Week Two!

Ruminations over the past week in writing & reading: Last week started out really great. I worked for two full days on my conference paper (ASTE). This paper is a typical conference paper with abstract, introduction, lit review (theoretical frameworks) results, discussion, limitations, implications and conclusion sections. For me, it is actually stimulating to synthesis the results together, especially when you think you have something to share, which I do. I worked hard on the literature review and discussion. These sections are still hard for me because they must reflect the current literature for one and some of the historical lit, too, but, especially in the discussion section, articulate how the work that you did extends the field. Writing of this kind requires a great deal of reading and research review and reading and more research review. Uncovering one article, usually leads to 4-5 others that need at least a skim. Thank goodness for the Internet for lit reviews!

Downsizing and organization: This week I finished cleaning out my office at work. I collectively have downsized my office by at least 50% if not more. There are now a total of 9 file cabinet drawers for the folks that will take my place while I am on leave, plus a number of shelves. One of the interesting parts of this downsizing was a historical review of my own transition from using overheads transparencies in my teaching to computer generated images and power points. I must have recycled over 300 overheads, not counting all the reams of paper!
As the two pictures below attest: I finished cleaning out and organizing my home office, too!

Before

and after.

Mind over matter: I caught the stomach flu on Thursday. No one ever wants to get the flu, but on Friday I had my conference paper presentation (and it was now presentable) with a former student, so the timing was not great. Since this was a group of science teacher education researchers, I could not let my student down and not show up. I am not sure how I did it, but I went to the conference on Friday morning and together we presented the paper. We had a great audience, more then I would have expected (about 40) and some rave comments at the end. She did great, too.

The interesting thing for me was that this conference cemented for me the value of this research for my students,for me and for of course teacher education. This study that I reported on is about how my students study their teaching and what they learn from it. Coupling research based methods for science teaching with learning to apply qualitative research methods within the context of classroom teaching at the same time that they are learning to teach is a formidable challenge for our students and something that they initially resist. However tenuous the start, students over and over again, like my student who presented with me, describe the merits of looking closely at their teaching and the value of this research project for them as teachers. The enthusiastic reception was an affirmation to me that this research work was important and valuable, something I had at times doubted, especially with all the events of 2010. I have learned a great deal because of the contentiousness I had to deal with about how to package this research in ways that make it palatable and manageable for my students. As a matter of fact, I think that is the subject of another article for publication: the process of moving students further than they think is possible in their own learning.

Well, that is it for now. Back to the couch to rest and recover some more. Michele