The following is a collection of anecdotal comments taken from my folder as a TEACHER engaged in Action Research (AR) for the first time. The purpose of the adopting the folder was to reflect upon my experiences with Action Research as I struggled to work through a research project. These excerpts focus on the process of the research and how it influenced and changed my practices as a secondary classroom teacher. The project focused on strategies to improve the self-confidence of bumiputra students in read ing and writing at the developmental stages. It involved three other classroom teachers working here in SMK Seri Sendayan and a recent graduate of UKM who has been volunteering in my classroom. The entries are in chronological order to reflect my experience, which began in September and culminated in mid-November. The comments in brackets were added as afterthoughts as I compiled these entries for this paper.
In the Fog--Stage One
This leads me to my action research( AR ) proposal dilemma. Initially,
I wanted to involve parents in some type of action research in the classroom.
I wanted to see more parental involvement in the classroom and in the home
to improve the understanding of the learning of the child and increase
the awareness of the parents as to what is happening in our classroom.
I thought by offering an "open door" concept to the parents I would receive
some support for this idea; however, this was not the case at all.
One of my main concerns with AR is identifying a theme. This has proven to be a very difficult task for me as I have been considering several issues over the past two weeks. During discussions on AR with fellow teachers I have been cautioned against a thematic concern that is too broad and would require research into many areas of the classroom. "Start small and save it for your thesis," was their advice. I had also been advised by a fellow teacher who has already undertaken an AR-type research project in his classroom to look for a small issue that is manageable and could be done with one other teacher.
He advised me to look for a curriculum issue and suggested I pose a question like "Which spelling program works best, A or B?" This, he suggested, would be something that could be done on an individual basis and then the results easily compared later. He warned me about the problems of time management while doing AR and trying to teach all day( after schooling hours ). He also complained that the school may not want to publish/guide throughout the AR programme. I consider him to be an expert teacher in his field and it is unfortunate that he has not, since that first experience, undertaken a AR-type project.
Another concern around identifying a theme is asking other teachers to become involved when many already struggle with their workload. One of the teacher's in the group who is pursuing a degree course commented that he would not involve himself in this project for that exact reason. I also have concerns about asking teachers to take time out of their day to do that extra work which an AR project requires. The benefit of doing a reflective research and being involved in group discussions around a common theme is not something all teachers have experienced, and may be viewed as an extra burden in an already hectic life in the classroom.
( I tried several other thematic concerns before I arrived at my project. It was a frustrating and difficult task to identify one issue that was relevant and manageable. Many of my fellow teachers doing Action Research for the first time also had difficulty identifying a thematic concern. My advice would be to start small and focus on something you can complete in a few months.)
It Begins to Clear--Stage Two
My main concern with my practice is "How can I improve my teaching
in the area of language arts so that children learn to be confident readers
and writers of language?" I feel that there is a negative influence at
work when students in Form One come to the classroom with an "I can't ..."
attitude towards reading and writing in English that needs to be changed.
I want to examine the causes of this attitude and change it along the way
toward children becoming comfortable using language in the reading and
writing activities of the classroom.
The best approach to achieving this objective is to continue the reflective practices that I'm presently using. I want to work with other teachers to discover the most effective methods to teach language arts. This goal will require seeking out and discovering others who share my concern and who are also reflective practitioners. We need to examine the use of whole language, basal readers, phonics and other current teaching methods. [This is what I did!]
The Project Begins--Stage Three
This brings me to The Action Research Reader , Fourth edition of
the University Deakin, emphasing the importance of collaboration
in the process of doing research that allows "the potential to alter the
participants" understanding of each other as well as embedding the separate
understandings of each in the ethnography. Two people working together
"change each other through the process." This can be true not only
in a relationship between teacher and administrators in creating change
in the knowledge of one another, but also with teachers working in the
same setting on an action research project. The sharing of professional
knowledge that has yet to occurred amongst the participants of our research
group because we are in the initial stages of the research; even
so, I already feel we have made progress in our personal and professional
relationships because of the action research process.
Being relatively new to teaching in a school (two years of experience) causes me to question my knowledge in relation to colleagues I am currently working with, teachers who have more experience and different theories and practices in use in their classroom. Because my teacher training and methods are whole-language-based and my colleagues experience also includes what I call "more traditional" types of teaching practices, we can learn from each other. The ideas we discuss, and our common experience of being in prim ary classrooms, lead to our better understanding each other as individuals. This has enhanced my workplace because I am with a new staff this year and the shared inquiry has allowed us to feel more comfortable with each other.
The Group--Stage Four
One of the positive aspects of doing Action Research has been the
change in the relationship between the colleagues with whom I have been
collaborating on my project. This type of sharing between interested professionals
around a common theme seems not only to be benefiting the program and methods
in our classroom, but also to be helping us to develop our personal relationships
with each other.
Teachers are among the most creative and dynamic individuals in regards to their practice, yet often they close their doors to their peers. I have found in the past a noticeable reluctance on the part of many "expert" teachers to become involved in group development activities. Many factors may cause this reaction to the sharing of theories or practice amongst teachers. Time is probably the single most negative influence, for there is simply not enough of it to go around. Administrators have not given teacher research consideration when scheduling planning time, nor have they allotted the extra preparation time for staff to collaborate.
"Team teaching" is one of the "buzzwords" created by the theory-practice developers that has no practical application in the system. The structure of the schools works against those who wish to collaborate. Timetables, rotary systems, regimented curriculum, and even the latest Common Curriculum document work against those who wish to experiment together to improve teaching methods when provincial standards are being emphasized.
After considering all this I realize how great our Action Research group has been at my school. It requires dedicated individuals to try to improve themselves, through the process of Action Research. What began as a group of four who literally had just met in September is now a close-knit bunch who share much more than ideas around our research. Although we contributed in different ways and to varying degrees to the project, we have all found greater personal understanding and respect for each other. For me this could be more important than the result of my completed project.
What am I doing anyway?--Stage Five
During our last class, the issue of the validity of Action Research
was raised. In her writings, Richardson differentiates between Action
Research and other forms of teacher research and "formal research." The
author makes the distinction that practical inquiry is limited in its influence
to the individuals who are undertaking the research, while formal research
has a greater impact on the larger communityís knowledge base. (Richardson,
"Conducting Research on Practice," 1994). During our class discussion and
on the commute home, the question of validity in our own personal Action
Research projects was raised. Richardson seemed to imply that Action Research
was on a lesser plane than formal research because of the lack of a scientific
method. The author states, "..the individual or group of practitioners
involved in practical inquiry need only respond to a personal sense of
validity and further questioning." I believe the author draws much
of his argument from this statement that, because Action Research is not
examined or evaluated by outside researchers, it hasn't yet reached the
level of "formal research" and cannot enhance the knowledge base of the
larger educational community to influence political or social change. The
author views practical inquiry, then, as a stepping-stone that may lead
to formal research and its structured methodology.
This prompted me to examine what I was doing in my classroom:
Does all this make my Action Research valid? I would argue that it does in relation to the definition given by Colin Henry and Stephen Kemmis in their article, "A Point-by-Point Guide to Action Research for Teachers." It is self-reflective research that is being done in a social situation as a collaborative inquiry to improve our practice. To better understand the children with initial low self-confidence in reading and writing, our methods have been changing. This meets the criteria of Henry and Kemmis. I have covered most of areas indentified in The Action Research Planner. The Action Research spiral is being used. So technically, I am doing Action Research in my classroom and with others. Is it a valid form of research in the eyes of Richardson? Who cares! To me it has more than proven itself in its validity because my teaching has improved. My collaborators and I benefit from our discussions and sharing of ideas. Our students are exposed to new and varied practices in an attempt to help the m grow as individuals.
The End is Near--Stage Six
Earlier research articles have already touched on the benefits of
Action Research when done in collaborative groups. I had spoken of the
positive influences our research has had on the professional and personal
relationships of my group of researchers. But what about the research
paper I am writing to reflect on my research? It is very much personal
and will provide a large part of my final analysis and reflection on our
research. Is this in keeping with the collaborative nature of Action Research?
Lately, I feel that the issue of isolation in Action Research has become
very relevant to me. As we near the end of our research project, we communicate
less and the responsibility seems to fall heavily on me to bring this to
closure. Itís my sense that because I am the Head of the English
Language department and the others feel I was the driving force behind
our work--after all, I was the one who approached them--I should be the
one to finish it. I find this disappointing because the group has adopted
the view of the theo ry-practice relationship in our project. I feel now
that I am the researcher from the Ivory Tower and, although they all agree
they have benefited from our working together, the interest in further
dialogue is declining rapidly.
Perhaps my expectations were too great in believing that my fellow researchers would see this through to the end. I now have to collect data, take observations from the group, assess what we have done and prepare a final report on our research. Professionally, I'm not comfortable in asking them to do so because they have already contributed so much of their time and energy to the project. However, I feel they would benefit from preparing some type of final summative exercise to establish the validity of our research and see how it has improved our teaching. Regardless of what happens, I will share my findings and observations on the project with them.
I've Actually Done Something -- Stage Seven
In recent e-mail to GMKalai , the criteria for evaluating
AR projects helped to reaffirm my own involvement in one. He stated that
AR produces educational practices that are less irrational and less unjust.
Our project focused on how to improve the self-confidence of children who
are in the beginning developmental stages of reading and writing. As we
tried various strategies, we were forced to examine current practices,
reexamine older practices, and experiment with new methods to help our
students grow. The process of AR causes you to ask yourself why you teach
as you do and why method A works better than B or C. This type of questioning
does indeed help to rationalize our practice in the classroom so that we
can articulate what we are doing and justify our methods. Being able to
tell a parent, an administrator, fellow teachers and most importantly ourselves
why we do things in our classroom in particular ways (and not in others)
is critical. If we do not know where our practice has come from as we try
to change, the improvement that may occur by doing Action Research cannot
be recognized.
By attempting to make our practice more just, Action Research tries to identify an area of concern and create a change in our teaching to address the issue. The children whom we focused on in our project tended to come from backgrounds where reading and writing was not emphasized or valued at home. Their past experience with schooling had also led to low self-confidence in their abilities. It was our job to change this and, by working with the children at school and the parents at home, we tried differe nt strategies to accomplish this end. We experienced some success, not only with the children we were focusing on, but also with many others in the classroom who were further motivated by the methods we used. Our project has produced new practices that meet the needs of many.
[Note: Much of the time I was doing my Action Research project I felt confused and unsure about the process of doing this type of research. In the end I now realize that my research is valid and that my practice has improved. However, and more importantly, the attitudes of my students towards reading and writing and their levels of confidence in their abilities are changing. Like any new concept or theory, Action Research can be difficult to grasp initially. The end result for me has proven to be worthwhile, from wading through the fog in the beginning, reflecting along the way, constantly questioning our methods, and spending time and energy in the process.]