After yet another week of thought, and another chance to talk with and listen to Dr. Milner, I am again feeling more at ease with this assignment. I also have another new idea to what I might want to approach for my research. Whereas previously I was interested in encouragement, I'm leaning somewhat more toward methodology now, and how teachers keep (or in particular gain) student interest. I thought looking at how teachers began their classes might provide some insight into this.
Some of the questions I've been considering are as follows: How do teachers get the attention of students at the onset of class? Do they have preplanned activities that they begin with, or perhaps a routine assignment to help kids feel at ease with the beginning of a period? Also, how do students seem to react to the start of class? Are the more structured teachers' approaches more conducive to grabbing attention and holding it? Do the kids seem more interested or willing to listen to a teacher if the class period starts with more structure?
Obviously I've got a lot to look at just from those questions. I will also likely need to narrow it down some, but so it goes. I'm thinking a mixture of observation and surveys will help me to examine the starting of classes. Surveys would likely be of the teachers, so that should be easier to handle. Now I just need to find some research on the subject.
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3 comments:
I think that this is a great study idea! My former principal loved to brag about how at our high school we taught from bell to bell – no wasted time. There are lots of different methods out there to use.
This would be a great opportunity to be able to observe several experienced teachers. I have learned tons of things from other teachers that work great in the classroom and I hope you have the same experience!
Sean, this is a good direction. Teacher methods for maintaining student interest is very important. I would suggest that you not limit it to the beginning of class. Others have done that same study, and I think there was difficulty in finding related literature. But student motivation would be a wide-open topic.....
You could interview teachers and then observe their classes to see how their intentions play out....
This seems like a great idea that would benefit all of your colleagues (and by that I mean especially your current classmates)! My first instinct is to think that structure and perhaps even a daily routine would be most effective, but it would be wonderful to see if your study confirms or disputes that assumption. I'm sure there are multiple successful ways to start a class and by observing as many teachers as possible on different days, hopefully you would be able to come up with a variety of methods.
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