Research has only ever inspired me to sigh. It brings to mind my beginning of the year meetings with my prinicipal in which we discuss my "Student Learning Objective" and "Guided Goal" These are two activities that I am required by the state to complete every year. As I fill out the documents that will guide my teacher-research I think back to the advice I received from master teachers around me.
"It's important to collect numerical data to evaluate student growth but I guess it doesn't really fit your type of teaching..."
"I know it's not usually what you do but your goal must be measurable."
"Don't set your metric too high, you want to set yourself up to be proficient."
"This is just something we have to do, I never get much out of it."
Sometimes I feel that quantitative research is the only method that is accepted by administration. However, Critical Action Research is something that I believe to be far more valuable than any bar graph.
When my students make a mistake in a drawing I usually respond with, "Making a mistake means that you're learning. Learning is a human process and no human is perfect. You aren't a machine." However, sometimes teachers are expected to act as if they don't make mistakes. Teachers are often expected to act as if teaching is the thing that they were born to do, who needs practice when you have raw talent?
In reality, I know this isn't true. Critical Action Research is a teacher or practitioners opportunity to keep learning. More importantly, action research provides a safe space for professionals to have a real conversation about their struggles, what isn't working for them or what they wish they could change. The method of Action Research also provides teachers with a chance to embody the power that they have as an individual within their own practice to do what truly works for their students, instead of the norm. Critical Action Research is founded in inquiry and the inclusion of diverse perspectives. It asks teachers to consider how the educational system reflects the good and the bad of the cultural and political sphere.
I appreciate your take on action research. I think as the art teacher its especially difficult to try and explain what needs improvement in your classroom and to be taken seriously. I have found myself explaining more often to academic teachers and administration not WHAT needs improvement but WHY I think it needs improvement.
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