Thanks to Doctors Milner and McCoy and all of you classmates of mine, I’m feeling much better about this project now. At the risk of sounding like I’m accepting an Oscar, I would like to thank you all for your support and encouragement and for letting me know that I'm not the only one who hasn’t definitively selected a topic yet. ;)
So, I know that in my last post I was discussing the possibility of a study that had to do with questions—the kinds of questions teachers ask or which students they tend to call on, etc. In Dr. Sloane’s class this week, however, I had one of those “Aha!” moments. I think I’d really like to study teachers’ smiles. While it may sound kind of cheesy, I think it could be very useful and reassuring to prove that something as simple as a simple as a smile could have a positive effect on student response or performance. I’m not exactly sure yet what direction would be most feasible to take with a question like this, but I have a few ideas so far: 1) surveying students to see what they think or how they feel about a teacher’s positivity (or lack thereof), 2) measuring (I’m exactly sure how yet) students’ immediate response to smiling through observation, or 3) interviewing teachers to find out whether they think smiling has an effect on student response.
While I realize this study would end up being more subjective and qualitative that my original idea, this is something I could definitely stay interested in for the entire semester!
7 comments:
I made another error. I really need to start reading these things better before I post them. Pretend that instead of "as simple as a simple as a smile," I only said "as simple as a smile." Clearly I need to work on the proof-reading. ;)
I like this idea! I bet you could easily observe student response to teacher smiles - by their own smiles, nods, eye contact, etc. Best of luck to you!
This is such a creative idea! When I read your blog, I started smiling myself! What a fun thing to research! For new teachers, I know there is the warning "Don't smile until Christmas!" Veterans in the profession seem to suggest that the best way to maintain control and discipline is with a cold exterior. So I think it might also be interesting to research this topic with another variable: the number of years the teacher has been in the classroom. There might be a difference in how experienced and unexperienced teachers use smiling with their students.
Brianna, this is interesting. I think you may need to be broader than just studying smiles, but that could definitely be part of it. We talk a lot about relationships and caring in the classroom, and this might be your broader context. You will be able to find related studies on relationships...
Good possibility.
Perhaps you could look at examples of positive reinforcement a teacher uses and somehow tracking students' responses based on a checklist? Through surveys of students and interviews with teachers, you should be able to elaborate "qualitatively" while still being able to quantify your results. Smiles are definitely a motivational tool, as are compliments, claps, stickers, gold stars, words of encouragement, etc. Great idea!
Like Mary Beth said, I think it would be good to look at students' smiles as well! My boss last summer said he used to stand at the door and smile at kids and insist they smile back before they were allowed to enter the classroom. Some of them smiled begrudgingly, but even having to go through the motions somehow affected their mood in a positive way! So perhaps, like Mary Beth considering how a teacher's positivity impacts the students' own moods would be very interesting. It would be great to do this through a combination of survey, observation, and interview. What an original research topic! I hope there is plenty of related literature so you can follow through with this!
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