Area of Focus Brainstorm Bubble

Action Research Project Area of Focus Brainstorming

I began my brainstorming based on my current education focus, teaching high school math.  I also happen to be focusing on Statistics and teaching Statistics this semester, so it is foremost in my mind.  One of the reasons I am focusing on that is based on my own children's experiences with their AP Statistics class in high school.

I had one child take AP Statistics do extremely well under a well-seasoned teacher.  The next child who took it had a new teacher who had never taught statistics before and she did not do nearly as well.  I initially thought the difference was because my older son is naturally much more gifted in math and my daughter is not as gifted, unfortunately.  However, I found out that many other students, even those who are good in math, were struggling in my daughter's class.  My son also talked to those students and everyone seemed to agree the breakdown was due the new teacher.  I am interested in how the teachers' teaching methods differed and if there was a difference in their knowledge of the subject matter.  And, how that in turn affected the students' learning.

I have also noticed that most people seem to automatically think statistics is too complicated to understand.  In fact, I recall from my own undergraduate days references to our statistics class as the "sadistics" class.  Now that I am taking higher level statistics, I see that it is not scary and that it is a very important, prevelant, and relevant part of our everyday lives. I would like to investigate ways to make statistics more accessible and less scary to high school students.  I think that there may be two causes for this perception of statistics being too hard to understand:  1) students are scared away by seemingly complex computations and 2) students can't relate to statisics in their everyday life and, therefore, it is too abstract for them to even want to understand. 

Based on these thoughts, I came up with the following potential critical questions (and follow up questions) as a starting point:

• How do different levels of teachers' subject knowledge impact their students' understanding? 
• If there is an impact, at what point do teachers need additional education on the subject material?
• How do different teaching styles affect students' understanding of material?
• How can statistics be made more accessible to students?
• Is there a relationship between statistics being relevant to students' lives and their understanding or desire to undertand it?
• How can the complex computations of statistics be made more simple to understand?
• Can students teaching other students and each other improve all students' understanding?

Cultural Images of Teachers

Our group looked at how teachers are portrayed in Hollywood via movies about or involving teachers.  Interestingly enough, the overall image in the movies is quite different from what the other two groups saw in Society and Marketing.  In the movies, as depicted below by my specific collage of movies about teachers, teachers more often teach high school and are male.  They are depicted as tough, dedicated, and inspirational on the serious end.  In the comedies, they are often depicted as silly and easily fooled.

This is very different from how teachers are depicted in Society and Marketing, as summarized by the other two groups.  In both of those groups, teachers mostly teach elementary school, are young, white and female.  They are also not "tough" as I suppose there aren't as many dangerous and troubled children in elementary school as there are in high school. 

I wasn't surprised to see that depiction in Marketing because students, well really parents, usually buy things for teachers during elementary school much more often than during high school.  So, the market is more geared towards elementary school teachers, who probably are more often young and female.  However, the depiction in Society through Google searches also seemed to focus on young, white, female elementary school teachers.  I'm sorry to see that society in general holds on to this stereotype and surprised that it is so different from Hollywood's version. 

I think that Hollywood's version of teachers is so different because they want to entertain and, in order to do that, they have to have conflict.  I suppose a movie about conflict in elementary school isn't as interesting to movie-goers as is a troubled, gang-ridden high school.  Of course, there is the exception in "Kindergarten Cop" which, as a comedy, depicts a male uncomfortable (and rather bumbling) in the stereotypical female role of a Kindergarten teacher.

Images of Teacher

My image of a good teacher is largely based on my experience as a mother, because one the biggest parts of a parent's role is to teach.  Another piece of my image is from my son.  His calculus teacher in high school had a very positive influence on him, so I asked him what made her such a good teacher.  His reply was that she knew the material very well and she really cared about all the students.

So, I believe a good teacher has to, first, know the material or they won't be respected.  They have to be able to communicate in different ways and, even more importantly, be able to really hear and understand what their students are saying.  In order to do that, they do have care about all their students.  They also have to be honest, fair, and firm to keep their students' respect.  And they must be willing to learn from others, including their students, in order to continue to improve themselves.  I also believe being creative and flexible and technology-savvy are very beneficial.  They have to be able to motivate their students and multi-task!

The images on p. 8 of the Phillips and Carr book were a bit difficult to read, but from what I could tell, many of the characteristics include "feel-good" and "happy" images.  There were some references to experience and knowledge, but most of the ideas seemed to be focused on nurturing.  I don't think that is bad, but more attributes need to be included, such as being a firm disciplinarian when necessary and having the knowledge of the subject you're teaching. 

I don't see anything referencing analysis or decision making, but to be fair, that is a bit hard to "draw."  I do believe you have to synthesize and reflect on what worked or didn't work in each of your classes and update your actions based on your observations.  I think that is a microcosm of classroom research that should be included daily.

Self-Study: Personal Interview

My father worked at IBM since before I was born. I grew up surrounded by IBM and, while I didn’t know exactly what my father did at work, I knew IBM meant computers. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that, ever since I was in third grade, my answer to the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” was “a Computer Programmer.”

I pursued that goal and ended up also working at IBM. Interestingly enough, just a few years after working at IBM, I moved away from actual programming and into leadership roles. One of my father’s last roles at IBM before he retired was as a motivational speaker and teacher. His classes and presentations were always sought after and everyone loved his interactive style. I also found myself delivering presentations and enjoying it. I looked for opportunities to teach, following again in my father’s footsteps. In classes I took, I discovered that I could often understand a question someone had that the presenter wouldn’t understand and I could interpret and restate the question so that both parties were satisfied.

I first looked into getting my teaching degree at NCSU only a few years into my career at IBM. However it would have taken too long and I’m afraid I couldn’t justify the cut in pay at that time in my life. Several years later, when the IBM Transition to Teaching Program came along, I was sorely tempted again. However, I was at the height of my career and had started a family. The timing was not good for such a disruption.

As my children grew, so did my involvement in the education system. I volunteered when I could and especially enjoyed my visits to the Middle School during Engineer’s Week. Having the children’s attention and seeing the “ah ha” moment in their eyes as I explained computer programming via games was thrilling. When my oldest son went to high school, he excelled in all his studies, but especially in Math. I would have him show me his homework and refresh me on the principles of Geometry and Calculus. He even ended up taking Calculus III via Distance Learning at NCSU when he was a senior. His Calculus teacher and sponsor in high school was one of his biggest influences.

I am now in the position to have an “encore career” and have gone back to the question “What do I want to be when I grow up?” I believe that third grader would now say “a Teacher.” I have reached a maturity in my career and life that now allows me to pursue my true interests and I’ve realized that teaching is where I’ve been heading for years.

Through my interactions with my children’s friends, I feel I have a good rapport with the high school age kids and am excited to help them reach their potential. With my experience in the technology business world, as well as my experience with watching my own three children go through our public school system, I believe that I could help improve their experiences. I've seen how teachers can enhance and impede students' understanding and I want to be part of the solution.

My upbringing did not emphasize gender specific roles at all. In fact, with three daughters and no sons on a horse-farm, we were often brought up to do the job of both genders. I have actually identified more with male oriented roles than female oriented, so gender did not influence my desire to be a teacher at all. My socioeconomic background allows me to pursue this profession out of want rather than need. My personal experience in education has always been a positive one and I think it should be positive for all students.

I believe education should be mind-opening and give our children the information and means to take each generation further than the last. Education is a building block upon which our children should continue to build and explore. We should all strive to build upon what we've already learned and, in that capacitiy, I definitely believe in research.

Now that I have a basic understand of what is meant by classroom action research, I whole-heartedly support that idea. I believe we have to continue to look for ways to improve upon what we are doing or we will never grow. I think classroom research can be very beneficial, but I think changes need to be implemented with care. I have seen my children be "guinea pigs" for too many "let's try this now" schemes. I would not want to implement anything too radical without sound reasons that show it would be beneficial.