Teacher Research is a subject that I had not given much thought to prior to the work that we have done with it in Methods this semester. After developing my own idea for what to research throughout my student teaching semester, I learned a lot about how to go about actually performing and using the research that I planned to execute. One of my favorite methods came from our textbook, Living the Questions: A Guide for Teacher Researchers, by Ruth Shagoury Hubbard and Brenda Miller Power. Shagoury and Power introduce the concept of sociograms. Sociograms are basically mini surveys that teachers ask their students to complete. Questions may include something such as "List the three students in class that you would most like to have lunch with." By having students complete sociograms, a teacher may gauge which students hold social power in the class. This information can further be used to develop observations regarding teacher research.
In my own Research Brief, I have decided to explore the presence of introverted students in the classroom. I want to learn how to incorporate these students into activities such as discussion so that they may participate in a way that is comparable to that of extraverted students. This choice is a personal one, as I have an introverted personality, and have had to attempt to "grow out of it" throughout my educational experiences in order to achieve better grades (and eventually to become a teacher!).
In my own teacher research, I plan to use sociograms to monitor the distribution of social power in the classrooms in which I will be working. I want to test whether or not this power is held exclusively by extraverts, or if introverts also sometimes hold social power in the class. Additionally, I feel that this information will be useful to helping me to formulate methods for integrating shy students into class discussions.
As for reflecting on the semester, I have definitely learned a lot in Methods, and as a result feel much more prepared to enter public schools as a student teacher next semester. I am so excited to use the knowledge and methods that I have learned in our class to use. Having to extensively plan lessons and units has made me much more aware of how I put lessons and text together. Additionally, I feel like I received a reality check in the complications of teaching reading, writing, and grammar all in the same units. Overall, I would just like to say thank you for a great class, and I will be looking forward to student teaching! I hope that I can do our class proud!
No comments:
Post a Comment