Back to Inspiration
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My Journey Forward
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Research
Design Process
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How can I, as an educator with something to share, find my audience and inspire change in their behaviors?
I have learned that a catchy, inspiring, or aha type of title does a lot to get me to read further. First impressions make a difference to your audience. I hope my title and logo capture you, my audience, so that you wanted to read further.
My audience is fellow teachers. First, I thought my audience would be my peers in St Helena, but after this program and reading Gottfried's capstone, I saw that I need to think bigger. Posting on social media will spread ideas far and wide. To be all that I want my capstone to be, I need to always remember my teachers. I need to support my audience with enough information, presented in an easy to use format so that they stay a while, or not, and leave with something that they can try within a few days!
I do not want my program to be something that other teachers look at and say that it is nice, interesting, or wow. If this happens, my audience are just spectators. I want to create something that can be implemented in the classroom. If it gets re-tweeted, pinned, or posted through social media, I want people who follow these links to be inspired to act, to change their classroom dynamics, and to help their students think more by asking quality questions.
If I can inspire my audience, then we can cultivate curiosity in the classroom.
I have learned that a catchy, inspiring, or aha type of title does a lot to get me to read further. First impressions make a difference to your audience. I hope my title and logo capture you, my audience, so that you wanted to read further.
My audience is fellow teachers. First, I thought my audience would be my peers in St Helena, but after this program and reading Gottfried's capstone, I saw that I need to think bigger. Posting on social media will spread ideas far and wide. To be all that I want my capstone to be, I need to always remember my teachers. I need to support my audience with enough information, presented in an easy to use format so that they stay a while, or not, and leave with something that they can try within a few days!
I do not want my program to be something that other teachers look at and say that it is nice, interesting, or wow. If this happens, my audience are just spectators. I want to create something that can be implemented in the classroom. If it gets re-tweeted, pinned, or posted through social media, I want people who follow these links to be inspired to act, to change their classroom dynamics, and to help their students think more by asking quality questions.
If I can inspire my audience, then we can cultivate curiosity in the classroom.
Next Steps, Challenge, New Action Research
As I move forward, I need to always keep the student in mind and change my incentives to keep their interest. For example, last year my students were totally into making their own "slime" and bringing it to school to play with. It was quickly outlawed in most classrooms. I offered it as an incentive toward the end of the year. It worked with some students. The "slime" craze will move on and I will need to look for the next fad as a possible incentive.
For future action research, I am interested in pursuing two related studies. First, is there a gender or ethnicity (or both) relationship between the students who ask quality questions when there is a reward and those who do not get involved? Anecdotal evidence from my classes, for example, shows that fewer Hispanic boys pursue asking quality questions. I need to conduct a quantitative analysis to check the veracity of this observation. If the observation is true, then I can use sense-making questions, based on Brenda Dervin's "From the Mind's Eye of the User: The Sense-Making Qualitative-Quantitative Methodology, " to better guide my next steps.
Second, does my quality question club impact other classes? In other words, do students, over time, start to change their mindset and ask more questions in other classrooms? I am excited to find out the result and invite you to do similar research and share it with me and others.
For future action research, I am interested in pursuing two related studies. First, is there a gender or ethnicity (or both) relationship between the students who ask quality questions when there is a reward and those who do not get involved? Anecdotal evidence from my classes, for example, shows that fewer Hispanic boys pursue asking quality questions. I need to conduct a quantitative analysis to check the veracity of this observation. If the observation is true, then I can use sense-making questions, based on Brenda Dervin's "From the Mind's Eye of the User: The Sense-Making Qualitative-Quantitative Methodology, " to better guide my next steps.
Second, does my quality question club impact other classes? In other words, do students, over time, start to change their mindset and ask more questions in other classrooms? I am excited to find out the result and invite you to do similar research and share it with me and others.
I want to thank the faculty of Touro University for their help through this Innovative Learning Master in Education program. Their guidance has helped me move from a technological doubter to one who embraces technology in the classroom when the tool is needed to enhance student learning. What I leaned through this program will make a difference in the lives of my students and, hopefully, in the lives of other teachers and their students too.
A special thanks to Napa Learns for supporting this program and me specifically.
With their generous support, I could earn my Master in Education through Touro University in the Innovative Learning Program. I will continue to showcase and promote the good that Napa Learns does for our community. See you in trainings.
With their generous support, I could earn my Master in Education through Touro University in the Innovative Learning Program. I will continue to showcase and promote the good that Napa Learns does for our community. See you in trainings.