As we start a new school year,
it is once again an opportunity (rushed though it may be) to reflect upon
changes we can make as we move ahead. One of the challenges to making a
change is not knowing what has been tried and tested by others before us.
That’s why my focus for the
newsletters and this year’s “Reading Group” will be on research.
I actually stole the idea from
an acquaintance who is a bioinformatician at the Mayo Center in Rochester.
He once told me of a Data Blitz that a cross-disciplinary group of
researchers completed about once a month.
The group of thinkers, representing a number of different scientific
fields, would come together and browse through the hundreds of recently published
research studies. Each member of the group would vet a few studies that looked to
be worthy of study, present them to the group, and then they would vote on
which ones to read and discuss more deeply.
Within the culture at Mayo,
this type of practice is not considered unusual at all. In fact, programs
similar to this exist at 3M and Google.
Employees of these companies are encouraged to not only stay current on
research, but to develop and explore potential areas of study on their own.
It’s a culture where people are encouraged (even paid) to take time out
of their days to read, reflect, and discuss the work of innovative
thinkers.
Unfortunately, teachers are
rarely afforded this opportunity. The schedule of the school day is so
compressed and unforgiving that it really doesn’t lend itself to very much
reflection or study beyond the most basic. As a side note, there are
countries with highly successful educational systems where teachers are afforded
these opportunities. They have achieved this with lower class sizes, fewer
duties, and a built in part of the day for reading and reflective practices.
As the field of educational
research grew in the U.S., so did the divide between practitioners and
researchers. The critiques from both sides hold a morsel of truth. Some research, practitioners claim, seems to
out of touch with the actual practice of a classroom. While some
practioners, as some researcher state, are simply unwilling to part from long
standing and entrenched traditions of teaching.
Yet I believe that there is a
tremendous interest today on the part of many teachers, a craving to look at
the latest studies and consider what they might tell us about our classrooms
and how we might adapt to this fast changing landscape. I think there is an
interest to dig deeper, not only at the quantitative and experimental research,
but in the critical studies of culture as well.
This year, I will dedicate the
newsletters to this purpose. My goal is to share out the findings of our
“Reading Group” in order to sample some of the findings we discover along the
way.
Here is my vision. Each
month, the “Reading Group” will meet briefly to browse a number of journals and
articles to find some that might be worthy of study. Each member of the
group, will then choose one study / journal article. They will have a month to
read it, process it, and then come back to the group and report out their
findings. And then we will repeat the cycle again.
Looking at some of the exciting
changes and challenges of our building, I can think of numerous potential areas
of reading that would be helpful:
- Educational research that
examines the growing trend of absenteeism
- Critical readings and studies
that address culture and race
- Experimental research that
looks at the use of movement and space
- Research around educational
technology
- Studies related to recent trends
in teaching content areas (ie. science, math, language arts, etc).
If this seems like something
that might interest you, please join us. We will meet the first Thursday
of each month (starting September 6th) in Room B121 from 2:30-3:00. Be a
part of a fun and engaging learning environment.
