OER4Schools/Programme review and action research: Difference between revisions

= Reviewing across units =

   

'''Congratulations''' for coming this far in your learning journey which has brought you to discover and develop interactive teaching. We have challenged you to think about how your teaching can be pedagogically interactive so that you will think of ways and means of engaging your students (rather than them being passive consumers of content). In doing so, you have been asked to try out new ideas - some might have worked better than others and some others may have indeed seemed rather strange at first! We hope that by doing so you have discovered new ways of approachiing and responding to student learning.

Have a discussion with a partner about what you each feel is the “most significant change” you have made in your own practice through involvement in the OER4schools programme (all 6 units). Tell your partner a '''story about how this change came about,''' detailing what was the stimulus for it, why you decided to make a change, what you and your learners did, and what kinds of change you observed. What is the '''evidence for the change''' that you could present if, for example, you were talking to the principal of another school and wanted to convince them that the programme led to some changes in your practice?

Heidegger has pointed out that our minds are prone to wandering between past, present and future. The most challenging type of reflection is thinking about your current actions and about your thinking, shifting between ‘thinking about doing’ and ‘doing the thinking’.

In the course of this programme, we have encouraged you to be self-reflective by asking many questions. We do understand that some of these questions take time to respond or it may be years before a ‘belief’ on teaching and learning can develop.

For the moment, share with your partner on:

*NB:  ''These questions have been added by OER4schools resource writers and not included in the original article.''

In the US, a set of ‘model standards’ for teacher leaders has actually been produced and it states that “they need recognised responsibilities, authority, time to collaborate and support from school administrators to assume leadership roles.” (Teacher Leadership Exploratory Consortium 2011, p.12)

Are you a leader or a follower?  Perhaps you are a leader in one context and a follower in another?  Do you/could you inspire others?  Consider the following teacher leader roles. Can you identify these teacher leaders in your school?

= Very brief introduction to action research (AR) =

As an extension of the individual reflection activity, we are now proposing a valuable research method that can help a group of teachers come together to reflect and suggest possible improvement of their practice. This research method is call '''Action Research'''. Take about 5 minutes to read the text below and discuss briefly as a group the questions below.

This form of research involves a democratic process so that all teachers are actively examining a current action in order to change and improve it – through a structured and collaborative form of reflection. It takes into account the teachers’ beliefs, aspirations, reality of school and wider societal expectation. It is action which is researched, changed and re-researched by the teachers themselves. Thus it aims to be help teachers to be actively involved in reflection, and to be able to determine the purposes and outcomes of their own inquiry. The research process could include the students as well as other stakeholders in the community (e.g. parents, volunteers). (Wadsworth, 1998)

Think about a new teaching and learning practice that you have learnt in these past months. How will participatory AR support your ongoing learning and updating of this new practice?

OR

=Final ACTIVITY: Preparing a presentation =

These are some possible ideas to help you plan for this presentation: