Data Collection and Analysis with a Real Teacher-Researcher

Data Collection and Analysis with a Real Teacher-Researcher

May’s inquiry journey started as a semester was starting. She was encouraged by the assistant principal; Mr. Brown. Mr. Brown was much informed on research because he had conducted several research inquiry cycles. He was a middle school teacher who taught social studies before he was promoted to an administrator. He shared his hunger for inquiry with May and other teachers and they all accepted to enquire more on action research to help them improve their teaching profession. They came up with their own professional learning community (PLC) and engaged themselves in a study (Mills, 2006). May was motivated by what was contained in the study and she decided to start her own inquiry study at the season of the spring of the school year.

In her study, May had to look at literature as a part of her inquiry journey because using literature assisted her in relating her work to others. Through literature, May was able to get an understanding on the reason for her student’s behaviors (Yendol-Hoppey & Dana, 2010). She acquired the knowledge on good and bad behavior; in her study she was able to understand that the student’s bad behaviors were indications of their strength but not their weakness. From her study, May started admiring her students who used to fight every day and she felt for those who were giving up (Poekert, 2011). She learnt to accept the strategies of her students as this would help her teach them on newer strategies for achieving what they want from their classrooms and in their lives. She could now imagine the life experiences her students were undergoing and she concluded that may be some of them had just given up in life (Dana &Yendol-Hoppey, 2008). Literature helped May towards a new direction and strategies which she would use during her enquiry process. She learnt that she would acquire data by conducting an interview to her difficult students and questioning on any weird behavior coming from the students in her classroom (Dick, 2009).

In her research May decided to collaborate with Mr. Brown who was the assistant principal, Darby the schools response to intervention coach, Margaret a seventh-grade mathematics teacher and Naomi who was a Special education teacher. The team realized they were almost coming to an end to the school academic year and they had to make the research enquiry simple so as to accomplish their plans on the research before the school holiday began in June. They decided to work on one class instead of five. The collaboration between the five team members helped them a great deal. They supported each other by sharing ideas and the problems they were encountering and the solution. That reduced their levels of stress among them. Inquiry research is not simple and sometimes it can be irresistible chore to educators who mostly are loaded with a lot of work. May was overwhelmed and she turned to the other team mates and worked together. A teacher has many responsibilities and adding other work might be stressful. May was able to make good decisions by collaborating with her team members. By sharing the members helped her feel it was not a burden and was more manageable. They helped her come up with the exact strategies which would work best for the different characters in her class.

For May to plan the interventions and the data collection plan, she thought of the challenges she had earlier faced with the fourth-period class as a whole. She realized that she had a problem in getting to class early. She shared with her team mates (Hubbard & Power, 1993). The way May took time to plan with the other team mates was really admirable. They decided to collect data through journaling, focus group interviews and observing which worked very well in favor of their plans. In my opinion, focus group interviews and the use of observations which were used by Sienna and Darby, the RTI coach helped May since the methods provided her with data which gave her vision directly from the students. The best way I think was used to record the data was timing the students during agenda time which was used by May (Yendol-Hoppey & Dana, 2010). That process was easier and quicker to undertake since it involved no interruption and little explanations. I think Mays decision to use Darby in collecting her data was not very brilliant (Dana & Yendo-Happy, 2009). Mays data would have been collected by Dary with Mays assistance but according to me, the schools RTI coach normally have many roles to perform and they do not have time for assistance maybe after the school hours. However it looks like in mays school, the RTI coach is available to the teacher’s needs. May however performed well when choosing the various data collection methods to use for her inquiry. In my opinion I think adding something visual like video would have been of much benefit to her inquiry. Teachers are thought to be good in multitasking. By use of video, May would be able to make reviews which would help her understand the different behaviors of her students (Dana & Yendo-Happy, 2009).

I read and analyzed the students list of complains which was: 1.Give respect to our teacher and other classmates. Let’s be kind and not argue with one another, 2. I wish everyone would get an A, and that we had more field trips, 3.Have our agenda done when the teacher comes into the classroom. 4. We can have out our paper and pencil, be ready to learn, and have our homework out, come in and get ready and start on time.4. Maybe the Deputy could come to class from lunch. That might help us, listen and be quiet 5.I wish I could get us less homework, 6. I wish we could come to class, sit down and get started on our work. 7. My wish for the whole class is to respect our teacher 8. I wish people would stop being loud in this class. 8. It is loud sometimes 9.We need to have more fun and more parties—and all A’s! 10.Get ready for class all together would be good. Some do and some do not. 11. People need to come to class to learn! They need to focus. I wish they would focus. 12. To give me an A for no reason and to just be kind to people. 13. Having a little bit of fun and not having all this homework.14. To be Friday every day! 15. My wish is to get more field trips out of town and to give us less homework.16. Homework can be done on Monday, Thursday and Friday, no homework. 17. Class would be good if it started on time every day. 18 I want to show my teacher my respect.19. I want to have an S (Satisfactory) for conduct. 20. My wish is to have us all on the same page when the bell rings. 21. I wish L and T wouldn’t bring in so much of their drama into class so we could get going on time. 22. I wish I was the richest person in the world and lastly, saying there is no homework! Saying we don’t have to do nothing to pass (Mill, 2006). The big list of responses could however be categorized into four. (1) High opinion for others. (2) Preparation. (3) Laziness. (4) Deficiency of self-value. I choose the first category which is high opinion for others because there were some students who were wishing for high opinion or simply respect. For example: “give respect to our teacher and classmates,” “Listen and be quiet,” “I wish people would stop being loud” and “I want to show my teacher respect.” The second category which is preparation was chosen because there are responses which fall in it. Examples: “Have out our pencil and paper and be ready to learn,” “Come in and get ready and start on time” “I wish we could come to class, sit down and start our work” and “Class would be good if it started on time every day.” These responses indicate that some students really do desire to make the most of class and time and wish their classmates would come prepared to learn (Yendol-Hoppey & Dana 2008). The fourth category which is laziness had the following points “I wish we could get less homework” and “Homework Mon.-Thur. and Fri. no homework,” the last category is deficiency of self-value which involved the following responses. “To give me an A for no reason, we need to have more parties and I wish to be the richest person in the world” these points clearly showed that the students did not understand their reason in school and may had to educate them the essence of hard work in life. If I were May I would specifically deal with the students who gave the points and where required.

I have always thought that it is good to carry out teacher inquiry process alone but from May I have learnt it is good to work as a team. By use of individual interview one can get the first hand information which is very reliable. I can conduct an interview and document the information for future review like May did with the list of responses she got.

References

Dana, N. F., & Yendol-Hoppey, D. (2009). Facilitator’s Guide: The Reflective Educator’s Guide to Classroom Research: Learning to Teach and Teaching to Learn Through Practitioner Inquiry. Corwin-volume discounts.

Dana, N. F., & Yendol-Hoppey, D. (Eds.). (2008). The reflective educator’s guide to classroom research: Learning to teach and teaching to learn through practitioner inquiry. Corwin-volume discounts.

Dick, B. (2009). Action research literature 2006—2008 Themes and trends. Action Research, 7(4), 423-441.

Hubbard, R., & Power, B. M. (1993). The art of classroom inquiry. Portsmouuth: Heinemann.

Mills, G. E. (2006). Guide for the Teacher Researcher. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Poekert, P. (2011). The pedagogy of facilitation: teacher inquiry as professional development in a Florida elementary school. Professional development in education, 37(1), 19-38.

Yendol-Hoppey, D., & Dana, N. F. (Eds.). (2010). Powerful professional development: Building expertise within the four walls of your school. SAGE.