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.