OER4Schools/Programme review and action research: Difference between revisions

Many great teachers and philosophers like Socrates and Heidegger have emphasised the importance for students and teachers to reflect. Reflections in the educational context, involve thinking about our past, present and future teaching and learning experiences. Unfortunately, most of us are not thoughtful enough to differentiate these three stages or the relationships between our thoughts and actions  Consider this quote:

"You who do not think deeply about the future do not appreciate the results and outcomes of your current actions. You who do not reflect critically on the past are not readying yourself for improvement. You who do not think of what you are doing in the present cannot see what to do next."  (Adapted from Schmuck, 2006)

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’.

The final homework involves you working as a group to prepare for the final presentation. We expect that you should be meeting at least once or twice before the presentation to discuss the final details of ‘who says what’ and/or ‘who does what’. We also encourage you to make use of relevant materials to accompany your presentations (e.g. charts, students’ works, pictures etc). Think of the possibilities of making use of creative means (e.g. artwork, songs/music, dance presentation, role-play or a skit) to put across your ideas. '''But remember you only have 5 minutes!'''

= References =

‘The International Teacher Leadership project’ a case of international action research, a paper presented at CARN 2009, the 33rd conference of the Collaborative Action Research Network Athens, Greece 30th October - 1st November 2009