Looking Back At Research

For each field study I have done a great amount of research and reading. Even articles that turned out not to be relevant to my field study got me thinking and making connections to my own teaching practice and how I can incorporate the ideas into my classroom. I find myself making connections to articles on what is happening in education, in newspapers and in the news. For example, recently the news has reported on gender differences in learning styles and how boys are lagging behind girls particularly in reading. Research articles directed and impacted how I conducted my field study immensely. For example, I developed literacy centers to incorporate more differential learning in my class and reading about how teachers have evaluated reading fluency has helped me develop assessment that works for my classroom as well I have begun using ipods more often in practicing reading and oral language.

Most of my research comes form Ebsco and Google Scholar. There are other research resources but I have been overwhelmed just by the material available on these two sites. I find that I am reading articles about different topics and interests so much so that I lose track of time. When I am planning my lessons I reflect back on my research and try to implement the ideas, for example, research defines one element of fluency as the ability to read smoothly in a specific amount of time. I am encouraging students to practice repeated readings to improve their fluency rate. I now have a fluency scale to score students' reading.

Vygotsky's zone of proximity resonates with me often as I reflect at how my students are learning. When I read an article, in the back of my mind I am thinking about Howard Rheingold's "crap detection" and using a critical lens to sift out was is factual.
There isn't anyone author I've followed, I have relied on authors suggested in my course work and by following bibliographies or links found during my field study research. As well, I have found the PLC groups helpful, a few of my favorites are Edutopia, Tom Barrett on twitter, and Classroom 2.0.

I enjoy reading articles more than research papers. I see myself continuing to read articles on trends and topics I am interested in. I probably won't do as much reading but I think I will continue to make it a part of my professional development.