I must admit that I am having a hard time even beginning to choose a topic for this research project. It is not that I do not have any ideas; it is that every time I think I might be settled on a possible topic, a new and different (and sometimes better) topic appears. Reading through the textbook has given me some ideas and has also scared me away from some studies that I might have considered. In the past, I have chosen topics for literature based research papers that were almost impossible to substantiate with current research. While my undergraduate professors understood my desire to write papers that almost exclusively contradicted previous research, I doubt that the same is going to go over so well in the realm of educational research, which is much more fact and data based.
That said, there are certain aspects of education that intrigue me and that I would like to investigate further. Some sort of study about classroom management practices and routines and the effects on student behaviors might be plausible. I am particularly interested in observing, surveying, and interviewing students and teachers about classroom start-up routines. In my limited experience with teaching, I have found that the first five minutes of class are integral to determining how a class period is going to go for the day. A study that compares different teachers’ routines and the students’ behaviors and responses to those routines could help me when I start teaching. On a completely different note, I am interested in the use of multicultural literature in an English class and its effect on minority student involvement in the classroom. Both of these possibilities present a lot of work with operationally defining the variables to be studied and finding a way to categorize or numerically explain those variables.
While I am still mulling around ideas for topics right now, I know that it is imperative that I begin thinking about which topics will work best in my research situation. I do not have an entire school year to complete this project, and it might be difficult to determine just how much multicultural literature is used in a classroom in a single semester. I am also trying to link my possible research topics to methods of data collection so that I can estimate how many participants I may need and how much data, numerical or otherwise, I may need to collect. The more I think about the upcoming project as I write this, the more overwhelmed I become. I feel sure that as I continue to read the course textbook and talk with others that my ideas will continue to morph and I will eventually be left with something concrete and doable.
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3 comments:
Amanda, I am glad that you are thinking about topics. There are so many possibilities. Classroom management might be a possibility. The "first five minutes" has been done before, and I think it was hard to locate related literature. Something about multicultural literature might be good. Is that 10th grade? You might ask teachers or students in an interview or survey what they think and feel about that. This is a good beginning. I like the morphing to wait a bit.....
Dr. McCoy, while 10th grade is World Literature, I am perhaps more interested in seeing how teachers can integrate literature from writers beside the dead white guys across the English curriculum and at all levels: American Lit, British Lit, and general lit. There are many brilliant American writers who represent diverse cultural groups, and I think that I might enjoy looking into their place in the classroom.
Amanda,
I really like your idea of the multicultural literature use in the classroom. I do not know much about the English curriculum, but in high school I was always interested in the diverse literature we were required to read and its effectiveness. Granted, I went to a basically private high school and was always confused as to why we were not reading the classics or current novels. Looking back on it, I am glad that diverse literature was incorporated into the classroom. I would be interested to know how it affects students from different backgrounds. As silly as this may sound, the choice of books in movies like "Freedom Writers" seems to really influence students' interest in English.
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