06/27/2016

I believe the best practice for research is to find articles with

Summon. I used it before to find articles, but I didn't use it in an
efficient and accurate way. From the tutorial I learn that I can narrow
down the searching results to meet my specific requirements by
selecting the choices like resource types, subjects, and date of
publishing. I also learn that I can save all the related articles in
certain format and email myself the citations, which will make my
work more efficient.
The second practice I want to follow is to target and tailor the topic
for my researches. It will be difficult to find related resources
efficiently if the topic is too narrow or too small. From the tutorial, I
have learned that I can first broaden the topic to allow for more
choices, then narrow it down by adding some key words that are
related to the area that I am interested in.
The third practice I like is to break your topic into several topics to
find more resources. It's true that sometimes I am eager to find the
"perfect" resource that meets all my requirements, which actually
seldom exists. By breaking the topic into several aspects and
researching from various types of resources, not only can I find
sufficient resources, but I may also come up with my own ideas.
06/29/2016
The following discussion question can help guide your response:
Based on these readings, how would you define teacher research?
What seem to be common characteristics across the studies?
The following rubric will be used to grade your discussion forum
post:
Discussion forum post
Rubric
1. Mentions at least 2 specific points from the article or reading. (2
pt)
2. Relates new information to old information learned in the course
to date. (2 pt)
3. Relates information in article or reading to personal experience.
(1 pt)
4. Discusses at a critical level, not just recitation of facts from the
article. (4 pts)
5. Length of posting approximately 1 word processing page. (1 pt)
Total= 10 pts

The readings have changed greatly my previous understanding of

teacher research. I used to see teacher research as something too
scholarly and overwhelming, which requires you to talk about some
complex topics and use complicated terminology to write about. I
thought it's an area that is far away from my actually teaching.
However, now I understand that teacher research is an action
research, which begins with some of your concerns with your
teaching and your students, requires you to explore causes of the
phenomenon in your classroom, and demands you to come up with
actions to find better ways to help your students grow.
The three studies seem to share the following common
characteristics:
1. The study is motivated by a concern with students' learning. Julia
Lindquist wanted to give her students choices in reading because
she believed it's vital to keep them really enjoy reading, yet she
needed to know how she could organize this independent reading
more efficiently; Betsy Sanford thought it's significant to cultivate
students' mathematical thinking and explored how she could help
the first graders to view the world mathematically; Tony Tendero
found the current evaluation of writing didn't benefit many students,
and began to include students' voices in the evaluation process. All
of these teachers met some problems or had some confusion in
their teaching, and with an effort they began to seek answers to
their confusion and seek solutions to the problems.
2. All the studies view students' voices as significant sources and
aimed to know more about the students. Julia Lindquist's study
began with her determination to give students choices, and in her
experiments she interviewed her students about their reading habits
and how to evaluate independent thinking; Betsy Stanford asked her
students to write about what happened when they looked for math
happenings; Tony Tendero encouraged his students to write about
their opinions concerning evaluation and evaluate their own
writings. All the teachers understood that the center of their
teaching should be their students.
3. The teachers reflected upon the studies and came up with actions
to improve the teaching and learning experience of the students. In
her study of independent reading, Julia Lindquist got to know more
about the background of her students, and when she knew that
some parents did not read in English, she encouraged her students
to read with their parents in their native language; With the
reflection that it's far more difficult for the kids to see the world
mathematically than we do, Betsy Sanford decided to give the
students more time and chances to talk about their thinking; Tony
Tendero also came up with several teaching moves based up his
research.

Now personally I become more confident about teacher research.

When I was teaching, I also had confusions and thought a lot about
how to improve my teaching. Many times I just adjusted my
teaching but never did an in-depth study about whether the
adjustments were what my students wanted. I should listen to my
students more, and come up with actions that can really meet my
students' needs and interests.
Assignment 5
07/04/2016
My original definition of teacher research in module 1 is "an action
research, which begins with some of your concerns with your
teaching and your students, requires you to explore causes of the
phenomenon in your classroom, and demands you to come up with
actions to find better ways to help your students grow." After
reading Koshy's Action Research for Improving Educational Practice,
I find my previous understanding is in accordance with the
definitions discussed in the book in terms of the fundamental
philosophy, but rather simple regarding the rigor of researches.
Koshy emphasizes and elaborates the distinct characteristics of
action researches in terms of their purposes, participants, processes
and settings. Bases on my comprehension, I define teacher research
as an enquiry done by a teacher/ a group of teachers in their own
teaching context, with an intentional purpose to understand more
their students and teaching and to bring positive changes, the
process of which is systematic and cyclic and demands collaborative
work.
I believe the biggest benefit of teacher research is that it has direct
and immediate impact on a teacher's teaching and will greatly
benefit students' learning. As stated in Anderson's "An Introduction
to Teacher Research", teacher researches are done by, for, and
about teachers. Unlike those researches done by others far aware
from classrooms, teacher researches start from phenomenon, issues
and concerns in a teacher's teaching context; they are done by
teachers with the collaboration of students and other stakeholders;
and they aim to bring deeper understanding of what's happening in
a classroom or to solve a problem in current teaching. Once the
teachers are engaged in the researches, they will observe more
carefully, reflect more frequently, and adjust their teaching more
immediately to bring maximized improvement to the students'
learning.
Another great benefit is that teacher research motivates and helps
teachers to achieve professional development. I believe many
teachers like me want to do more for our students and are eager to
develop professionally. We also reflect, but not systematically
enough. We are overwhelmed by the academic researches because
we think we cannot bear the pressure in addition to our current

workload. However, teacher research allows us to think and do in

our own teaching context; it is based on an issue in our own
classroom; and it brings immediate action and benefits to our
teaching. The rigor of the research processes prompts us to plan the
research, implement the action, and interpret our findings in a more
professional and academic way, which pushes us to gain
professional development.
A question is where a teacher research begins. It is something a
teacher is confused about or concerned about. With the question in
mind, we can be clear about the direction of our research, and aim
at the goal of the research. Without a question, we can be easily lost
and deviate from our researching purpose. It's also significant to ask
questions in the process of a research, which will make us refine our
previous questions and plans, and direct us to a higher-level
understanding. It's equally important to ask questions in the end of
a research, because it makes us think profoundly about what the
researches teach us and what actions we should take to improve our
teaching based on the understanding of the findings. As Anderson
states, it's important to have a compelling question to guide the
research process, yet the question can tweak over time.
A question I still have about the research process is about what data
I should collect and how I should collect it. Data always sounds
overwhelming to me. What kind of data will be related to my
hypothesis? How can I design the activities to collect valid data? In
what ways should I interpret the data? I hope to find the answers as
well as the confidence through further learning.
7/22
What new insights have you developed regarding the teacher
research process, specifically regarding the collection and analysis
of data? What questions or concerns do you still have regarding the
process?
New insights
After reading the chapters, one significant thing that I learn is that
we should keep ethical considerations in mind while we are doing an
action research. As Koshy has stated, following strict ethical
guidelines is especially important for action researchers because of
the small-scale nature of the projects located within the working
situations of such researchers (p.126). Its crucial to remember that
when a research involves children, its not only the parents
permission that we should get but also the childrens. Sometimes
we may ignore the students own opinions when we think that we
only need to get the guardians permission.
By reading Koshys, I learn more about specific methods of
collecting data. When using questionnaires, we should make the
questions simple and understandable for the participants, especially

when they are young students. One point that should also keep in
mind is that we should avoid using leading questions. Sometimes we
may have some expected answers in mind and design our questions
based on the presumed answers, which will make the results
subjective. To avoid subjectivity, its also important to try not to
convey our opinions when we are conducting an interview,
otherwise the participants may be led to give us the answers that
they think we want. For field diaries and notes, we should
understand that we should not just record whats happening but
also we should be analytical and reflective since reflectivity is one of
the natures of action research.
A strategy of analyzing data that I learn by reading both Koshys and
Millss is to code the data. At first I was confused about what it
actually meant, but Mills explanation makes it easy to understand:
the process of trying to find patterns and meaning in data collected
through the use of surveys, interviews, and questionnaires (p.129).
It is a way to organize your data according to different themes
related to your questions, so that you can get meaningful and
systematic interpretation. As Koshy emphasizes, the most important
things that we should bear in mind while coding are our research
questions and research aims. Only when we are making things
relevant can we have a control of the data.
Both Koshy and Mills emphasize that action research does not aim
to get a generalization for a large population, but rather it aims to
generate knowledge and improvement in the context of the
researcher. Therefore, our analysis and interpretation of the data
collected should be based on the real situation of our own setting.
With this in mind, we will find the process less overwhelming and
also the outcome more effective.
Question/Concern
Koshy has emphasized several times that we should avoid
subjectivity when we carry out an action research. However, I still
doubt if I can make it really objective when I begin my research with
a purpose to change. Especially when I design a questionnaire, how
can I make sure that my questions are not leading my participants
to give the answers I want?