How can I help you to take your enquiry forward?

Background

My enquiry is grounded in my educative relationships with the 17 teacher-researchers on the Brock University's Masters programme Introduction to Educational Research, 5P92. (13 May-17 June 2000).This is a programme designed in partnership with the Grand Eric District School Board. The programme is designed to assist the participants to construct a Thesis/Project proposal which will enable them to create their own living educational theories in enquiries of the kind, 'How do I improve my practice.  My enquiry is grounded in the following assumptions which are open to modification or transformation as the enquiry moves on. 

The nature of the knowledge-base of professional educators is a matter of global concern. Professional and Government Agencies such as the Ontario College of Teachers and the Teacher Training Agency in England, have attempted to define and impose standards of practice on frameworks of professional development, as if the meanings of such standards of practice can be communicated through linguistic lists of statement. There is much concern (Graham, Delong and Whitehead, Whitehead, Squires that the meanings of standards of professional practice, which are embodied in the educative relationships between teachers and their students, cannot be communicated through lists of linguistic statements alone. The meanings of the standards of practice, need to be communicated as standards of judgement whose meanings can be shown, with the help of visual and other records, to emerge through time and practice. This process requires 'ostensive' definition, in the sense of pointing to the evidence from the practices which embody the standards.

Establishing the meanings of the standards of practice of professional educators is one of the fundamental issues facing educational action researchers.

Scope of the enquiry

In order to establish the meanings of my own standards of professional practice I will study the meanings of these standards and they emerge through my practice in my educative relationships with the 17 participants on the Brock Masters programme.

Approach/Methodology

I will be using a living educational theory approach to action research.  The fundamental assumption in this approach is that I, and other educators, can create our own living educational theory in the descriptions and explanations we produce for our own learning as we ask, research and answer  of the kind, 'How do I improve what I am doing?  (Whitehead, 1989, 2000; Whitehead and Johns, 2000, McNiff, Lomax & Whitehead 1996)

The action research approach integrates action-reflection spirals within the creation of the explanations of professional learning. While the narrative form (Connelly and Clandinin, 1998) of the explanation will be unique to each individual the enquiry will be seen to move on in terms of:

An expression of concern when one's values are not yet being lived fully in practice
An imagined action plan of what might be possible.
Actions which are intended to improve practice
Gathering data to make a judgement on the effectiveness of the actions
Evaluating the effectiveness of the actions
Modifying the questions, concerns and actions the light of the evaluations.

As knowledge-creators, educational action-researchers  use standards of judgement to test the validity of the explanations of their professional learning. Their linguistic standards of judgement are grounded in and formed by their living standards of practice. Their meanings are embodied in practice and they are clarified in the course of their emergence in practice. The explication of these standards take place through a series of 'validation exercises' in  which the teacher-researcher, collects a portfolio of evidence of their own learning over time. He or she produces an explanation for this learning and submits for public appreciation and criticism the standards of judgement which are used to test the validity of their explanation. 

Exploring the implications of the enquiry, 'How do I improve my practice?' with, Cheryl Black, Lindsey Steward, Marion Kline, Geoff Suderman-Gladwell, Julie White, Bob Ogilvie, Karen McDonald, John MacRae, Heather Knill-Griesser, Marilyn Davis, Janie Senko, Puillip Sallewsky, Trudy Gath, Marion Dowds, Lindy Zaretsky and Fran Brinker.

My present concern is to help you to take forward your action enquiry from within your professional context and at the same time help you to construct a Thesis/Project proposal in relation to your present practice and which can help to take you forward into the next 12 months of your programme. Circulating my own proposal is part of my own action-reflection cycle in which I've expressed my  concern. I've imagined a way forward to help you to form your own proposals and I've acted. I haven't added the full references but I've indicated  some of the references I draw on. I'll evaluate my effectiveness in relation to your responses. Here is where I am focusing my attention in relation to your own enquiries and standards of practice and judgement.

Cheryl - Let's look at the video-tape of the choir and the emotional meanings which the experience carries for you in terms of the expression of your values of care and responsibility in your educative relations with your students. As I said on Saturday, and I think Lindy saw this first, you have an important contribution to make in helping us to understand really important values in education as your 'transition' and work with your students, highlights what you value in terms of care and responsibility.

Lindsey - Let's work this week on your presentation for Saturday in a way which shows your commitment to enhancing the educational use of computers with students and colleagues. I do like your question, 'How do I influence student's learning?' I think you might move towards an answer to this question through a specific question in relation to a particular student, 'How can I help you to improve your learning?'. I liked your emphasis on data collection. The key question might be, 'what kind of data do I need to enable me to make a judgement about my effectiveness in helping my students to improve their learning?'

Marion - I'd like to develop with you a way of understanding and communicating in our research the life-affirming energy I think we both recognise that we share in our exhuberance and enthusiasm for education.  I think we might get a better understanding through video-taping our educative relationships. Let's definitely do it next Saturday. Bob might also help with finding appropriate ways of expressing our meanings in relation to his interest in the educative value of emotion.

Geoff - I'll respond to the draft paper you would like to prepare for submission to the Ontario Action Researcher. What I'd also like to work towards is a way of communicating, through your research, the values you expressed on that video-clip I made from 13th May. I'm trying to live out this standards of practice, in which you have the freedom to create your own standards of practice and judgement, in relation to your own professional learning. I liked your question, 'How do I create a culture of change/learning by projecting my personality within my sphere of influence?', because of your interest in relating culture, change, influence and personality. Perhaps we could work on your idea that 'the quality of learning is dependent upon how I chose to share my self in the classroom.' Perhaps I could help by asking you to evaluate  your influence on a (some) pupils' learning in relation to the ideal vision you hold of the culture of your classroom.

Julie - do please e-mail me for suggestions on reading. I think your school will have the documents on 'The Integrated Curriculum'. These were sent round before the present government changed the curriculum and assessment procedures. I think you will find that the documents on the integrated curriculum will be useful in helping you to articulate some of your own curriculum values and approaches to assessment/evaluation. I'd also focus on the November 1999 Document from the Ontario College of Teachers on 'Standards of Practice for the Teaching Profession'. You could certainly relate your enquiry and your professional values and practices to these OCT standards. Don't worry about pestering me for readings/info. The rest of the group might be able to help you with appropriate readings.

Bob - let's work on ways of seeing/researching whether the expression and understanding of your emotional practices has any educative influence on anyone - my favourite question to myself! I'm wondering if the following 3 weeks we might make some headway. I think Marion and Heather may help us to understand better our emotional standards of judgement. We could look at the Standards of Practice of the Ontario College of Teachers and see how we could relate the emotional standards we express in our educative relationships could be related to the linguistic standards of the OCT.

Karen - I really enjoyed our chat yesterday about the differences between your careful and very clear communications through language, and the meanings you expressed in your everyday educative relationships with your students. Do let's focus on finding appropriate ways of representing your educative experiences with your students in a way which reflects back to you how you see yourself in your relationships with your students.

John - Many thanks for that very clear presentation yesterday. It's transparency helped everyone to see the importance of linking the purpose(s) to the strategies/action plans for moving the enquiry forward. One of the exciting things about your enquiry is the tension between responding to the needs of individual learners and to working with the group as a whole. Looking forward to seeing how you move forward this week.

Heather - It was a pleasure to see you at the end of the day with an area of inquiry which includes, 'How do I ensure consistency of my values in all aspects of my behaviour?'. I know you were pleased with your new question because it extended the relationships which you wanted to include in your inquiry. You might like to consider adding a question which could focus on the relationships between you living your values consistently in different aspects of your behaviour and your educative influence on your own and others' learning.

Marilyn - I really enjoyed your video-presentation. It was refreshing to see evidence brought directly from classrooms and from conversations with pupils about their learning. 
One thing you might do, while it is fresh in your mind, is to jot down your thoughts on the responses from the group to your video-presentations and to see if you might integrate these responses, where appropriate, in moving on your enquiry.

Janie - that was a really exciting chat at the end of the day. Do see what you can do to find a way of 'showing' your educative relationships with your class, through your research, in a way which gets as close as you can to your daily practice. I mentioned our chat to Jackie and her response was 'Wow - you should see her classroom'! Let's see if we can all 'see' your classroom, and understand your passion for an integrated curriculum,  through your research in a way which helps us to understand how you do what do (this is likely to include your values in answering the 'why' questions).

Phillip - Looking forward to your presentation on Saturday. What I had in mind is an outline of where your enquiry has got to and a first rough draft of your proposal.
Trudy - Smiling at the thought of you as 'maid of honor' as your sister's wedding next Saturday. When we chatted yesterday, I suggested you might like to work on a draft proposal and share it with me (and with the group). See if the outline I've given above for my own enquiry is helpful to you. Don't feel constrained by the form of my own enquiry and do draw on any literature/policy documents that you have found helpful. When you ask "How can I show students that I genuinely care about them as people and that I care about their learning?" I'm wondering if a question of the kind, 'How do I help you to improve your leaning?', which I think you might be asking of your students, might help you to show the group, how your meaning of care is expressed in the process of helping your students to take their learning forward. 

Marion  I did enjoy reading your paper from our first week with your emphasis on researching your educational leadership as a principal. I also liked the intentions you expressed for the coming week to work on defining aspects of relationships within the school community that you wish to improve based on your values. It's really important to understand the standards of practice, expressed as values, of educational leadership. See what you can do this week to clarify some of your values as they emerge through your educational practices as principal and professional educator.

Lindy Many thanks for sharing your writing yesterday. I know what an effort it was to move into a story of your own learning and to share those difficult experiences in relation to exclusion. Let's develop those questions raised by Cheryl and Geoff in relation to the rights and responsibilities of students and teachers. Jean Rudduck's paper from AERA 2000 considers some of these issues in relation to children's rights. I'll find the url where you can access it. I'm also going to work on your e-mail from this morning to explain why I think it is so important for you to see yourself as a knowledge-creator in your teacher-research. Bob might have some insights to share on how the group might develop its creative response to the emotions raised through your presentation.

Fran Sorry to hear about your difficulties in continuing. I know some of the frustrations and I'm just hoping that you will be able to sort something out and continue. 

Brenda.  Many thanks for your draft proposal with your question, 'Does student performance and behaviour improve when they believe that a teacher really cares for them as individuals?' I liked the list of inquiry methods. I'm wondering if you might like to amend your question to include your own 'I'. I'm thinking of an action enquiry of the kind, 'How do I help you to improve your learning?'.  I think you might be able to show us how you are helping your students to improve their learning, through your expression of care for your students as individuals and learners.  Looking forward to responding to your presentation on Saturday. I'd give an outline of where your enquiry has got to and circulate your proposal from yesterday, or a re-draft, to all the group.