CONDUCT A TEACHER-RESEARCH PROJECT

Based on the methods described in the chapter, conduct a teacher-research project based on your observations in a school in which you are completing your practicum or your student teaching.   Formulate some specific research questions related to your work or future student teaching in the school.  Define some methods for addressing these questions based on some observations or interviewing techniques.  For example, given your concern about the extent to which students in your student teaching will be prepared to discuss literature, you could study classroom small- or large-group literature discussions in which you record your cooperating teachers’ questions or prompts and students responses (see Chapter 5 activities for other aspects of discussions to analyze).  You could then interview a few students in the class about their perceptions of classroom discussions, the degree to which they are involved in or participate in the discussions, and ways in which you as their teacher could improve discussions.  Or, if you are concerned about the influence of your feedback on students’ revisions, you could select a few students with whom you may be working during your practicum, provide them with some conference feedback, and then study the kinds and degree of revision they make due to your feedback.  Or, if you are curious about how individual students’ reading and writing abilities influence their performance in different subjects, you can select one or two students and follow them around during their school day to observe the uses of reading and writing in different subjects.  You can also have them complete an inventory of their preferences and amount of reading and writing.  You can then interview them about their perceptions of their reading and writing abilities and practices in different subjects, focusing on issues such as how their prior knowledge of these subjects influences their reading and writing.