This past week I collected some preliminary data using a survey I created to provide more insight to the question: how can we teach students of different backgrounds to self-regulate in the classroom? I sent the survey out to 13 of my coworkers and colleagues in my graduate program. So far, I have had 6 responses. Some of the data surprised me, but most of it was what I expected; especially because of the participants I chose. Most people who participated in my survey were teachers or students, so I imagined that they would value education and learning. The data from one question was particularly surprising to me. The question was, “did your parent(s) or guardian(s) communicate to you that school and learning were important?”. I expected that I would have close to 100% yes for responses, but 33.3% of participants responded “somewhat”. Now, 33.3% is not a high percentage by any means, but since most of the participants where either employed in education or students, I was expecting that education was something that would have been addressed often in all of their personal lives, because in my experience students who do well in school are reminded at home that succeeding in school and learning are important. However, they could have been told this at home and just had a different opinion. Below is a pie chart to give you a visual of this data! Picture produced by author. Most of the data I have collected so far did not surprise me, and there was one question in particular that stood out to me. The question where I expected the responses I received was, “if applicable, please provide an example of an experience you had with a teacher that was positive and beneficial to your learning in school”. The responses were as follows: As you can see, almost all the responses had to do with how engaging and excited their teachers were to teach their subject matter, or just to be teaching in general. I expected this as my students have even told me they are more interested when their teacher seems to be. Further, I am more excited when I feel that my teachers are passionate about what they are teaching! In these responses it is also apparent that these teachers made students feel comfortable and supported, which is something that also will lead to students questioning more, which according to Berger (2014), is something that leads to a deeper understanding. One thing that I gathered that I don’t think helps much with understanding self-regulation as it relates to diversity of backgrounds/cultures, which really is the main aspect of my question, is that 100% of my participants identified as white/Caucasian when asked what their ethnicity was. As I mentioned, the question I have is how can we teach students of different backgrounds/cultures to self-regulate; having 100% the same race/ethnicity participating doesn’t provide much insight to this question. I hope as I get more responses there will be more diversity in this area! Finally, how will this data help me come up with a solution to my problem/question? To be honest, I do wish that I had some participants that did have to be disciplined in school so that they could detail an experience and explain how they were disciplined or what they thought could have been a better method of discipline. However, there was one response to a question pictured below that helped me to think of a potential solution: Picture produced by author. This participant detailed an experience where he was misbehaving/being rude to his fellow classmates, and to address this his teacher pulled him aside to help him think about his behavior in a less confrontational way. This is something I do regularly and I was excited to see this response. I think to combat my question, a professional development could be arranged where different scenarios of misbehavior are acted out and the teacher must respond. I also think it would be interesting for students to attend this workshop so they can see that teachers are really just trying to help, and we are life-long learners as well! References Berger, W. (2014). A More Beautiful Question. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.
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AuthorMy name is Mallory Williams and I am just trying to better my teaching practice! Most of my posts will be about learning and understanding. Enjoy! Archives |