Educators

EDU 695 Week 1 Assignment Why Educators Should Do Research

Why Educators Should Do Research.Educators need to conduct research in order to make effective decisions about student learning and student achievement. In addition, teachers must be reflective about their practice in order to make appropriate changes and accommodations, especially for diverse student populations. Complete both parts of this assignment:

Part 1:

Read the following articles about being a reflective practitioner:

  1. “The Articulated Learning: An Approach to Guided Reflection and Assessment”
  2. “The Role of Reflection in the Differentiated Instructional Process”

Using information you gathered from the articles, provide an analysis of the following questions: What does it mean to be a reflective practitioner? Why should teachers be reflective? How would you describe yourself in regard to being a reflective practitioner?

Part 2:

Provide an evaluation of this question from Barth (as cited in the Phelps, 2008): “How much are you prepared to risk of what is familiar, comfortable, safe, and perhaps working well for you, in the name of better education for others?” Reflect on current practices and how you can be a reflective change agent. Think about the following questions: How will you use research to improve your practice in order to facilitate student achievement? What two areas of practice in your educational environment do you think need researching and why?

You must include one scholarly resource in addition to the required articles. The paper must be cited in proper APA formatting and must be three to four pages in length, in addition to the title and reference pages.

EDU 695 Week 1 DQ 1 Vision for Teaching and Learning

  1. Vision for Teaching and Learning. Teachers have a powerful role in the classroom and larger school community. School teachers, administrators, and educators/ trainers make hundreds of decisions a day; these decisions affect many people. As such, it is important for educators to ground their decisions in research and in a vision. In this course, you will learn how to make data-based decisions based on action research principles and apply many of the principles of your MAED program. But before you can do that, you must explore, reflect upon, and solidify your own beliefs about teaching and learning, especially for diverse student populations. This vision will continue to evolve and will continually be refined as you gain more experience and practice.
    Read Phelps’ article entitled, “Helping Teachers Become Leaders.” Compare his statement with at least two vision statements that you find via a Google search. In the discussion forum, create your own vision statement. Phelps provides an example in the article. As Phelps (2008) suggests, go beyond mantras such as “all students can learn.” The heart of your vision should address an educational dilemma in a diverse learning context. For example, a possible dilemma in the mantra “all students can learn,” is that there are teachers who believe that some students do not learn which is indicative of a “one size fits all” type of teaching. Your vision statement will address a problem you see in education and describe how you choose to solve that problem. Reflect on how your beliefs will influence your classroom practices. As Phelps indicates,“Formulating one’s vision in writing makes its achievement more likely” (p. 120).

EDU 695 Week 1 DQ 2 Role as a Teacher-Leader or Teacher-Researcher

  1. Role as a Teacher-Leader or Teacher-Researcher? Read Phelps’ article entitled, “Helping Teachers Become Leaders.” In this discussion forum, you will reflect upon your own leadership skills. Choose one of these options (You can respond to both and/or synthesize your thinking around both concepts in order to further advance your thinking.):
    Option 1: According to Danielson’s framework (as cited in Phelps, 2008), what are the three areas of teacher- leaders’ influence? For each area, describe your leadership capacity. Which area do you see as your strength and why? Which area is your weakest and why?
    Option 2: According to Lieberman and Miller (as cited in the Phelps, 2008), what are the three main roles of teacher/educational-leader? For each role, describe your own leadership capacity. Which role fits you the best and why? Which role is most foreign to you and why?

EDU 695 Week 2 Assignment Instructional Problem Research Question

Instructional Problem/Research Question. The most difficult part of a research project is generating the research question. Think about your vision statement as well as your capacity and potential as a teacher-leader/teacher-researcher. Use these current understandings about yourself to think about how you want to improve your teaching, classroom, and/or school/work setting.

According to Moss and Noden (1994), classroom teachers who decide to investigate questions that they have generated about teaching and learning engage in action research when they raise questions about their practices, test out assumptions, and evaluate the results. Action research gives educators an opportunity to reflect, make connections, and better understand what they are doing.

For this assignment, you will develop your own research question for a topic in your MAED specialization. (This will be a part of your Final Project.) You will decide on what you would like to focus on in order to change instruction and/or improve learning in your classroom. Your research must address diverse learning environments.

The following activities will support you in generating a research question:

  1. Complete the following tutorial: The relationship between the research questions, hypotheses, specific aims, and long-term goals of the project.