Next Steps
Teacher-to-student Encouragement
Although encouraging students individually did not seem to increase participation the following day, my encouragements did seem to bring a better teacher/student relationship. One student whose participation stayed the same actually came to my desk to talk with me after class twice after I encouraged her. Once was to tell me about a difficult relationship she was having with another student. Another was to get my feedback on her work. She had never asked for my help before, and so I think that it possibly could be a result of encouraging her after class. Also, the student whose participation decreased seemed to have a better attitude towards me after I encouraged him, even though his participation decreased that next day and didn't increase in future discussions. In this student's case, I think it was because I took more of a notice of him and made it a point to call on him. He said that calling on him worked to get him to participate and that he felt comfortable that way. The teacher/student relationship is really important because it has been found to be related to students' academic success, attitude and participation. According to Gehlbach, Brinkworth and Harris, the teacher and student's perception of the teacher/student relationship predicted better academic achievement, a more positive attitude towards school and increased participation in discussions (Gehlbach, Brinkworth & Harris, 2011). Although my student conferences did not increase participation in the short term, perhaps they will increase in the long term due to a more positive relationship with these students. Regardless of the effect on participation though, building these stronger relationships was a very positive outcome of my teacher-to-student encouragements.
student-to-student Encouragement
Shortcomings of Research
Although many good things came from this research, I would have liked to do many things differently.
Not Questioning Students Afterward on their participation
One thing I question myself on is why I felt uncomfortable questioning the focus group students afterward on their participation. I think it's because I felt like I was forcing this on them , especially after they didn't share, so it didn't feel like their research. It also felt like I was singling them out, which wasn't what I wanted to do.
After implementing Phase 1, I researched what other teachers have done to make student/teacher conferences more effective. That's something I definitely want to change in Phase 2. I want them to feel empowered, not like something is wrong with them. I don't think any of them felt that something was wrong with them, especially since my relationship with them became stronger afterwards, but I didn't feel like I would be empowering them if I pulled them aside again, and so I didn't do that.
Students Have Unique Reasons for Participating:
Teacher Observations
The Importance of Setting Priorities
Need research to figure out what feedback should look like.
Need research on student-to-student feedback research. I could reference the previous study on peer and parent feedback's benefits
Need to revise the results for both phase 1 and phase 2--incorporate the graphs that I want to have
Need research in reflection, especially incorporating how conferences should look like--increasing the amount of student time and having students have the last say, and having them come prepared with how they want to contribute to the conversation. In my conversations, they felt more one-sided. I know that I won't continue my research in this direction, but it's good to know for the conferences I want to have next fall.
Although many good things came from this research, I would have liked to do many things differently.
Not Questioning Students Afterward on their participation
One thing I question myself on is why I felt uncomfortable questioning the focus group students afterward on their participation. I think it's because I felt like I was forcing this on them , especially after they didn't share, so it didn't feel like their research. It also felt like I was singling them out, which wasn't what I wanted to do.
After implementing Phase 1, I researched what other teachers have done to make student/teacher conferences more effective. That's something I definitely want to change in Phase 2. I want them to feel empowered, not like something is wrong with them. I don't think any of them felt that something was wrong with them, especially since my relationship with them became stronger afterwards, but I didn't feel like I would be empowering them if I pulled them aside again, and so I didn't do that.
Students Have Unique Reasons for Participating:
- A big takeaway for me was that every student has a very unique when it comes to participating, and therefore needs a unique solution. I can't just put them all on the same action plan and expect them all to flourish equally. Rather, I need to plan with each student their individual goals and work towards achieving those.
Teacher Observations
- In addition to individual students' reasoning for participation, comfort levels are also not always apparent from my teacher's perspective. I created the focus group based on my observations on who was participating and who was not, and I thought it would be tied to comfort levels. However, that wasn't the case at all. All three of my focus group students reported feeling "a little comfortable" or "very comfortable" from the beginning to the end, while two students not included in the focus group reported feeling "slightly uncomfortable" at the beginning of phase 1.
The Importance of Setting Priorities
- One student said something very thought-provoking the other day. She said that the reason whole-group discussions worked in her previous class was because the teacher held whole class discussions every day. That was their norm. For our class, small group discussions are the norm, and so that's why the students are better at those. Whatever area I want the students to improve, I need to make that area a norm in the classroom.
Need research to figure out what feedback should look like.
Need research on student-to-student feedback research. I could reference the previous study on peer and parent feedback's benefits
Need to revise the results for both phase 1 and phase 2--incorporate the graphs that I want to have
Need research in reflection, especially incorporating how conferences should look like--increasing the amount of student time and having students have the last say, and having them come prepared with how they want to contribute to the conversation. In my conversations, they felt more one-sided. I know that I won't continue my research in this direction, but it's good to know for the conferences I want to have next fall.