Male cheerleaders and bullying

Got this in my Twitter feed this morning from Tolerance.org

http://tinyurl.com/2dwhlcw


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Defining Reading

Defining Reading

Transacting with a text, both the author and the reader come out differently in the end. Reading is about making meaning, not just decoding.

Fluency: we need to redefine what fluency means. It's not about how fast one reads but also the comprehension, inflection. Programs like Reading Street and DIBLES focus on how fast one reads.

We are conditioned to believe that if we repeat words when reading aloud then we aren't good readers. This isn't the case. It's a strategy that good readers use to make sure they're making meaning.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Conceptualizing Qualitative Research

In class, we are all about using metaphor to explain difficult concepts. Here's what we came up with.

In the first iteration, we kind of let the metaphor take us over.




The second time... This is what it was supposed to look like.





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Questions in Qualitative Research

From our discussion of qualitative research

• Shortcomings of qualitative research questions is that they're often too focused.
• Don't have enough flexibility of research questions
• Should be broad enough that we can go into specifics but can change at the same time
• components of a research question
  
  • context
  • participants (community)
• hardest thing to come to is initial question

As we get to our findings, the research questions change. That makes qualitative research and dissertation antithetical because we have to write a proposal in which research questions are set. Even though the questions change due to the research.

Theoretical framework guides research questions. (Finally! An order!)

The literature review comes out of the ideas of the research questions. The way the questions are analyzed become the legs of the literature review.

*Note: Grounded theory is a theoretical framework and a methodology--it also means the "absence of theory."

What we ask ourselves with research questions:

• Is it a yes/no question? 
  
  • Questions with the word "can" can get you in trouble
  • Use words like how, how do
  • We are concerned with how people make meaning in qual. research
• Are there multiple things going on in the question?
• What assumptions are we making about ideas or groups of people?
• Are there ideas to correlation between two or more topics (that's kinda quantitative, innit?)
• Is it looking at the phenomenon I'm interested in?
• Where do I get my literature?
• Which question (of the subquestions) is your "so what" question. Marshall and Rossman (2010) call it "should-do-ability"

Tough Questions (Part II)

Worksheets and Homework
How do you respond when a parent asks why no extensive homework or worksheets?

• Students aren't actively engaged
• they pick up the pattern of the worksheets 
  
• There is frustration when the work can't be completed
• After school should be family time
• Doesn't take into account SES

Commercial Reading Programs and Guided Reading
Basal readers, etc.

• Students don't get a real literacy experience when readings are truncated or dumbed down

• Stories aren't authentic

• Vocabulary is controlled

Rewards & Accelerated Reader (See  http://www.sdkrashen.com for more info)

• It's all about the reward
• Doesn't build a love of reading
• Competitive
• Doesn't take into account those readers who struggle, or the kids who love to read, or those who choose harder/longer text

 

Garan, E. (2007). Smart Answers to Tough Questions. New York: Scholastic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Accelerated Reader

This is a post for me to come back to later. @donalynbooks says the link at the bottom would be a good start for my research.

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/book_whisperer/2010/09/reading_rewarded_part_ii.html

Conceptualizing Qualitative Research

In class, last night, we were asked to take what we learned about research study design and create a visual representation of what we determined to be the most important points. Brief explanation of that which isn't clear:

• The arrows point to the reflexive and reflective processes, which are ubiquitous in the research process. At any point, the researcher may change direction/methods/etc because of what they discover during these processes.
• In reflecting on our drawing during presenting to the class, we added petals to the flower labeled "Data Collection." Some example petals are questionnaires, interviews, videos, and surveys.

Through our conversations surrounding presentations of the visuals we created a number of questions were presented and answered about the research process and the language we use to describe it.

Reflection and reflexivity are processes where the researcher thinks about themselves and their relationship to the project as a whole. The purpose is to make sure the researcher is aware of his positionality and how that affects his research. The iterative process, however, is reflection that involves repeating processes (though not always in the same way). I see the iterative process kind of like this:

(From http://goo.gl/LhZG)

So we can conclude that research is very much not a linear process. I wanted to create a flowchart to make it more linear, but even that seemed way too complicated. So I guess I'll stick with the flowers.

Qualitative research is contextually bound. There is no guarantee that the results will be transferrable to other situations, but the theories that come out of the research should be patterns that are applicable to observations in other places. That is what makes qualitative research transformable.

As researchers, we have to get to the point where we understand (and practice) the idea that absolutely everything we do is intentional. Because we have to justify more than quantitative researchers do, we have to be able to explain to people why we made the choices that we made. Every choice or occurrence (e.g. people not returning permission forms) affects the outcome of the study. As researchers, we have to be very aware, and make a point to talk about, the limitations of the study due to these choices or other things that happen through the course of the study.

One of my tasks following this posting is to go back and look at the article I read last week on bullying and examine at it more critically in terms of what we decided was important.