“Making
Waves . . .” by Jennifer McCreight
I love
metaphors, but this ocean, tide pool, waves, sandbars, etc. imagery seemed a
little over-done and contrived to me. It
didn’t take away from the chapter, but I don’t think it added anything to it either. The value I found in this chapter consisted
of being reminded that
(1) “children do
come to school bursting with their own cultural backgrounds, ripe for sharing and teaching others” (Jones, 2014, p. 18);
(2) capitalizing on
students’ connections to home and family can animate and engage students;
(3) stories can be the bridge between home and school
environments (see p. 21-23);
(4) and students do not progress at the same developmental
speed.
What really
stood out for me was the story of Mack teaching the other children about the
rules of conversation when he said, “Please don’t step on someone’s words.” (p.
23) “In a single moment, Mack made clear
his reverence for the words of his friends as well as his deep understanding of
the concept of dialogue, which involves listening to others’ perspectives
without expecting equal time or to change their viewpoint.” (Freire, 1972 as
referenced in Jones, p. 24) This understanding of dialogue may be the most
important lesson we can learn in our families, our schools, and our civic
society. It is hard not to want to rush
in and make our comments, viewpoints, and needs known instead of waiting, and truly
listening to others while we wait. I
belong to a Church fellowship group that considers listening as a spiritual
discipline and we meet to share our personal news, to reflect on brief readings,
and to practice the art of just listening without interruption, without
offering advice, without saying “Oh yes, something similar happened to me and I did/felt . . .” I am from a large family and I find it
challenging not to interrupt others, but I am working on it with this
fellowship group and in other settings, getting more comfortable about risking
giving the impression that I have nothing worthwhile to say.
“Finding
Your Question” from The Power of Questions by Falk and Blumenreich
This was a “how-to”
chapter and I expect an indication of what the rest of the book will be
like. I found the three examples of
studies and their questions and context background useful in helping me
envision the shape of my own research questions. I am getting a clearer understanding about
the particular, individualistic, and specific nature of teacher inquiry as a
form of classroom research. Coming into
this class I expected the course to be about analyzing and applying
quantitative data and meta-analysis research.
Now I see the difference and that there is a place for both large scale
quantitative research and small-scale qualitative research done by individual
teachers. Now I understand that research
about my practice is going to be
about something I really care about (Falk
and Blumenreich, 2005, p.21). My
questions need to be “framed in a way that is personalized” (Falk &
Blumenreich, p. 25) to my situation. I
shouldn’t be concerned about any generalized or universal use of my research,
because it is for me and my students. If
it offers anything useful for other teachers and students, that will be a
bonus, but that is not my primary objective. This was my “ah ha” moment this
week.
Hi Deborah,
ReplyDeleteI admire your views on listening as a spiritual discipline. The fact that some people find it hard to listen makes it that much more valuable. As a classroom teacher, I teach the responsibility of respectful listening to my student early in the school year to make sure that this skill is displayed in my classroom. If we do not take the time to listen, we could miss the most important details and thinking!
Your discussion of commenting/interrupting really sparked my interest. I would never think that I am "giving the impression that I have nothing worthwhile to say" but now that you say it I think I might be giving that impression! I stay silent because I think that I can learn so much by listening to others who have different experiences. I grew up in a small family and there was always room in the conversation, so I didn't have to feel the need to jump in so quickly. It is amazing how much our environment shapes our feelings, thoughts and impressions.
ReplyDeleteI also expected this class to be about quantitative data and meta analysis! It is the only research that I have dealt with in the past. I am excited for the small scale research that we are going to be doing about our own classrooms.
I'm happy to hear you had an "ah-ha" moment while reading the research book. For me, it was more like an "oh-no" moment, but I've settle down a bit after the class on the 18th. I'm going to try to make my anecdotal evidence even more anecdotal. And though I, like you, am a lover of a well-worded metaphor, I think I'll avoid the themed stories of the Jones book.
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