serve me well as I am further down the dissertation road.

Reflective Interlude 10.3:  With what discourse communities do I identify?  (p. 126)

First bullet: Where and in what ways and I engaged in ongoing conversations with others in my field?

I am engaged in ongoing conversations with others through my work here at the university (fellow graduate students, professors, students I work with in reading 430 class), with my Reading Recovery colleagues through Georgia State University and with co-workers at Anderson County Schools.    As part of my associate ship at UTK, I teach a reading 430 course.  I am interested in the experiences of the students in this course, and I wonder if this might be fertile ground for a research project.  They write reading responses each week, and I write them all back.  When I taught the course last semester, I felt like these responses were critical in developing relationships with the students and with informing me about what I needed to address in class.  This semester there is a new element to this course.  My committee chair is also teaching a course of this class.  We hope to talk together through the semester about the course and perhaps write something together.   This semester, I am also having the opportunity to work on a project with one of the professors at a local elementary school.  The professor is working with 2^nd and 3^rd grade teachers to improve their literacy practice.  I will be observing the interactions of the professor and teachers and possibly doing interviews with them about their experiences.

Though I am no longer officially affiliated with the Reading Recovery group through Georgia State University, I continue to have contact and conversations with my former colleagues.  I think the professional learning that we engaged in together for years helped us form a close knit and trusting learning community.  Unlike countless other “professional learning” I engaged in as a classroom teacher, this work was purposeful, meaningful, and challenging.  I wish for all educators to have this high quality experience and the support of an on-going community as they search to find what works for students.  I think that this particular professional development model is unique and could be studied so that readers may understand more about the model.   Through Georgia State, I also did some work with a Critical Friends group which is part of the School Reform Movement.  This group creates space for educators to come together to examine student work, work on proposals and presentations, and explore dilemmas in practice.  The group is collaboratively organized with facilitation of work sessions being shared by all within the community of practice.  The group uses protocols to structure conversations and investigate both student and practitioners work.  Interactions between group members in this group would also be interesting to learn more about…I wonder if there is potential for researcher here too.  

Lastly, I continue to have conversations with co-workers in my current part- time (used to be full time) school district.   I was a member of the Instructional Team which was led by the Director of Curriculum and Instruction.  The way this group operated was unlike anything I have ever experienced. It would be fascinating to look at the decision making process of this group…though I HIGHLY doubt I would be granted access to this intimate setting as a researcher.  Additionally, I am connected to the literacy coaches in the district.  There has not been a great deal of work on literacy coaches experiences and feel this is another potential for research. 

Just by answering this question, I was able to generate a rich resource list of communities and potential research projects.   Many of the contexts concern questions relating to student achievement, teacher/student interactions, pre-service teacher experiences, teacher/teacher interactions, professional learning opportunities, professional learning communities, and school improvement.

Last bullet – Who are noted practitioners and researchers in my field of study?  What issues are they writing about? To what extent have I been following their thinking and writing?  What strategies can I use to stay current with their work?

R. Allington – special education, summer reading loss, expert teachers, response to intervention. I have read almost everything he has published.  I just ordered his latest publication on summer reading loss.  I have a reading class here at UTK with Dr. Allington.  I have heard him speak on numerous occasions, and relate to much of what he writes about. We share many of the same opinions about teaching students of poverty, special education, what counts for effective teaching etc.

P. Johnston –  teacher language (Choice Words, Opening Minds), Response to Intervention.  I have read much of his work and have heard him speak several times, and connect very much with his beliefs and ideas.  

D. Fisher – writes about common core standards, rigor in teaching, guided instruction.  Keep up with his articles through ASCD.  Also have read text complexity book.  Student achievement focus.  Read about him because of work in part time school district.  I respect him as a researcher and thinker. 

M. Fullan – educational change, professional learning.  I just started his latest book, Professional Capital.  I have read some of his articles and have heard his name for years.  He is someone I need to know more about.

Akers and Dufour – Professional Learning Communities.   I have read their book about PLCs and would like to read one called, Whatever It Takes…about achieving school change.  I believe two of my “discourse communities” – Reading Recovery and Critical Friends qualify as professional learning communities and feel there work could inform whatever I ultimately settle on as a dissertation topic.

Project Update

                Yesterday was my first day “in the field” with my professor from the university.   She arranged 11 classroom visits so that I might meet all of the teachers involved in the project.   I was also able to meet the literacy common core coach and the principal, who are stakeholders in the project.  My professor met with the principal to further describe the research project and request a letter of support to accompany the IRB form.   My professor learned that the principal was not comfortable with teachers being interviewed.  He did not want to ‘put any more on them’.   My professor and I brainstormed some other options for interviewing.   The principal and assistant principal might be options.  We could ask them to talk about what they are noticing about their teachers as they are engaged in professional development.  I also wondered if I could interview my professor periodically about what she is noticing with the professional development opportunities she is designing.   We also talked about the observations I do focusing around the interactions between the teacher and my professor.    Perhaps the case study could be built largely around observations, artifacts, and reflections that occur via email.  My professor emails often with the teachers as a way to follow up with them.  My professor also emails the principal about her visit and interactions.

               

Project Update for 1.23.13

I am currently working on my Project Proposal that is due 1.24.13.  I received a copy of the submitted IRB from the professor I am working with, and that has been helpful in drafting the proposal.  I have determined the dates that I will visit the elementary school in order to vist and get to know the participants, conduct interviews and do observations.   I am also sorting through various articles and texts that would be helpful for case study research and the literature review for professional development.  I am hoping to finish the Project Proposal tomorrow.

Chapters 5-8 for 1.23.13

For this Blog post, I plan to explore some of the Reflective Interludes that are included in Chapters 5-8.

Reflective Interlude 5.1: How can I come to understand the worldview through which I am conceptualizing and conducting my dissertation research?

Though I am early in the PhD process, I have considered investigating the experience of Reading Recovery Teacher Leaders as they participate in professional development as a potential dissertation topic. Reading Recovery is a highly effective early literacy intervention for struggling first grade students.  The success is due, in part, to the well designed and on-going professional development in which the teachers and teacher trainers are engaged.    As a former Teacher Leader for Reading Recovery, I found my professional learning experiences to be of more applicable, more challenging and of higher quality than professional learning opportunities I had engaged in prior to my involvement in Reading Recovery.  I believe that classroom teachers and literacy coaches need and should have high quality professional development opportunities, and I wonder what could be learned from investigating RR TL experiences (are mine unique, or do most RRTLs find great value in their learning opportunities).  To my knowledge, nothing has been written on this subject.   

1)      A tentative and overarching research question might be … What is the experience of Reading Recovery Teacher Leaders as they engage in Professional Learning Sessions?

I am comfortable with the language of the question.  It is broad and conveys my intention – to get to the experiences of Reading Recovery teacher leaders.  I do value order (I like to be organized, I like checklists, and I like to FINISH projects)…but, I am not sure Certainty (with a capital C) exists.  In doing an investigation of this sort, I would be investigating the experiences of a given group of people.  I know that I have found great value in my learning experiences, and I believe others have too, but I wouldn’t say it is a certainty.   I am curious about what might arise in an investigation of this sort.

I see ambiguity as a reality, and I would welcome the opportunity to think about the ambiguity that might arise from a study of this sort.   I believe that each learner makes meaning of educational experiences in his or her own way.  I believe that there are aspects of what is “done” or planned for learners that may contribute to learning…for example, on-going opportunities for professional development might be an aspect that contributes to learning.  But, ultimately, learning is the responsibility of the individual.

2)      Currently, I am reading Professional Learning in the Learning Profession, which takes a look at all the research that has been done on professional development of educators.  I am looking at charts and tables and graphs and trends (often based on survey results), which are useful, but I am wondering about the voices of those that engaged in professional development.  What are they saying about their experiences? 

3)      For a study of this type, I am thinking that a case study might be appropriate.  I am looking at the experiences of a set of individuals around a “bounded” phenomenon – professional learning opportunities of Reading Recovery teacher leaders.   I would want to ask very few, broad questions so that I might get information about individual experiences (phenomenological).    The question and my preferred approach reveal what I believe to be legitimate knowledge – lived experience of individuals.  I assume knowledge is subjective and intersubjective.  To engage in a study of this nature, I would position myself as a participant.  I cannot separate myself from my past associations or beliefs in the intervention.   I would need to “come clean’ with my involvement to potential readers.

Reflective Interlude 6.1: In what ways am I developing myself as an instrument of inquiry?

“The self is the instrument that engages the situation and makes sense of it.  It is the ability to see and interpret significant aspects.  It is this characteristic that provides unique, personal insight into the experience under study.” (Eisner, 1991, p. 33 as cited in P&G p.59).

The concept of self as instrument of inquiry is exciting and provokes curiosity.  To me, it makes sense, as who you are and what you bring to the table in terms of experience cannot be changed, overlooked, or distanced from.  This part of the chapter made me think of Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink when he talks about how expertise in a given field allows an observer to “thin slice” an experience and see significant events.  As a researcher, expertise in the field does come to bear on an experience.  That prior experience or expertise should be acknowledged as part of the research experience.

Professional experiences as a case manager for at-risk families and youth have given me training and opportunities to practice active listening.  Since 2003, I have been a reading coach, working with teachers, interventionists and supervising other reading coaches.  These professional experiences have also required active listening skills.    As I continue to engage with teacher and coaches in my part –time work with the district, I am constantly honing my skills so that I might understand the experiences and needs of those I work with.

I think it is helpful to check understandings or assumptions with others.  In conversations, this is easy enough to do…reframing what you understand and asking conversational partners is helpful (“Do you mean”…., or “I think you are saying”….or “This is what I am hearing…”).  In a research situation, sharing transcripts and findings would be important.    Recently, I conducted teacher evaluations with a peer – this “calibration” was helpful in that it allowed us both to observe an event and discuss our understandings.  If I were engaged in a research study with a colleague, this type of interaction might challenge my interpretation of events or give me a different perspective etc.

Reflective Interlude 7.1: To What Research Genres Am I Drawn?

I have always enjoyed reading, literature, art, and writing – even as a child, those were my favorite subjects in school.  I liked learning about someone else’s experiences, taking a different perspective, and discovering what I really thought through writing.  As an undergraduate, I majored in psychology and minored in English…both allowed me to look at and reflect upon the human experience.  In graduate school, I majored in Education which a concentration in Special Education.  I have always been concerned with those that fell outside the definition of “typical” by those that consider themselves to be typical.  Though I am certified as a Special Educator, I was never employed through that certification.  I taught “regular education” classes but always had Special Education labeled students in my classes.   My graduate studies allowed me to think about individuals’ educational strengths and needs and how I might work with those within my classroom community.   Again, I enjoyed thinking about individual experience.  It is really no surprise that case studies and phenomenology interest me.  They seem logically connected to all I have known and been interested in before.   I would like to use my time in this class to learn more about both.

Reflective Interlude 8.1: What Raw Texts Might Inform My Study?

If I decide to look at the experience of Reading Recovery Teacher Leaders as they engage in professional development, a number of raw texts would be appropriate – interview transcripts, observation notes, field notes, artifacts pertaining to the sessions – agendas, evaluations, charts generated by participants.  Often, sessions involve video tapes – actual videos of teachers and students interacting, transcripts of video-taped interactions, core text used within the intervention – Literacy Lessons Designed for Individuals, Becoming Literate, Different Paths to Common Outcomes etc.   I think it will be possible for me to gain access to the text.  The video-taped lessons between teachers and students might be more complicated than the other documents, simply because it would involve getting parent permission.   For my introduction to qualitative research class, I gathered that type of information, but I did not do very much analysis.    I wonder if the study I will be doing with Dr. Broemmel this semester will allow me to practice analyzing these types of artifacts.

Reading reflections and project update for 1.14.13

Reading Reflections for 1.14.13

Lovitts article:

I related to the Lovitts’ article but in a backwards sort of way.  For the last 10 years, I have run various projects for my school district.  I analyzed student outcome data regularly and designed programs and professional development sessions for teachers based on what I noticed in the data and in my observations of teachers as they worked with students.   My job required me to work very independently and gave me a great deal of autonomy. I decided how my days were spent, how I reported progress to my superiors, and how projects were prioritized.   In order to come to UTK full time and take advantage of an associate ship and free tuition, I left my position and am doing only contract work with my former school district.  I continue to have a great deal of autonomy in my part-time work life, but not having the same kind of independence and autonomy at UTK has been an adjustment.  I am not used to living by an “assignment” checklist and compartmentalizing my projects into such limited time frames.    I have definitely enjoyed my first semester, and learned a great deal, but the type of work is so different and I have struggled to embody the role of “student” which came so easily to me 20 years ago!   I am wondering if I will be able to handle the “independent” aspect of the dissertation phase because I do have experience working independently and being self-motivated.  I do hope so.

This article also made me think about how we “do education” with elementary students.   In my experience, most instruction is about filling the ‘empty vessels’ and less about helping to develop independent, self-motivated, and reflective students.  Might more work around these types of goals change the types of workers and scholars those students become?  And, ‘creativity’ is not valued in education.  I think some of that is changing with the emphasis on the common core standards and constructed response in mathematics, but what I continue to see in classrooms are students in rows, working on the same kinds of assignments day after day, regardless of who they are, or what their strengths and interests are.  Getting the ‘right’ answer is what is honored, not coming up with a new idea, taking a different perspective, or working toward solving a complex problem.

Taking the GRE was a really frustrating experience for me.  I did well on it, but I resented having to jump through the hoop to get back into school.  My 14 year old step son said “If you haven’t done that kind of math in 20 years, why do you have to do it now?” as he watched me work practice problems over and over before taking the test.   It was just a task to survive, not something that had any real meaning for me.  Page 144 validated my frustrations with the statement “The GRE and the Miller Analogies are not good predictors of success in graduate school”.  If they aren’t predictive, then why on earth are they so heavily weighted in the application process? 

I found the Figure on p. 150 to be a useful way to think about the factors that contribute to degree completion and creativity.  The summary paragraph and the potential benefits of better alignment were also interesting.  I would like to see more people from diverse backgrounds racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically have access to higher educational opportunities.

Chapters 1-4 in The Qualitative Dissertation: A Guide for Students and Faculty by Piantanida and Garman

This is only my second semester back at school, so I have some time before I begin working on my dissertation.  I am grateful to have this text to be reading and thinking about as I am in the early stages of dissertation preparation.   It has caused me to ponder issues I haven’t before (guess that is the point…).

As I read these chapters, I connected much of what I read to my past experiences as a teacher and facilitator of professional development session for teachers.  On page 3, Holt’s comments about “learning” and “doing” resonated.  As a classroom teacher, my students worked in reading and writing workshop settings where they spent extended time actually engaged in reading and writing projects.  More than one administrator needed explanation and justification for why the students were “just reading or writing” instead of completing skill and drill worksheets related to direct instruction lessons.  As a Reading Recovery Teacher Leader, I worked with teachers as they were engaged in teaching.  They were “doing” and “learning” simultaneously in an “apprenticeship” kind of model.    I think this is how people learn best – actively engaged in the doing.  The sentence on p. 4 sums it up perfectly, “Successful acclimation to such a culture often engenders a stance of performing, doing, solving, and acting.”  To learn to be a reader, writer, teacher, or researcher…an individual has to be engaged in the “doing” of those activities.

On page 7, the authors talk about the importance of knowing the qualitative research within one’s particular field.  I am hoping to become more knowledgeable about the research that has been done related to teacher professional development as I take this course.   Even if my dissertation doesn’t end up being related to teacher professional development, I feel it will help me in my future positions, which I imagine will involve teacher professional development.  

The concepts of encapsulation and deliberation were unfamiliar to me as presented by the authors, Piantanida and Garman.  But, I can see my experiences through these concepts.  Last semester, I took a class that involved lots of meandering discussion.  To me, it seemed like endless pontification and the loudest voices were heard most often.  The talk rarely related to “practice” of any sort.   I respect the need for “deliberation”, but this example that comes to mind for me seemed rather extreme and lacked meaning.   On the flip side, I have been in meetings at work where there was little time given to “deliberation” - decisions were made and programs were implemented or abolished with little consideration of research and information about what truly works.  There is a definite need for careful thought, investigation, and inquiry, and I believe it should be connected to purposeful action.   A perfect example of this to me is Marie Clay’s work in emergent literacy that began in the late 1960s.  Her dissertation question was “How early can we see literacy learning in young children going astray?”  She deliberated by doing more than a hundred observations of kindergarten students as they engaged in literacy activities.  She determined that after a year of formal instruction, specific students could be identified as at-risk for literacy failure.  As a result, she designed an intervention, Reading Recovery that helps these identified students get back on track with their learning.  Her study was deliberate and thoughtful but it resulted in a practical, meaningful “action”.  Her theory of literacy learning also relates to comments on page 17…”ideas are treated as momentary conclusions that are always subject to revision and extension.”  Though she established a theory of literacy learning, she encouraged practitioners to remain “tentative and flexible” as they worked with individual students.

On page 19, the authors talk about the necessity of putting tentative thoughts “out there”.  I agree that it is essential to learning that learners take risks and wrestle with ideas as they are in formation.  I wonder if educational institutions set up structures so that those kinds of risk taking conversations can take place and are acceptable.  The whole notion of “grades” seems to be in contrast to the notion of risk taking.  I like the idea of think pieces – the concept seems to encourage tentativeness and discovery.   I suppose these reflective entries are similar to think pieces.

I am both excited by and intimidated by the prospect of writing a dissertation.  Because I am early in the process of pursuing my PhD, I have so many ideas of what I might like to focus on.  Struggling students, classroom practice, professional development for teachers, reading, writing, literacy are all important topics to me.  I am interested in what students say, what teachers say to students, and how teachers and students interact in classrooms.  I am worried about the emphasis on testing in our culture.  I am interested in the impact of all these sweeping reforms in education related to teacher performance as measured by student outcomes on a standardized measure.  All of these interests could lead me in a million directions, and I obsess over which topic to pursue!  I have to trust that a meaningful and manageable topic will present itself.  Right now, I am learning to trust the process.  I suppose I am experiencing “predisseration anxiety” as described on page 30.   Love the quote on page 33 “support for prolonged wallowing in anxiety is counterproductive.”

I can see myself in the Human Dilemma Puddle – “a desire to fix something, take corrective action, or improve a situation”.   I think teachers do not have the support and professional development opportunities they need.  They are charged with a huge responsibility in educating students and don’t have the necessary skills to do the job.  This is something I think needs to be improved.  I also believe that at-risk and struggling students do not have quality educational opportunities.  They are labeled and dumped into programs that are ineffective, inefficient, and are anything but “special”.   I do become angered by some of what I see in classrooms and believe students are entitled to more quality experiences.

I also see myself in the Practitioner Intervention Puddle – “students are well-regarded practitioners who have an intuitive sense of what works.  They approach the dissertation with a sincere and heartfelt desire to explain their practice for the benefit of others.”   My experiences within the Reading Recovery community has allowed me to see at-risk students receiving meaningful educational opportunities where they make gains and move from being “at-risk” to not “at-risk”.  Through this intervention, I have also seen teachers engaged in meaningful professional development opportunities.    Last semester, I did observations of and interviews with Reading Recovery teacher leaders as they participated in professional development sessions.  When asked to compare their PD experiences in RR with other PD experiences they had in their school districts, there was a clear difference.  The RRTLs talked about how practical and purposeful their PD was within the RR setting and what a “waste of time” the other PD was.  I believe all teachers should be involved in meaningful and useful professional development.  I wonder what can be learned from RR PD that could be applicable to all teachers.   

I suppose I have both “outrage” and “zeal” as I approach a dissertation topic…. I still live in the land of “nebulous ideas” as I am thinking about a specific study I might engage in.

Progress report on individual project

I am still trying to decide upon the scope of my project at this point.  I have communicated with the professor I am working with about this course and the various requirements.  I have asked her to provide some direction regarding the method/methodologies she intends to use for her study so that I may begin my investigation for that portion of my project.  Because she is focusing on professional development with teachers in an elementary school, I know I can begin to dive into the studies that have been done in that area.  I am currently reading Systems for Change in Literacy Education by Lyons and Pinnell.  I am also reading Professional Learning in the Learning Profession: A Status Report on Teacher Development in the U.S. and Abroad.  I believe both will be beneficial reads in their own right, and also point me in the direction of other relevant resources.  I am in the beginning stages of working on the proposal.  I am considering the ‘deliverables’ that would be most appropriate for this project.  At this point, I am thinking that an in process data set or in process data analysis would be most appropriate.  I am also wondering about a draft of a potential comps question.  I hope to speak to my chair about this as a possibility