Tag Archives: PhD

A week’s reflections: teaching & learning.

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I had a really great day at uni today. My colleague PhD students and I attended yet another couple of Friday workshops come info sessions to do with our work as researchers – or should I say our learning -it’s not really work when I think about it. There are three of us who are tight, who studied the post grad in ed research together in 2013 and then moved onto a PhD. My colleagues are now full time students which means they will be up for confirmation this year, one has only a few more weeks to be ready. All three of our PhD research topics are extensions of our minor thesis from two years ago but with a more detailed approach which to me only exposes our love and interest in the topics and our wish to delve deeper and to know more. We have accomplished much over the last four weeks and learned so much about ourselves and each other as research students and I think we all have some desire to grow more and even see ourselves as academics – well at least I do to some extent, but I want to also continue to be an educator and learner.

I also started a new job this week. The next two terms will see me working four days a week at a Catholic secondary school as a Peer Support Leader. I get to work, and learn, with the Education Support Department and also have a role to do with peer support – which is peer appraisal but not peer appraisal because it’s a dirty term in schools, so we don’t use the latter term in case teachers think they are being judged.

Well, I have news – we are judged. We are judged all the time every minute of the day while at school and even when we are not. The sooner we realise this, the better it will be and the sooner we can get on with the teaching and learning our students are entitled to, and deserve. It seems to me that some of us could do with a reflective exercise where we take a step back and have a real hard look at ourselves from the perspective of others. Now I’m not one to give a damn about what others think but I really feel that sometimes it’s a good idea to take time out and just watch, listen and learn.

That’s pretty much what I have been doing for the first four day week in my new position. As you know, if you read my blog regularly, I am an avid follower of twitter chats, and have written on some of my favourites in other posts. I always learn much on these chats and have picked up so many images and ideas that I gladly share with others. Tonight’s #BFC530 chat was no exception and thanks to @2learnthink I picked up this little gem.Screen Shot 2015-04-17 at 10.28.48 PM I really think that not only should it be pinned to every classroom door but posted at every school gate. “In this SCHOOL, everyone is a student and everyone is a teacher.”

There is also another image I have picked up along the way and used many times and one that I have been thinking about all week as I have been watching, listening and learning. This one I think speaks volumes, both positively and negatively.

doing_itPositive because there are those among us who are getting on with it and negative in the fact that we have to say it. Really sometimes we just have to get out of the way and let others get on with it. It’s not about power, or at least it shouldn’t be, it’s about EMPOWERMENT, taking responsibility, allowing failure so as to learn. By this I don’t mean catastrophic failure – surely it is our responsibility to be there to ensure this doesn’t happen, but I mean allow risk taking, with scaffold, supports and sensible direction to enable learning, to enable others to model and experiment and then allow for reflection  – action – re-plan – reflection – action – re-plan. Sometimes we just need someone, many times in fact, we just need someone to shut up and listen.listen We don’t always want, or even need, them to solve the problem or take any action but simply, LISTEN. There’s been a lot of that this week.

And…what have I learned this week?

I’ve learnt that the minute we think we’ve solved all the issues and problems is the same minute we stop learning, taking risks, reflecting and working for the benefit of our future – our children.Do-a-great-job-no-matter

Pimping my PhD thanks to #TLAP

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Over the last 6 months or so my twitter feed has been pirated – don’t panic – I don’t mean by hackers  – I’m tlaptalking about Teach Like a Pirate (#tlap) – pirated. Almost every other day there is a tweet chat discussing #tlap -the book, the pirate, the pirate’s wife, the energy, the passion, the adventure into unchartered waters, the educators who follow, who model, who teach with a renewed vigour, a re-kindled flame, a spark, even an eye patch, a pirate hat and a full pirate outfit! Classrooms are being re-decorated, students running to class not wanting to miss anything, enthusiastic and ready to learn, eagerly willing the next lesson that cannot come quick enough! The sub title of the book reads “Increase Student Engagement, Boost Your Creativity, and Transform Your Life an as Educator” and guess what? It actually has! One only has to visit any of these twitter hashtags to get the picture – #tlap, #bfctlap, #sstlap. There are also a few book reviews happening including one of my favourites run by #aussieED #bookclubED.

It was only yesterday that I was on chat about the book that I happen to ask my PLN (twitter talk for Personal Learning Network) whether I could use #tlap motivations and ideas for my PhD and so that was when I decided to ‘Pimp my PhD’. I spent most of the night thinking about it – lucky it was too hot and humid to sleep  – and this morning here I am – in words from the Pirate himself “bringing it”!

Here’s what I think…

Passion – “We are not passionate about everything we teach” (p. 3).

I’m definitely passionate about my area of research  – special needs – it comes from deep within and is a personal experience of mine from my early years at school. You can read about it here. I so want to make a difference to the experiences of these kids in schools, especially for those who are not funded and those who come to school with a feeling of self-doubt and a nagging pit in their stomach – actually that’s probably most kids. We as educators really need to know our students – I don’t mean know them by name or what they look like but really know them – what they like, don’t like, how they learn, why they learn – to me teaching is not about delivering content – it’s about relationships – get this right and the rest will fall into place.

Immersion – “An instructor who is fully immersed in the moment has a special type of intensity that resonates with great power in the classroom, regardless of the activity” (p. 16).

I have to say that I could be way more immersed in my study – no that’s not true, I mean more immersed on a more consistent basis. You see I’m easily distracted – now I hear you laughing out loud – especially those of you who know me well. Actually, just a minute – I feel a distraction coming on now….

Rapport – “If you’re paying attention to what excites them, you can connect with them almost instantly” (p. 20).

In my experience, there are many classrooms where excitement is scarce and it becomes all about getting though the content, or preparing for the test. As part of my research I have been investigating the idea of action research. Just the thought of doing it gets me really excited. I love active participation, intervention. In fact my whole teaching career has been about just that – how can I intervene so that the best learning can happen? I think this is one of the areas I would really like to investigate further. My initial idea centres around intervention. I’d really like to test my theories about lack of communication and collaboration, scarcity of appropriate PD for BOTH teachers and teacher aides (learning assistants) to attend together and a lack of consistency in appointing same aides with teachers are at times impacting on the learning of special needs students. I’ve been cautioned against this due to a vested interest in the success of the invention but I really feel that I could contribute to the body of knowledge with my study. And isn’t this what research is all about?

Ask and Analyse – “The ability to manipulate questions to make them even more effective is crucial…” (p. 35)

Actually I have already taken steps to ask about the possibility of incorporating action research. Now I just have to begin analysing why, how, what, where and when. I have already been challenged a number of times about my initial research questions – you see these are the core motivators. If I can get these nailed then I truly believe things will fall into place. What is it I would really like to investigate? Is there room for ‘creativity’ in academics? I know the answer is YES but sometimes I wonder…everything always seems so serious…

Transformation – “If you feel your message is important, and I do, it is worth the effort to go to any lengths to make sure it is successfully delivered” (p. 56).

Well, if the above quote doesn’t say it all for a study then it’s best I just put it away and get on with something else. Rest assured I’ll be breaking some rules about research AND I’ll be having fun on the way, along, no doubt, with many disappointments, frustrations, failures and the like. I am realistic as well as optimistic.

DUECOMEnthusiasm – “I pride myself on flat out bringing it whether I’m teaching a class of students or leading a seminar for teachers” (p. 66).

Me too! And I’ll also add that I would bring it to anything else I’m doing!

So…“The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing” – Walt Disney Company.

Thanks for reading 🙂

Musing_02_What is it I really want to find out?

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Cartoon-of-person-at-computerAfter this week’s meeting with my supervisors I am left with many questions and ideas buzzing around in my head. I have been grappling with the actual focus of what my research will be about – EXACTLY. Its working title: “The nature of the relationship between the triad: Teachers, teacher aides and special needs students” is, I admit, quite broad and lends itself to collecting data in a number of methods including case study, phenomenological methodology, even ethnography. Case study research could encompass many combinations itself. There is opportunity to conduct multiple case studies given the nature of the research into a number of schools – you can read about my initial idea here – but what I didn’t think of is the fact that I would need to distinguish ‘what’ the case study might be. Is the case the triad within each school? The schools themselves-  and how much work will that be? The phenomenon – which is?

What? What will be the focus?

Then there is the question of defining exactly what it is I am referring to when I think of communication and relationship? To me they don’t seem to be things that can be separated in this instance.

Are they the same?

If not, then how are they different?

Can one exist without the other?

Does communication lead to ‘better’ relationships and how does one define ‘better’?

The question remains: What do I want to find out – EXACTLY?

You’ll be happy to know that while there are still many questions and thoughts fighting inside my head – I can hear them now, I spent most of the day working on responses and making a few decisions … Stay tuned.

Thanks for reading 🙂

Learning like a-maze & Musing_01

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As you know from my last post, I officially started a PhD a month ago. In that time I have read so much that I think my compreadeyes are going to fall out because my brain is exploding. My neck hurts because it feels like I’m carrying around so much information, much of which I’m not sure I’ll need any time soon and some of it I don’t really understand to be quite frank. But I have to read in order to be able to write! In the last month I have had two meetings with my supervisors, via Skype  for one of them as she lives interstate- ahh the beauty and advantage of technology. I have to admit that I’ve spent much of my time reading off the screen – actually that’s probably why my eyes feel like they are going to pop out. I love reading other people’s blogs and am now officially a twitter addict! I can’t help it. My newest adventure has to be chats. I’ve got alarms on my phone to remind me when to log in, although a number of them go off at the wrong time, since I can’t quite get the time zones correct so I find myself coming into the chat room a day ahead or one behind or in the middle or, well, one wasn’t happening for another week! I use tweetchat to log in as it’s easier than trying to follow and respond on twitter. What is a tweetchat I’ve learned so much over the last month through both twitter and many blogs, not to mention the 10 books I have stacked in front of me and the 20 or so journal articles neatly filed horizontally to my left!

There are many individuals out there researching, one of my favs is reading PhD Talk Blog and the Thesis Whisperer. Don’t feel you have to click on these, I only like them cause they’re relevant for me at the moment – oh wait – what a nifty idea how about we teach our students stuff that’s relevant or if we have to teach something that’s not find a way to make it relevant – sorry lost my head for a moment – that’ll be the teacher in me. I still do that too, teach I mean, and love it. CRT work while a little scarce at the moment-  since there are Yr 12 teachers around with no official classes on- is still important to me. I love being in the classroom and using all the strategies I ‘preach’ about in my consultancy work. You see I walk the talk not just talk it.

FAnyhow, back to the topic at hand – easily distracted – and those who know me will be ‘LOLing‘ right now – the PhD was the topic. Reading up on the philosophical questions is where I began. That was my homework after our first ‘official’ meet. I was told to ‘problematise’ everything. Why is my topic worth researching? What am I going to contribute to existing knowledge? I needed to engage in the current debate, find out what others are saying. What kind of researcher am I going to be? Look at the different research approaches, ontology vs epistemology, constructivist, interpretivist etc. Am I going to be an ethnography, or will I be investigating phenomenology? “Put your toe in the water for grounded theory, see how you feel about it.” Getting the picture? Now do you understand why my brain is exploding? Don’t get me wrong. It’s a ‘good’ thing. I am really enjoying it. The learning I have done over the last few weeks is simply a-mazing – literally, it does feel like being lost in a maze but knowing that along the way there will be little clues and rewards and that eventually you’ll find your way into the middle where there will be a portkey to safely land you where you need to be – not like Harry but in a place where everything will feel like it was all worth it.grass_maze

portkeySo here it is after a month, I have done lots of reading in order to be informed enough to have the courage not only to write but to actually share what I write with my supervisors! That first Musing_01 as I called it was really scary to send. I had all these terrible thoughts of them feeding back that I might as well forget this research idea, that I haven’t got what it takes, that well maybe you should reconsider…happily they didn’t.

Thanks for reading 🙂

Beginning what could potentially be an eight year journey…

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phd-symbolsLast Wednesday, October 1, 2014 was the official start date for my PhD. Of course it wasn’t the date I started doing research. I have been preparing for this all my life. Actually as I was thinking of a title to head up this latest blog I was catapulted back into Year 6, 1976. I don’t mind revealing my age, you see I’m ecstatic to have reached my 50th year because it marked a milestone and not only because it happened to be the big five o, but because it meant that I made it past 49 which is the age my mother was when she lost her life to bowel cancer. It seems apt that I be starting this PhD in her honour really as she didn’t get the same opportunities I’ve had and that this has become another ‘thing’ I’m going to do for me first, but also for her. This journey is personal.

But back to the Year 6 thing. One of my most vivid memories in Grade 6 was losing a point on a spelling test because I misspelt the word beginning – double g instead of double n – I can still see the paper in front of me. I remember this because it was attached to an emotion – one of feeling helpless but not because I didn’t get full marks but because I had cut my leg quite badly a few days before and had stitches which meant I was unable to get around as well. I never, ever misspelt the word again. I believe that some of the best learning happens when we become emotionally or personally related to what it is we are learning. It has to be relatable or nothing happens – well something does happen actually – we remember long enough to regurgitate for an exam and then it’s gone.

This research is relatable – in fact it relates to a very important part of my memory and attitude to teaching and learning. I do this because I will never forget what it felt like to not understand what other people were talking about. I do it because when I was little I could not communicate with others – well actually no that’s not true. I could communicate but only in Italian. I still don’t understand why that nurse in the hospital did not ‘get’ that I was cold and wanted another blanket. I was five, I spoke italian BUT I also made hand gestures, I had goosebumps – I didn’t understand why she couldn’t just give me another blanket. As a first generation Australian born to migrant parents, I was made to feel stupid simply because I didn’t speak or understand English. I couldn’t read it either but that’s another story.

I am very committed, due to my own experiences, in ensuring all students have every opportunity to learn and that it is our moral obligation to find out how they learn and then facilitate the learning using strategies that support these preferences. Once students have experienced success then it is our duty to extend and challenge them to use a variety of strategies in order to further develop their learning repertoire.

Last year I completed a Post Grad in Educational Research  – in preparation for this PhD. This was a really positive experience and helped cement the idea that I could take this on. I had already made the decision to quit from my full-time teaching and leadership position the year before to take up consultancy full time and so I was definitely up for the challenge. There were 10 of us in that unit with 2 lecturers over seeing the project. I learnt a lot during those sessions over the first six months and then went into the actual research side of things during the second half of the year. My paper that explored the nature of the relationship between teachers and teacher aides (Education Support Staff) focussed on a case study of one very large Catholic co-educational college.

I thoroughly enjoyed the process and spent many hours transcribing and analysing the data I’d collected through one-on-one interviews and focus groups. I’m actually now in the middle of preparing an article with the assistance of my supervisor, in the hope that I can get it published. I kind of meandered onto my blog, I think, as a way of taking a break from the academic side of things and just doing another of the things I really enjoy (besides cooking and scribbling & drawing into my diary) and that which gives me time to think – reflecting on this journey.

My PhD is an extension of the small scale research I described above. My intention is to conduct a much larger study extending it into other Catholic secondary schools across the four Victorian diocese. I also intend to add student voice to this study by conducting interviews with students who have special needs as well as their teachers and education support staff. So if you are reading this and teach in a Catholic secondary school in Victoria yours might be one of the schools I target!

P1090380I’m very much looking forward to getting out into the field and meeting with participants, although that realistically won’t be for some time yet – what with all the hoops we have to jump through first including ethics approval from the university, permission from CECV, all four Catholic Education Offices and the principals of the schools we decide to include. But, I’m still really excited about the prospect. This will be another learning experience for me and I hope that I can contribute something back to the education community that will ultimately enhance the learning journey of all our students. And so it begins…

Thanks for reading 🙂