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    • Action Research (The Saga Continues)

    November 23rd, 2009 by dbarker

    Much like the Twilight Saga, my action research plan is fraught with drama.

    Okay, not really, and I promised I’d stop writing about Stephenie Meyer because Twilight was way too big in my tag cloud, but New Moon just came out in the theatre so….

    I’m in the data analysis phase of my action research project and I find myself wishing I could go back and change it because nothing is turning out the way I planned. I’ve discovered that part of my action research question is flawed. What difference does it really make to me as an English teacher if my students’ attitudes toward technology has changed by the end of the unit. That’s not really what I’m interested in. I’m interested in how it changes the way they learn.

    Here’s part of my data analysis section (rough draft!!) where I explore these ideas, and share some samples of student work from the Gatsby ning.

    All names are pseudonyms:
    Action Research Project

    Posted in Uncategorized | | | 2 Comments

    Today I’m a good teacher

    November 10th, 2009 by dbarker

    I don’t always feel like a good teacher.

    Most days I feel like a really bad teacher. I’m pretty clear about what I’m good at and what I’m not good at, and I know (I know, I know, I know) I spend much more time focusing on what I’m not good at. I’ve just finished having an AWESOME time performing in an amazing play with some amazing people. Two of these people are also teachers who I very much respect, and one night I vented to the one teacher and said, “I just think it’s impossible to be the kind of teacher I want to be.”

    Maybe that’s true. I’ve spent the past three (almost) months feeling glum and disenchanted because not all of the students that I teach responded positively to all the work that I did to include more web 2.0 technology in the classroom. Those of you who follow me on Twitter know that some of my students have been downright hostile about technology. I’ve spent a lot of time wondering why on earth I was knocking myself out trying to find meaningful and engaging activities when all they (and I’m generalizing) wanted was multiple choice quizzes and Q and A from a text book. Don’t forget that I’m also at a new school this year and missing my support network and not always “feeling the love” when it comes to my perception of how my ideas are perceived by my colleagues.

    Well today one of my 4C students asked to talk to me outside of class and I thought “Uh-huh. You don’t have your homework done. Here comes the excuse.” Then she said that she just wanted to tell me that she got her midterm report and was thrilled with her mark. She said English had never really been her thing before and that she really enjoyed the assignments that we were doing and just wanted to thank me.

    So needless to say I had a slightly teary moment and thanked her right back.

    This student made my day. Probably my semester.

    And what I’m going to try to do with this is hang on to that feeling and remember that there are students who might hate me, but there are also students who might feel the same as that girl who went to the trouble to pull me out of class to tell me how she felt.

    I hope you guys remember that you have students like that too.

    Posted in Uncategorized | | | 7 Comments

    So I changed my mind

    October 12th, 2009 by dbarker

    My original action research plan was hampered by my failure to remember who teenagers are and that perhaps trying to get them to share information that they may deem too private and personal would defeat my original purpose.

    So with that in mind I moved on to a different plan. With no further ado, here is my rough draft of my introduction:
    Introduction

    Posted in Uncategorized, classroom practice, research | tagged , , , | | 2 Comments

    Action Research

    September 27th, 2009 by dbarker

    I am just beginning an action research project under the guidance of Dr. Barrie Bennett who is working with our board for one more year.

    Last year, in my role as a learning coordinator, I helped facilitate a similar project for a larger group of elementary teachers, and I remember wishing that I had a classroom so I could do my own project. Well now I’m lucky enough to be asked to participate in this project as a classroom teacher. If feel particularly lucky because it’s as though I’m doing a mini Masters with Dr. Bennett for free!

    I had hundreds (okay 5) of ideas floating around in my head for this project but decided to settle on this question: How does having an authentic audience for student writing impact student motivation and writing quality?

    Due to tight timelines I wanted to pick a topic that I could already integrate into what I was working on, namely the student “This I Believe” oral essays. So I created a writing attitude survey and tried to gauge where students were in terms of their attitudes about writing and whether or not they thought it was important to have a real audience for their writing. Most students agreed that having a real audience would probably improve the quality of their writing, but a number of them said that they would not be willing to post their “This I Believe” oral essays to our blog.

    So I’m wondering about a couple things. First of all, is it the content that makes them uncomfortable about sharing? Based on the rough drafts I’ve read so far, there are some students who don’t yet seem to understand the connections between audience, purpose, and content, even though they’ve analysed a number of model essays. Some students think that the only type of writing worth doing is that stream of consciousness ranting about how unfair the world is. Also, even though I have stressed that this is meant to be personal but not private, some students are still confused about that line.

    I also wonder if some students are confused about what we are talking about posting. I am using this project to assess their oral communication skills, so they are recording their essays and posting the MP3. I think some students are concerned that their spelling and grammar is going to be criticized by others (even though I’ve told them that we will work on those skills a little later).

    For now, I think I will go ahead with this project and invite those who said they were willing to post to do so and then interview them to see what their responses are to the process. I would like to invite teachers and students from other schools and perhaps other countries to comment on their essays (moderated comments of course). If the response is positive, then hopefully that will encourage other students to post their work next time. I wonder if a more informal type of writing would garner more student participation. After all, the ones who are most anxious about their writing abilities tend to also be the ones who need the most help.

    Posted in classroom practice | tagged , , | | 2 Comments

    Digital Natives?

    September 17th, 2009 by dbarker

    “Digital natives” “the Net Generation”… these are terms I hear a lot. I’m on Twitter and Facebook. I blog. I text. I create content and upload it on a regular basis. I’m not online constantly, but I do feel a need to stay connected, and I get excited about the possibilities for sharing and collaborating that exist because of web 2.0. I keep reading that this is what my students do too. It’s what they want from teachers. So when I was planning for this year, I thought about how I could make my teaching more representative of the world they experience outside the classroom. I thought about authentic writing tasks. I thought about anywhere anytime learning and created blogs and edmodo classes. I even started to think about how to use cell phones in the classroom. My new principal was so excited by this that she scheduled 2 of my senior academic English classes in a computer lab! I was so psyched! I even made a funky intro movie for my classes.

    And then, at the end of my first class on the first day, it happened. A polite and friendly student said to me, “Um, it’s kinda weird being in a computer lab for English.”

    My heart started to race a bit as it does when I get anxious.

    “Weird good? Or weird bad?” I asked hopefully.

    She smiled, not wishing to offend. “Kind of weird bad. Like, it’s English class. I don’t really think there’s a need for technology.”

    My heart sunk. Literally. I found it in my left shoe at lunch.

    Now I know, I know. It was just one student. I know some of them were as psyched as I was. But I got the impression from a number of them that this idea of a 21st century English class was just as threatening for them as it must be for some teachers. I really didn’t expect that.

    It made me wonder. Where is this coming from? My current theory is that most students probably are digital natives. I’m not sure they’re as savvy as we’d like them to be, but most of them are comfortable using technology (that’s what they told me on the survey anyway). But I think that some of them have gotten the message from parents and teachers that technology is bad. It’s a distraction. It’s a toy. It’s something you ban. It doesn’t have a place in a serious academic classroom (maybe?). And these students are the “good” students–academic, disciplined, polite, respectful. They really listen to the messages they get from adults. And they’ve gotten the message that this is bad.

    I’ve had to change my mindset about technology in the English classroom. Instead of it being the expectation, it is an option. It is another way for me to differentiate my instruction. They don’t have to post comments on the blog (but I wish they would). They don’t have to submit assignments on edmodo (but it’s usually more convenient that way). I’ve told them I never want to get an angry phone call from a parent saying, “You told my son he HAD to submit his assignments online.” It’s an option.

    It’s so strange for me because, yes I’m interested in technology, but I’m doing this because I thought it would be good for the students. I thought they would prefer to learn this way. I thought I was making life easier for them–not harder.

    Sigh. It’s still early. And I think some of them are coming around. The girl who spoke to me on the first day made a wordle and shared it with her classmates via edmodo. That’s kind of weird good.

    Posted in classroom practice, reflection, technoculture, technology | tagged , , | | 9 Comments

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