I enjoyed conducting my ethnographic case study based on classroom observation. This method of research allows the researcher to have an in depth look at one student and how that student interacts with their learning environment. I think that this method of research allows the researcher to better view students not as a collective group, but as individuals. I view observation based ethnographic studies as a very useful tool in understanding the needs of students.
I think that as teachers we often forget this key fact about our students, that being, they are all unique and have unique needs. I think that our forgetting this simple fact causes us to take the “good” students for granted, and think the “bad” students are just torturing us. We don’t take the time to evaluate why a student acts the way that they act, and because of this we often don’t cater to the individual needs of each student. I think that this is the main thing that I learned from conducting these observations and writing the ethnographic narrative. When I start teaching I must understand that students act the way that they act for a reason. Every student needs encouragement and needs to have their individual needs addressed by their teacher (to the best of that teacher’s ability).
I think that acting as merely an observer in the class is a great benefit. It allowed me to focus all of my attention on one particular student. It allowed me to see when that student became focused on the lesson and when that student began to lose focus. I think that this method would be much easier than trying to observe student behavior while, at the same time, conducting a lesson. I believe that it is a direct result of this difficulty that teachers often fail to recognize the needs of individual students that I discussed above. That is why I think that teachers should try to find time to observe their students while they are not teaching.
The language learner that I observed was a very bright student, but he often lost focus within the class. This language learner is very outgoing and this causes him to frequently be a disruption to the class. He never misses an opportunity to make his fellow students laugh (in fact, he had me cracking up on multiple occasions). These frequent interruptions often force the teacher to scold both the student and those that laugh at his antics. While I was observing, I think that I may have noticed a potential cause for his actions. I believe that there are two problems: first, he is too advanced for the class and second, he craves the attention of his teacher. I noticed that this student seldom misses a question; in fact, he can even be in the middle of a joke and stop and correctly answer. The student also finishes his work before all the other students in the class. This gives him an abundance of extra time to goof around, and, being the extrovert that he is, he regularly draws his peers away from their work. I also noticed that this student was much more on task when the teacher was directly interacting with him. This occurred whether the teacher was telling him that he was doing good work or if the teacher scolded him for bad behavior. I thought that the latter was much more telling. Through his actions he seemed that he was almost trying to get the teachers attention. The student didn’t seem to care that he was getting in trouble he only seemed to care that the teacher was paying attention to him because after a scolding he would happily go right back to work, at least until the teacher began paying more attention to other students.
I think that his future teachers need to be aware that he is a very intelligent student and needs to be challenged, possibly, beyond that of his peers. I think that an increase in the workload for this student would solve much of his problems with class. I also think that the “special” extra work that he would be doing would make him feel that he is receiving special attention from his teacher. Those are the two main classroom issues that I believe affect this student’s behavior, but I would also want to tell his future teacher that he is a great kid. He’s funny, interested, and concerned for his fellow classmates, and although he does become off task sometimes he only needs to be pointed in the right direction to succeed.
I don’t think that I would have ever noticed the causes of this student’s behavior if I had not conducted this research. I think that I would have simply given him the class clown moniker and moved on. This ethnographic study allowed me to see the individual needs of this student. I strongly believe that this type of research will help teachers be more effective, thereby allowing students to gain more from lessons.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Action Research
To begin with, I believe that action research is a great method for teachers to employ to determine problems and possible solutions within their classrooms. My favorite aspect of action research is its convenience. Within the teaching environment, action research allows the teacher to make changes and reflect on those changes, or to inquire and reflect on changes that need to be made. If, as a result of reflection, there is something that the teacher believes needs to be changed about their class then they can make the change, or if this change is beyond their control then they have data to present to the higher ups. Every teacher should constantly evaluate their practice and their general teaching situation. This evaluation allows for changes to be made, improving their craft, and helping students learn.
The action research that I conducted focused on the resources available to ESL students at an elementary school. I am not currently a teacher, but while observing a practicing teacher I noticed two interesting things. First, the ESL class was held in a shared classroom, and second, technology wasn’t readily available to students and teachers. My research consisted of observation, interviews, comparing writing samples and informal focus groups. I had originally intended to include questionnaires, but I quickly realized that the reading level of many of the students was too low to really gain anything from them. To combat this I simply asked the questions I had from the questionnaire.
I learned that students and teachers have mixed feelings about shared and push-in classrooms. At times other students not in their class were definitely a distraction to students. This caused the teachers to waste valuable time getting their students back on task. It also caused students to occasionally miss important things from their lesson. On the other hand, teachers of the shared class were able to share some resources. From my research I saw that the benefit of this sharing was far less than the time lost because of the negative factors of a shared classroom. The solution to this problem is tricky. Teachers are forced into shared classrooms because of the lack of space within the school. In order to remedy this issue the school would have to be made larger, or rezoning would need to occur. These are both difficult things to accomplish, but action research offers a starting point to present the case.
While researching my second issue, lack of technology, I saw some interesting things. The classroom only has half as many computers as students. This is no great epiphany, but students enjoy using computers to learn. I think that learning games are a great tool for students, but I also think that if all lessons were centered around these games students would quickly become bored. I also compared writing samples, done on the computer and done by hand to try and determine if students saw improvement on one medium over the other, and aside from legibility saw very little difference. This small test showed me that although students enjoyed having the opportunity to be on the computer the learning taking place wasn’t changed by the presence of the computer. Within the classroom I did see places were technology would have made life much easier. During my observations I saw students gathered around a table all trying to look at a single transcription that the teacher was doing. This would have been a great time to have a smart-board or an overhead. This would allow students to remain in their seats and still observe the writing. Remedying this issue would require something schools are struggling for…MONEY! It may be difficult at this point to get additional funds, but being able to see through action research that these upgrades could help students gives you a chance to see needs and plan for the future.
I enjoyed doing the action research. I think that this will be a tool that I regularly use in my teaching, both to assess my needs and to assess myself as a teacher. Knowing your faults is crucial to improving.
The action research that I conducted focused on the resources available to ESL students at an elementary school. I am not currently a teacher, but while observing a practicing teacher I noticed two interesting things. First, the ESL class was held in a shared classroom, and second, technology wasn’t readily available to students and teachers. My research consisted of observation, interviews, comparing writing samples and informal focus groups. I had originally intended to include questionnaires, but I quickly realized that the reading level of many of the students was too low to really gain anything from them. To combat this I simply asked the questions I had from the questionnaire.
I learned that students and teachers have mixed feelings about shared and push-in classrooms. At times other students not in their class were definitely a distraction to students. This caused the teachers to waste valuable time getting their students back on task. It also caused students to occasionally miss important things from their lesson. On the other hand, teachers of the shared class were able to share some resources. From my research I saw that the benefit of this sharing was far less than the time lost because of the negative factors of a shared classroom. The solution to this problem is tricky. Teachers are forced into shared classrooms because of the lack of space within the school. In order to remedy this issue the school would have to be made larger, or rezoning would need to occur. These are both difficult things to accomplish, but action research offers a starting point to present the case.
While researching my second issue, lack of technology, I saw some interesting things. The classroom only has half as many computers as students. This is no great epiphany, but students enjoy using computers to learn. I think that learning games are a great tool for students, but I also think that if all lessons were centered around these games students would quickly become bored. I also compared writing samples, done on the computer and done by hand to try and determine if students saw improvement on one medium over the other, and aside from legibility saw very little difference. This small test showed me that although students enjoyed having the opportunity to be on the computer the learning taking place wasn’t changed by the presence of the computer. Within the classroom I did see places were technology would have made life much easier. During my observations I saw students gathered around a table all trying to look at a single transcription that the teacher was doing. This would have been a great time to have a smart-board or an overhead. This would allow students to remain in their seats and still observe the writing. Remedying this issue would require something schools are struggling for…MONEY! It may be difficult at this point to get additional funds, but being able to see through action research that these upgrades could help students gives you a chance to see needs and plan for the future.
I enjoyed doing the action research. I think that this will be a tool that I regularly use in my teaching, both to assess my needs and to assess myself as a teacher. Knowing your faults is crucial to improving.
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