Thinking Critically...

Critical Thinking Questions

My research has been focused on finding ways to encourage students to take more responsibility for the work they create.  One part of our seminar that we are planning for April is create some critical thinking questions for our discussion groups.  The critical thinking questions that I have posted are:

1. How do you share your students work with parents, administration, teachers and staff?  How do you share their work outside of school (with the community)?
2. How do you encourage your students to take ownership of their work?

1. How do you provide your students with choices in your classroom?  What are the advantages of providing choice?  Disadvantages?

Nearing the end of my Action Research

As we find ourselves nearing the date of the 2015 SMU M.Ed. Spring Conference we have been asked to reflect on our Action Research.  Our next steps will be to create and post our abstract and critical thinking questions.  Read below for my most recent AR Reflection: How can I encourage my visual arts students to take more responsibility/ownership in the work they create?

• How do you communicate your action research with your student and their parents? Communication that I have initiated with the parents of the students I see in class have been from the letter that was sent out at the beginning of each quarter letting them know that I will be conducting some research with their students in my classroom.  More specifically, students have been contacting their parents to keep them posted about what they are doing in the art classroom.  I will be emailing my eighth grade parents a survey about the emails they have (or maybe have not?) been receiving from their students.
  
  

• What do you hope is the outcome of your action research? I hope to open up the lines of communication with student and their parents about their visual art work.  Mainly, I hope to create a more positive sense of ownership and responsibility in the students that I see.  I want them to begin taking the work that they create and the lessons they learn seriously.  I have learned that having an audience plays an important role in this step, so I will continue to provide this opportunity of an audience OUTSIDE of the classroom as the year continues.
  
  
• How do you plan to sustain what you have started? I will continue to utilize the strategies that I have used with students throughout the last two quarters.  I also plan to develop the strategy of an audience for my students - I would like to continue to email parents with an art room update (students with iPads can email parents themselves - those without iPads I could begin sending a weekly/bi-weekly update on what they are doing).  I would like to get other teachers, staff, admin., students involved as well - maybe have the students create an art show each quarter and invite all staff and students to view and critique?  Ultimately, I would like to get students out of the art room with their work - get them physically going through the steps of sharing art works with everyone.
  
  
• Who or what has been the most helpful resource for your work? I have been following a few blogs very closely.  I have gotten many ideas from these blogs as well as sessions at art conferences that I have attended.  Speaking with other art teachers and sharing ideas has been extremely helpful with the work I am doing in my classroom.
  
  

• How do you see your action research impacting your teaching? I find myself conducting quality reflection upon my teacher and my students’ learning.  When something doesn’t work, I don’t spend as much time as I used to thinking about how bad it may have gone, but rather thinking of how I can change it to better fit the needs of my students.  I find myself acting more rather than just planning.  The information I have learned throughout my Action Research as well as the SMU M.Ed. program have been extremely beneficial to my teaching.
  
  
• How do you see your action research impacting your students' learning? I am beginning to see, slowly for some, that students are starting to think more about what they are doing.  By having them reflect on their experiences through writing and sharing that with someone (a parent and myself for now) they are being prompted to take ownership for the work they are creating.  As this process becomes more of a routine, I am seeing students start to reflect sooner in their creation process rather than waiting until the end when I ask them to.  This directly benefits their work because they are able to make any changes that they see might improve their work and understanding of the process.

• What evidence do you have that supports your action research?  I will be collecting survey results from both my students and their parents involving the reflection process - students will answer questions regarding the creation process as well as sense of ownership/responsibility that resulted in sending their work and reflection to a parent.  Parents will answer questions regarding the work and reflections that they received from their students.  One main question I look forward to hearing responses from parents AND students is whether or not it opened up a line of communication with their student about their artwork and experience in the visual arts class.

Action Research Update

Update your AR Reflective Blog.  Give an update of what you did this week in your action research analysis and future implication.

• What new questions have come up? My action research question has been focused on how to get my visual art students to take responsibility for the work that they create.  I have been focusing this action research specifically on my eighth grade students and although I have tried a few techniques, there are still questions that I have about this action research.  I have yet to ‘reach’ some of the students in my class - they seem to just go through the steps: do the minimum work, get their grade, and often times throw the work away when they get it back.  With 30+ students in each class, and only nine weeks with each group, I still question how I can get all students to take responsibility and ownership for the quality work they create.
• What direction are you now headed? I plan to continue to implement the changes that I have made, while adjusting slightly for each class and/or grade level.  One of my main goals as I continue is to provide students with an audience for the work they create.  I think that this opportunity will be the most effective in providing students with a sense of responsibility and ownership for the work that they create in class.
• Will you continue in the same area or are you headed in a different path?  I am going to continue in the same area, I feel that this is an area of great need within my classroom.
• Why have you decided to go this direction? I want students to see and feel the positive connection to the work they create and their audience.  I know it is important for them to learn various art processes, but I also want them to make a positive connection to the work that they create.  I think having an audience is an important aspect of that connection so I will continue to develop this with my classes (specifically my older students).
• What did the data tell you? While I am not finished yet with my data collection, I have learned a lot from the data I have collected thus far.  I have been able to see what changes are effective with my students as well as the ones that are not as effective.  Data I will be collecting soon (as we near the end of the second quarter) will be from the parents of my eighth grade students.  I will be sending out a survey for them to fill out about their reaction to the pictures and explanation/reflection that students have sent to them throughout the quarter.  I think this data will be very helpful in deciding my next step with providing students an audience for their work.