- post development: rust belt
- ecofeminism

Also - research language surrounding the idea of craft
And research surrounding the language of design (sustainable)
technology as sustainability - alternatives to oil
transportation
homes - building (green)

more research ideas

sustainability policy - investigate
the research of the creative process - they mystery

some research ideas

Some more ideas:
1. Teacher empowerment, research
2. Discourse - environmental justice
3. reading/ writing connections
4. composing outside of the classroom in other social spaces - same/ different literacies
5. Discourse - rise and fall of extractive communities

weeks of 3.26 and 4.1

Week of 3.26 – 3.29

In looking at the variety of research design, I should mention the way research is presented in the Reading Courses I am also taking at SRU. I am finishing up a Reading Master’s program at Slippery Rock this spring; I fell into it when attending to earn an 18 credit reading cert. to help my chances in landing a teaching job in the area job market. That turned into a master’s program, which turned into a job at KSU (both in English & Study Strategies, which turned into this course!).

I wonder why it took so long for me to explore this – but the connections between the ways in which I am collecting data in the Reading courses and this course are glaringly obvious & I would do well to consider them through the lenses we’ve adopted in class.

Epistemology: The program as a whole has been grounded in theorists: Frank Smith, Rosenbaltt, Dyson & Heath.

Reading Practicum Course:

Methods : Case study; 2 students in at-risk school (determined by free and reduced lunches).

informal/ formal reading assessment measures – interest inventory, reading attitude assessment (uh…no, did not choose “Garfield”), IRI (informal reading inventory -I chose Jerry Johns’ Basic Reading Inventory) & two assessements to use as exit evaluations.

Case study format – reflect on results from initial assessments to determine a reading “prescription” for each student. I determined my students needed help with comprehension and inference & would benefit from high interest subjects. Also, they could use some help with figuring out vocabluary. Subsequent meetings clarifyed ways in which we worked on each of the above points we decided we’d work on. Drawings, connecting text to life, other texts and themselves through a written formant, keeping a vocab journal etc. were some strategies that emerged (oh, we were encouraged to use a text called The Next Step in Guided Reading by Jan Richardson).

Representation: Case study – which includes student work, my own reflections which track decisions made for subsequent lessons based on student work, discussions held with students outside of lessons, notes on parent night.

Documentation:

Explicit recommendations for future reading moves that can be completed with each student as referenced by data collected.

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To be honest, I was less than enthusiastic about this class before heading in. I was more interested in working with struggling adult readers vs. 6^th graders. I also wasn’t thrilled with the set up of some aspects of the case study…submitting lesson plans, notes on documentation, data – and the book which was clearly written for elementary students was not appealing…at first. I was working with college students, and had my own system of informal assessments to gauge reading and writing. At first, the data collection and documentation seemed like a royal pain. BUT…interesting. As the weeks continued on, I began seeing real “shifts” in the students. We were working on comprehension by summarizing/ notetaking (I had seen enough graphic organizers in my years of teaching to have my fill for a lifetime), but what was interesting with working with these guys was the ways in which I was able to look at HOW they were reading & trying to comprehend new material. And what they were responsive to…and not. This micro-level movement…and documentation, was surprisingly enlightening. I figured teaching a few concepts to 6^th graders would be just another assignment – but to the credit of my instructor, who made us LOOK at how students were responding to what we were doing, I really started to see movement in what the boys were capable of.

As noted in another class post, this “research” is more complex than I have noted above. Forces like the basketball program to which this “sudy table” was tied, the coach, the low teacher-student ration were huge. But it was a more helpful course than I’d originally thought it would be. Really looking at what was happening through my vs. what I wanted to have happen was good practice for future research.

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Week of 4.2 – 4.4

I am also enrolled in a coaching course, which is more about the practice of reading leadership and collaboration in a public school setting. I am pretty sure this is no longer my path in life, but nevertheless find the data collection to be quite interesting. One of the aspects of this class that I really enjoy is the way in which “coaching” is offered as a model for a variety of instructors sharing information and considering their own classrooms as places of research…and careful research allows teachers to have more of a “voice” in school policies.

In this course, we’ve done a few classroom visits (I chose to visit English courses taught at Kent by my colleagues) to take a look at ways in which literacy are being taught. We’ve explored some coding systems…helpful to get some experience with this & pretty informative to see what can be gathered in a given classroom session.

This ties into the texts you’ve given to me at near the beginning of the semester about the teacher-researcher, and, in sort of full-circle style realization, I realize I need to go back to those (Ack, haven’t read them yet).

I also make a connection to the recent response I made to Chris’s Carini post…exploring what is going on in Tuscon in regards to Ethnic Study courses is fascinating (and, at this moment, quite unsettling and sad).

I find myself reconsidering how research could be used in such a scenario…and it speaks, I feel, so much to texts we’ve considered over the semester & last semester. Reciprocity: Partnerships between Universities and other spaces (here, a Tuscon’s public high schools), Sustainablity: How such partnerships can be maintained, Sponsorship: ways in which literacy is controlled by groups – the power this holds.

Edweek.org offers the following in response to research surrounding the issue. I am not well-versed enough in research yet to know what weight this holds…but I am interested in learning more – as well as looking more closely at the research sorrounding this issue.

Research Org. Calls for Reinstatement of Ethnic Studies in Tucson

By Lesli A. Maxwell on February 23, 2012 4:25 PM

The governing body of the American Educational Research Association recently approved two resolutions that call for the reinstatement of a Mexican-American studies program in Tucson's public schools and the repeal of an Arizona law that bans such programs.

Last month, the Tucson school board voted to shut down its popular, yet controversial Mexican-American studies program after Arizona's schools chief ruled that the program violated a new state law that prohibits public schools from offering courses that are designed for a particular ethnic group, advocate ethnic solidarity, or promote resentment toward a race or group of people. The school system faced a loss of $15 million in state funding if the ethnic studies courses continued.

In their recent monthly meeting, AERA council members unanimously approved the two documents—one directed at the Tucson school board and the other at the Arizona Legislature.

AERA council members argue that there is a large body of scientific evidence that demonstrates the positive impacts of such ethnic studies courses on the academic acheivement of students. The group also offered to assist Tucson school officials in designing a Mexican-American studies course that would not run "afoul of the restrictions in the recently passed legislation."

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A couple of other musings, I have long been interested in alternative education programs that help young adults access educational opportunity. But what is most eye-opening is the ways in which these programs offer a different "ecology" than the traditional high school model. Forgive the metaphor, but I can't help but consider how the education field and the ecology field have much in common.
Agribusiness mirrors the "one size fits all" system seen in many schools -- I've seen some schools attempt to try something else, but feel challenged to consider educational writing research in areas outside of the typical high school/ college writing program. I've written about student writing in a job training program in which I worked recently.

Today I ran across a Philly program (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/video/video-dropping-in-an-innovative-program-tries-to-get-drop-outs-back-in-school/13556/ )that looks at youth who have dropped out of school (there is an acknowledgment of complex reasons: personal, social, environmental) as "clients" who need to find an educational course to reconnect with schools. This may take the shape of job-training, home-schooling with supports, alternative schools for adult learners, accelerated GED courses, connections to community colleges. The social worker & educational program, I think, is similar to the ecologist in acknowledging that students do not fit a standard education system. (Note...one of the reasons many students gave for dropping out was the rampant violence in schools...and I believe what is not always explored is the complexity in which students participate in violence...and for what reasons they do so). Makes me think about ways in which our students may be accessing writing in ways that are outside of our notions of public schools & what that might mean.