Teacher Research In Freshman seminar – Yes, really!

November2, 2011

Poster Presentation at the NAECTE Pre-Conference of the NAEYC 2011 Annual Conference & Expo

November 2-5, 2011 Orlando, FL

Lynn Hartle, Ph.D. lch1@psu.edu

Professor of Education

Where Can I Access the Session Information?

All handouts, Power Point, Course syllabi, etc are posted for download from the WIKI that I created.

Go to http://tinyurl.com/LHartleTeacherResearch

lch1@psu.edu with questions.

What is Teacher Research?

Teacher research is the disciplined inquiry undertaken by educators and other practitioners in order that they may improve their own practices in their own classrooms.

It is a systematic, reflective and collaborative process used to examine practices and individuals for the purposes of planning change (Calhoun, 2002; Hopkins, 2002; Hubbard & Power, 1993; Jarvis, 1998).

Teacher research is a personal journey, the inspiration, the tools for collecting data and steps for collecting data must also be crafted to the teacher’s study.

Every great teacher is a researcher, and can be a GREAT researcher….

…if he/she has to have the skills to be able systematically collect and analyze data

In November, Mr. Redfeather realized that ……children in his first grade at Eagle Ridge Elementary had the widest range of math skills he had ever noticed during his three years of teaching.

The other two first grade teachers also commented on students' wide range of skills and knowledge. Some children were still working on making sets of numbers 1- 10, while others understood and could perform some simple multiplication problems. Still others were somewhere in between in this continuum of development and could perform simple addition problems by using manipulative materials.

That year, Mr. Redfeather had a University intern, Ms. Black, who had an assignment to conduct action research. He considered the intern's project an excellent opportunity to study some changes he had planned to make in his teaching to accommodate children's diverse needs. When Mr. Redfeather told the other two first grade teachers at Eagle Ridge about action research, they wanted to be a part of the project, too.

Where I hope Education Majors will be in their Senior internship…

What is research? …and what is a familiar research activity that is somewhat talked about in the mainstream society / newspapers ?

Where we have to start…

And what research results are (perhaps) used by influential leaders to make decisions?

What is relevant to future teachers (education majors)?

What’s (relatively) easy to read and understand?

What is also (somewhat) controversial to peak some dialogue? …..

GALLUP POLLS….especially the Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the

Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools

…The 42nd Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools BY WILLIAM J. BUSHAW AND SHANE J. LOPEZ (June, 2010)

Was NOT:

…someone standing with Microphone on the street corner interviewing randomly

…given to every American, but just a sample of the population

…taken by a lot of college age students - 77% of respondents were Over 40!

Was:

…systematic and the same questions were asked of each participant/respondant

…easy to ask the questions and easy to tally responses

…models of how to organize the responses into tables / graphs/ charts..

A Time for Change:…

…..of the The 42nd Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools

Eight Sections (key issues) of the …

1. • The federal role in public education2. • School quality3. • Teacher salaries and teacher evaluation4. • Teacher quality and perceptions of the teaching profession5. • Student learning and rewards6. • The importance of a college education7. • Charter schools and parental choice8. The parents’ perspective about their child’s learning and their child’s future

--

Not just conducting library research! Adapted from the activity created by Pat VanLeuvan for a previous semester.

What Freshman Education Majors were asked to do…

…after each student in the Freshman Seminar read the Highlights of the 42nd PDK/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public School http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/poll.htm . …they were to:--Sign up for one of the EIGHT Sections (based on the key issues this year) of the Gallup Poll Highlights that most interested; then join a team of 2-3 other classmates with that same interest

--Not just replicating… but they were to use the same questions to interview PSU Brandywine students …..to compare and contrast BW Student results to the National results.

--

….. The 42nd Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools

The federal role in public education (the first section/key issue)

Example of one of the Eight Questions w/related table of findings – Section ONE of the …

QUESTION 1. Let’s say there is a consistently poor-per- forming school in your community. What do you believe would be the best solution? Close the school and reopen with a new principal? Close the school and reopen as a public charter school? Close the school and send the students to other higher per- forming nearby schools? Or, keep the school open with existing teachers and principal and provide comprehensive outside support?

 TABLE 1: National Gallup Poll 2010 results:Close the school and reopen with new principal. 17% Close the school and reopen as a public charter school. 13% Close the school and send the students to other higher performing nearby schools. 11% Keep the school open with existing teachers and principal and provide comprehensive

outside support. 54% Don’t know. 5%

--

….is a great place to start since you can gather some quantitative and qualitative data!

Quantitative: Tally/Counting/ Ordering-sequencing

These are the kinds of things you should “notice” then carefully observe and record:

•How many times this happened

•How many times a word or phrase was recorded in your notes

Use the same likert scale as the Gallop pole did… & tally responses

Qualitative DataQualitative data is information

gathered in a nonnumeric form.

Interview transcript* Field notes (notes taken in the field being studied]* Video Audio recordings Images [ Work samples of children] Documents (reports, meeting minutes, e- mails]

A Survey / Poll…

….Plan of Inquiry Part 1

Supports and steps provided:

Overview /PowerPoint of the Gallop Poll Highlights Include how did they gather their data Who were their participants- how were they recruited? Why so many

over 40 years of age?

Clear description of each step of the project (linear) with scaffolding & an example project from a previous year, and a rubric to guide/score the final project

Small group work in-class plan for and then conduct the poll to college students, questions to ask, how to tally responses, etc.

Implement systematic and intentional.. Study of your peers (college students) and compare/contrast the results to the Gallop Poll results…

….Plan of Inquiry Part 2

Workshop in-class to support next steps :

How to take their college student poll responses and make into tables comparing Gallop Poll data

Examples of different ways they can make their tables/ charts

Examples of how to write the narrative that compares/contrasts their findings with Gallop findings

Implement systematic and intentional.. Study of your peers (college students) and compare/contrast the results to the Gallop Poll results…

Finally… the day for each of the Eight groups to present… There were a range of kinds of tables/charts from very simple to very

complex and differentiated

BUT all groups completed the assignment as described… with at least two columns of data – the Gallup poll and the Penn State student data

One group’s project stands out – Kayla and Dave