Action Research for the Reflective Teacher

Action Research: Moving my own goal posts

Dr. Ashley Casey

Who was I?

Boys’ Physical education teacher

Who was I?

Didactic/Command Style

Who was I?

Ofsted said: “Good with outstanding features”

Who was I?

Knowledgeable and experienced (9 years)

Who was I?

Semi-Professional Rugby league and union player

Who was I?

1st XV Rugby Coach

WHAT HAPPENED?

What Happened?

CPD

What Happened?

Master’s Degree & PhD

What Happened?

Autobiography

What Happened?

read

What Happened?

Read more

What Happened?

Found I didn’t know as much as I thought

What Happened?

Didn’t like what I always did

Implications

Thought I was goodTold I was goodFound out I might not be as good as I

thought or had been told

Faced with a dilemma

What did I do?

Looked to doing something new

What did I do?

But I wanted to see if it worked

What did I do?

SO…

What did I do?

I undertook an action research project.

What was I told about me?

“dominant, competitive, aggressive, not-too bright individual … (the) companionable ‘man of action’, but not someone with whom to engage in professional dialogue” (Whitehead and Hendry, 1976, p. 75)

What was I told about me?

one of those teachers who “worked hard for continuity without knowing it, in the sense that [I was] frightfully conservative, never made a move and was resistant to change”

(Briault, 1974, p. 6).

What was I told about teaching?

physical educationalist persistently teach the same introductory units of work regardless of the age and past experiences of the students.

Siedentop, 2002

What was I told about teaching?

there is no one best way to teach physical education

Metzler, 2005

Task 1 You have three minutes to reflect on your

experiences today. Answer these questions:

Who are you? What have you been told about your teaching? What do you want to happen?

Share your writing with another student

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Learning Outcomes You will:

understand more about action research start to think about what your action

research project might look like.

Section 1Finding a starting point and clarifying

the situation

Adapted from Lewin 1946

Fractals

Education System

SchoolDept.Lesson

Adapted from Lewin 1946

Step 1

Cycles within

Adapted from Lewin 1946

My Starting Point

I didn’t want to use command/didactic instruction any more

My Starting Point

I wanted to use models-based practice

My Starting Point

I wanted to see how these two things occurred

Research Questions

What happens to me – as a teacher and a person – when I engage in long-term reflective practice?

What impact does a new teaching strategy have on student learning processes?

What lessons emerge from this sustained effort of reflective practice that may affect the way in which we view pedagogical change in physical education?

Clarifying the Situation Used Brookfield’s (1995) four lenses

Theoretical Literature Biography Students’ Eyes Colleagues’ Observations

Theoretical - Methodology Practitioner Research

Action Research Autobiographical Inquiry

Section 2Collecting and analysing data, developing action strategies and

putting them into practice

Cycles within

Step 2

Adapted from Lewin 1946

Methods Generation of Data

Teaching Inventions Critical Friends Diaries and Reflective Analysis Pupil Voice

Generation of DataTeaching Inventions

Unit DiariesPost Teaching Reflective Analysis (PTRA)

Unit Diary 1) Description: what happened? 2) Feelings: what were you thinking about? 3) Evaluation: what was good or bad about the

experience? 4) Positive interdependence (how did pupils

depend on each other?) 5) Individual accountability (how were pupils

required to contribute to the lesson?) 6) Action plan

1) Description: what happened? 2) Feelings: what were you thinking about? 3) Evaluation: what was good or bad about the

experience? 4) Analysis: what sense can you make of the

situation? 5) Conclusion: what else could you have done? 6) Action plan: if it arose again what would you

do?

Generation of Data

Critical FriendsObservationsMeetings

Critical Friends ‘Wayne’

Meetings ‘Burt’ and ‘Ernie’

Teaching assistants ‘Carlos’

Visiting physical education teacher/Ph.D

Generation of DataDiaries and Reflective

AnalysisWriting for 5 minutesPost Teaching Cycle Analysis (PCRA)

Writing for 5 minutes I must remember the journey that I’ve been on to

date. With three years devoted to this already I am doing a good job and mustn’t forget that. I am a long way from the one-dimensional teacher who started this journey. However, I have still retained much of what was good about my practice – my enthusiasm, my subject knowledge, my ability to break down a task, my relationship with the pupils – these are things that still characterise my teaching and things that I must remember and must hold on to. Reflective Diary (13th November 2005)

Writing for 5 minutes I am going to plan and run a whole unit of work

with my Year 10 rugby group and I plan to plan a whole year’s work with four separate classes in Year 11. On top of that there’s basketball, swimming, athletics and gymnastics; a lot of work. I know that I will need to be up to speed before the year starts, so I will have to make some plans on how that will happen. Picking groups and detailed plans are the key, as is not biting off more than I can manage. This type of teaching is not simple and I must not try and do too much. Reflective Diary (3rd August 2006)

Generation of Data

Pupil VoiceComment CardsInterviews

Pupil Voice It was a good idea but is quite hard to understand

and should be explained more It was a good idea but didn’t work that well It was a very good idea but hard to understand I liked it; it improved my swimming a lot already. I

would like to always use the cards It was a good idea and I really enjoyed it but it

could have been a bit harder

Pupil Voice You taught us a different way, you have

taught it but we have like worked together to build up like…like at the end of the lesson we all as a team do a sheet so we’ve, we are like deciding what we have learned in the lessons and what we’ve thought about the lesson, stuff like that. Pupils Spring Interview (27th March 2006)

Pupil Voice Yes, I was pretty surprised that we haven’t

done the same things again, normally it happens all the time but we didn’t do it, which kind of helped a bit because it feels like you’re being treated like a baby when you go over the same thing about 50 times. Pupils Summer Interview (12th July 2006)

Task 2 How would you feel about asking other

people about your work? Think of some ‘feedback’ methods What are good about these? What are bad about these? Compare your list with another student. Class Discussion

Section 3Formulating and sharing teacher

knowledge

Cycles within

Step 3

Theoretical -

Adapted from Lewin 1946

Reflections on a project Results – what happened?

Critical incidences not the incidental occurrences Discussion – what does this tell the reader?

Explain the significance of your project to the learning of your students

Conclusion – what does this mean to your teaching? What might it mean to other teachers.

Practitioner Research in Physical Education Teaching as a Private Act and the

Disturbing Effects of Reflection The School as an Institution: Facilitation

and Constraint on Reflection and Innovation

The Theory-Practice Gap Revealed and Experienced: Models-Based Praxis

Conclusion

References Altrichter, H., Posch, P. and Somekh, B. (1993). Teachers investigate their work: an

introduction to the methods of action research. London: Routledge. Briault, E.W.H. (1974). Continuity and Change in Education. Paper presented at the

conference, Physical education: An integrating force? (The Association of Teachers in Colleges and Departments of Education Physical Education Section), 1974. Chelsea College of Physical Education.

Brookfield, S. (1995). Becoming a critically reflective teacher. San Francisco: Jossey‑Bass.

Bunker, D., & Thorpe, R. (1986). A model for the teaching of games in secondary schools. In R. Thorpe, D. Bunker & L. Almond (Eds.). Rethinking games teaching. Loughborough: Loughborough University.

Carr, W., & Kemmis, S. (1986). Becoming Critical: Education, knowledge and action research. London: Falmer.

Casey, A., Dyson, B., & Campbell, A. (2009). Action research in physical education: Focusing beyond myself through cooperative learning, Educational Action Research, 17(3), 407-423.

References Fosnot, C.T. (1996). Constructivism: Theory, perspectives, and practice. New York:

Teachers College Press. Hendry, L.B. (1975). Survival in a marginal role: The professional identity of the

physical education teacher. The British Journal of Sociology, 26 (4), 465-476. Kirk, D. (2009). Physical Education Futures. London: Routledge. Lawson, H.A. (2009). Paradigms, exemplars and social change. Sport, Education

and Society, 14, 77-100. Lewin, K. (1946). Action Research and Minority Problems. Journal of Social Issues,

2: 34-46. Lundgren, U. (1983). Curriculum theory, between hope and happening: Text and

context in curriculum. Deakin University, Geelong. Metzler, M.W. (2005). Instructional models for physical education. Scottsdale, AZ:

Holcomb Hathway. Siedentop, D. (1994). Sport Education: Quality PE through positive sport

experiences. Champaign: Human Kinetics. Whitehead, N., & Hendry, L.B. (1976). Teaching Physical Education in England.

London: Lepus.