AED 815: Action Research

  My data is taken from my personal teacher journal. I have kept a journal every year since I started to work in the public realm in 2016. This is often where I write notes to myself on lessons, things to consider in the future, supply issues or considerations, etc. However mostly, this is the tool that I grab when I need to vent, reflect or document classroom behavior or management issues. As I started to code, I realized that the entries on these experiences were still fresh in my memory. For my layered analysis, I look to a selection of entries from my 2019-2020 journal to help address my main concerns which are: -What emotional affects are present within our current school community - How using the restorative practice framework as an approach to discipline would change the relationships established between individuals within the school community. Layer One: Code Stakeholders: Individual Teacher Student Staff Administration Parent Group Within School ...

LAYER 1. CODE KEY Layer 2: My first category of codes is "Documentation". This research question and its category seems to be inferior to the others due to its simplicity. I coded for how participants created their documentation. The class seemed interested in technology so I coded many points where videos, photographs or slideshow presentations were being used. Then, I coded for how that creative product was then applied either in the teacher's home classroom, or during one of the meetings. The research question asked us to focus on how the documentation "facilitated professional learning". In my mind, the word facilitate is broad and can mean many things. I decided to link that part of the question to the second research question. By making the act of facilitating equal to inspiring, we can imagine that would aid in the growth of professional learning ultimately leading to a change, or a shift.  The second category is broken down into 3 main to...

My concept map has changed over time. At first, I knew the direction that I wanted to go in with my research but I didn't know how it all fit together. The ideas were scattered and jumbled because they were unattached to a problem that meant anything to me or my teaching. Now that I have taken time to reflect on what I want to change in my teaching, I have a more organized perspective of my work. My problem stems from questions of gender and classroom management. - Do male teachers experience less behavioral issues? - Do my male students respond to me differently than my female students, because of their perception of me as a female?

The field of research from the perspective of an artist is different from most. In her 2011 article Arts-Based Research as Social Justice Activism: Insight, Inquiry, Imagination, Embodiement, Relationality professor Karen Keifer-Boyd explains that it’s foundation lies in the visual, tactile, and kinesthetic nature of art itself (p. 5).  This means that when we conduct research through the arts we do so through all of our senses. With this idea comes the understanding that research is not just the end product of an experience but also the experience itself. This concept is illustrated in the study done by the dance teacher Amy Chavasse in 2015. She identifies the challenge of adapting her teaching strategies to meet the needs of her students. As a teacher-researcher, she looks to answer the question of how she can foster creative agency in her students. In her study she utilizes the methods of constructivism by sharing the problem with her class and making them beco...