The keynote presentation at the 2006 Learning from Practice Exchange of Teacher Knowledge and Research was provided by Rachel Florence and JoAnne Kasper. Rachel is a teacher at Connaught Elementary School in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, while JoAnne is Language and Literacy Consultant with the Living Sky School Division. Together they have carried out a McDowell Foundation research project on Comprehension Strategy Instruction.

Reflections of Two Researchers

Rachel

September, 2005 another year of fresh and eager students.

I walk into my classroom and look at all the students wondering if I will be able to inspire them and meet their needs. I know from past experience the way I do things. I know that every plan doesn’t always work as well as I had hoped. But how do I know if my way of teaching has worked and if not how do I find the best way?  I have so many questions and so few answers - all of this in only the first moments of school! 

I have not taken my profession lightly. I have read articles and books to find more answers, I’ve consulted with experienced teachers, searched out experts, and of course used trial and error. Recently I have been approached to look in new directions and encouraged to look at my teaching in a different way. JoAnne asked if I was interested in doing a research project with her.

We began to look into our daily practice through research. It was a challenge to go past editions of MailBox for teacher ideas and inspiration to be truly inspired by what we can learn from students’ behavior and achievement. All of the hard work we put into the project transfers into the joy that comes from seeing the face when a student “gets it.”

JoAnne

My job description as Language and Literacy Consultant includes time for research. I moved into this position directly from the classroom and the word research intimidated me. So I had to fit it into what I can do and I just read. As I read, I was exposed to new ideas and I found myself asking many questions.

I came to see that reading others’ research presented many exciting ideas. But I was now working in an office, not a classroom where I could experiment and play with what I was reading.  I had to search out ways to create a laboratory. I needed to fit the research and reading in with other people’s knowledge and experience. I had a desire to test and challenge the ideas and realized that action research was what was needed to do that. I also knew that working with someone is the best way for me to grow. From there, I went back to where I had just come from, a classroom, and approached teachers to see who would be willing to work on a project.  

As this was happening, another project on early literacy was in place. The group of teachers working on it had developed into a team that was constantly striving to find the best way to help our students get a good start on their school life. As the project developed, we found we were conducting research, but in a very informal way. We read current authors, we collected and analyzed data, we reflected and changed practice based on the findings. The project was successful, but we still had many questions. We weren’t sure how to go about answering them. We weren’t done learning. I also think we really wanted to formalize our research as we looked for answers to the questions.

One of our schools was working hard to find a response to help raise their students’ reading scores. Their principal and staff worked hard to read through current research and choose a plan that would work for their students. They were collecting data, searching out responses, and changing their structures and methods of delivery to better suit their needs. Although a formal research question has not been asked, and a report will not be written, they are using other researchers’ ideas and thoughts as well as their own, to develop a plan for their school. The principal has led by example and the staff has become a collective in pursuit of improvement. Conversation focusing on instruction and sharing of what just happened in a lesson are commonplace. As part of the process, I saw the value of learning from other’s experience, but that it becomes more meaningful when you put it into your own situation, experience and knowledge base. It becomes even more meaningful when we try to study and reflect on the methods used and how they impacted student learning.

Then we were asked to present this evening. All of this led Rachel and I to look again at the word research and what it means to us as regular classroom teachers. Before we began our project on comprehension, we were uncertain. But as we worked our way through the steps, we came to realize that what we thought would be the stumbling blocks were most often our own misconceptions. We’d like to share some of our misconceptions with you now.

Rachel

The first misconception we had was that:

1. Research takes too much time

When JoAnne asked if I would be interested I said yes, basically because I’m sort of a yes kind of gal, but then the thought of RESEARCH really began to scare me. Hadn’t I done what I needed to do in university? I’ve taught for several years, I’ve learned from my peers. I know the pressures of the classroom and the time it takes to prepare lessons, evaluate student work, to keep my classroom organized and running. I had extra-curricular commitments, professional commitments – oh, and did I mention that I have a husband, two kids, and dog? When was this RESEARCH going to happen?

JoAnne

As is turns out the panic was for nothing. We did require some extra planning time, but most of that planning needed to be done anyways in the normal course of planning for the day and year. We were not adding planning time, but rather changing the focus and content of the planning. Another benefit that we discovered was that two heads are better than one. Ideas come quicker and jobs can be shared, so that time can be saved– as long as we stayed on topic. We found ways to accommodate the time needed for individualized pre and post testing. We also found ways to conference and debrief without taking away from other commitments or adding hours to the day.

In our situation, my Language and Literacy position was flexible enough to absorb most of that time. When that kind of an option is not available in every situation there should be other avenues. Some of those might be to plan for release time when applying for a grant or searching out supportive teachers and administrators who can help.

Rachel

The second misconception that we found was:

2. Research is disconnected from the classroom

Having never done a project, one often wonders in what situations these research projects are occurring. Sometimes the writing seems so disconnected from reality. They’ve never been in my classroom. My classroom is unique. My kids are really tough this year. My kids would never fit that mold. Nothing seems applicable or appropriate and it’s easy to write off the findings.

But when I really think about it, is my room really so different? Certainly we are all unique but there are many things to be learned from others who have delved deeply into situations that may be more similar than I first thought. Responding to a burning question and need in my own classroom, brings about change in my perception and methodology. It also causes me to look more openly at research done further afield. I now read the articles in The Reading Teacher in a different way and can implement and experiment with those results. I even took home Instructor for fun reading on the weekend!

JoAnne

When I’m talking and working with teachers, I sometimes hear the comment, “Well, the researchers didn’t ask me. I know what works in my classroom and just because someone has written a book doesn’t mean their ideas will work.”  While it may be true that not every idea works in every situation, the possibility is there that it might. When research is done by people we know in environments we’ve experienced, it is easier to accept the findings. Once we start to accept one kind of research, it opens the door to an acceptance of the larger body of research that is being done. When we see the value of research firsthand, it starts to allow us to value other research that is not done directly in our own small neck of the woods.

Rachel

The third misconception is that:

3. Only experts know how to research

How many of us have taken a stats class and done exceedingly well?  How many of us have tried to absorb all the technical interpretations of data obtained from a research project and been overwhelmed? How many of you completely understand the CCAT scores and know the difference between a percentage, grade level, stanine and percentile without having to think about it? 

We do need experts to do that type of empirical research. Their work is important. But there also is room in the field for action research done by practitioners in the field.  

JoAnne

The work done by the practitioners in the field is crucial to understanding and bringing about growth and change. We can talk to each other, we can learn from each other. We can be experts. We are experts, we just don’t always believe it.

I was sharing with a friend some of my hesitancies and insecurities on doing this presentation and her first response was: “Don’t apologize and make excuses that you are not an expert. You have lots to say. You know more than you believe you do.” Her words are ones that we all need to hear in midst of the angst that comes from trying to find answers that will meet the many and varied needs of our students.

Asking the questions is the first step to finding answers. But, in order to ask meaningful questions, there needs to be a knowledge base. We know that from the kinds of questions our students sometimes ask. If we take that thought further, the implication is that by merely asking the right question we show that we do have some expertise.

So what really is an expert? The thesaurus suggests words like ‘authority,’ ‘specialist,’ ‘professional,’ and ‘virtuoso’ as having similar meanings to ‘expert’. We most definitely see ourselves as professionals, and all of us can find something we have developed a specialty in. The ebb and flow of a well-planned, well-executed lesson gives us the feeling of virtuosity.

The feeling of needing to be an expert is one that Rachel and I had to let go of.  Instead we revelled in the knowledge that we were learning and trying our utmost to make the classroom the best it could be for the students who are there. In that process, we found that we discovered expertise. Rachel can read a book to her students with a joy and enthusiasm that is contagious. She can sense and respond to the moods and emotional needs of her students with a skill that is amazing.

When we work with someone else we learn from their skills, but also, they learn from ours. Research is not a solitary act. It builds a community between those engaged in working together. A professional bond, and sometimes a personal one, is created.  When we share that with others, we become cheerleaders who promote the inquiry that is characteristic of a lifelong learner.

JoAnne

On to our fourth misconception:

4. Research is too hard to read and too academic.

In my former life, when I thought of reading research, I thought of tables, graphs, and technical language that was beyond my interest and comprehension. It was dry and boring. Somehow, empirical university level research is the standard we tend to hold on to. We read that type of research because we had to. That’s the type of research that hits the news.

Most of the reading that I now do is often someone’s interpretation of the data and recommendations based on their interpretation. It doesn’t include a vast amount of raw data. An example of that is Mosaic of Thought by Keene and Zimmerman, which we read as the basis for our research project on Comprehension Strategies. It was a thought-provoking read and a good basis for many professional conversations. It does not quote empirical data, but rather interprets student learning and behaviour and challenges us to look at the way we teach and try to reach students better.

But, collecting data is important. By choosing the information that we want to collect, some of it subjective, we begin to understand what it tells us. We can then relate it to other studies and projects, making them within our reach and comprehension. We’ve widened our paradigm and expanded our reading skills repertoire as well as our reading selection repertoire. Our reading becomes more professional and discretionary.

Rachel

It’s really no different from what we ask our students to do. We want them to read things that are challenging, new and out of their experiences. We want them to build schema and grow in their thinking and reading skills. We need to do the same. Being involved in a research project does that.

JoAnne

In our province, the push is on to move our divisions to a continuous improvement framework, to create curricula that are outcome-based. Professional Learning Communities have a strong element of action research to them. This will affect our classrooms and how we will be asked to account for our students’ learning. Opening our minds and having some experience with data can make that a beneficial experience.

The final misconception we dealt with was:

5. Who will care what we have to say?

Research has the possibility to excite administrators and school boards. It is rewarding to have them value the project as well as the process you go through. Our principals and superintendent and director were all very supportive. Participating in action research demonstrates that teachers want to continue to develop as professionals and are willing to take responsibility for that growth. It can also give administrators and boards something concrete on which to base decisions.

Rachel

Research can excite your colleagues. They want to learn as much as we do. They can assist with some of the data collection. As a researcher you are then drawing on their knowledge and expertise. How often do we get to question our practice in a supportive, noncompetitive, non-threatening atmosphere where we are allowed to be wrong and pick up the pieces?

Sometimes we won’t know who reads our reports. It doesn’t always come back to us.

Our students care what we say. They may not fully understand what it is that we are doing, but they will reap the benefits of our learning, as well as seeing a strong role model of someone who values learning and the growth that it brings.

JoAnne

In our journey to this evening, we’ve worked our way through five misconceptions that we had regarding research:

1. Research takes too much time;
2. Research is disconnected from the classroom;
3. Only experts know how to research;
4. Research is too hard to read and too academic; and
5. Who will care what we have to say?

Upon reflection, we found that the benefits far outweighed the perceived drawbacks. Research encouraged us to reflect and ask the big questions which are the key to change and to professional affirmation.

When we teach in our classroom, there are many joys. That’s why we do it. But it also can be a very disheartening place. When faced with all the challenges that a regular classroom offers, it can feel like we are just spinning our wheels and going nowhere.

After doing that for a while, human nature has two responses. The first is to just not care. Let’s put in our time and then go home. Blame the students, the parents or the principal. Or we can search for answers and try to make changes. Research is an impetus for change. It says to our students, to parents and administrators, and most importantly to ourselves, “I’m working on this. I’m not ignoring the challenges. I want to do the best I can.” 

So when asking the question, “Who will care what I have to say...?”

Rachel

…I care. I learned, I grew, and my students will benefit.

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