I feel I have good amount of data in the form of student journals. I have to glean information from them and look to see if they provide insights into their progress. I also need to record the few incidents/situations that are pertinent to my inquiry.
I have been processing separate incidents involving conflicts and conflict resolution, bullying, tattling, damaging of school property and misbehavior. Some of the incidents are significant in shedding light on my inquiry topic.
Desirable Spot on the Rug
It was time to come to the rug and I saw 2 of my girls (A and B) rush over at the same time to take the spot with the polar bear picture. In a matter of seconds both of them were crying. Both felt that the other didn’t let them sit on the spot and always took that desirable spot. In my view there is nothing more desirable than any other spot on the rug except that it is defined by the polar bear picture. It was obvious that since there was so much emotion involved, I couldn’t continue the lesson without addressing it. So, we had an instant class meeting.
In order to move forward I was going to use something that I had learned from feedback from other Mills Scholars who had suggested I make a problem box and pick a problem out and ask for student feedback on how to resolve it which I have not been able to implement. This was my opportunity to allow student input on an immediate problem and have them solve it—watch their thinking, see their reasoning, give them the experience to resolve a category of problem they know well—vying for the same thing. I restated the problem to make sure I and the students understood what the issue was and then I asked if they have any ideas for students A and B. Students had to address Students A and B directly with suggestions. It took some time to teach that piece because they tended to give me ideas instead of the students involved. There were all sand sorts of issues raised including equity for all students, desirability of the spot, fairness, systematic recording of usage, problems with some suggestions, implementation issues etc. We did not reach a solution by the end of the discussion since the 2 students involved found problems with each of the suggestions. So, at closing, I reminded the 2 students that they had heard many ideas to think about and process and figure out outside of class time, such as during recess or lunch. I noticed that by the next day, both students had come up with a solution based on a combination of suggestions from the students. They had made a chart to record who wants to use the spot and how they take turns. At this point, the issue has gone away but the experience of having students offer solution directly to the students and the students listening and responding to the feedback was a valuable learning experience for me and my growth as a teacher. It gave me a tool to go about conflict resolution.
Saying Sorry:
Another incident that stands out as an example of the effects of my inquiry on my teaching practice is how much time or attention I allow for things that have to do with teaching students to care about others’ feelings. Recently as I was leaving for lunch on a rainy day recess I overheard a student telling another one, “You are not the boss of us. You don’t get to tell us what to do.” I was proud of the student (Student X) who said it because he is a shy, easy-going student who is very compliant and unassertive and he was saying it to a student (Student Y) who is very confident and usually takes on the role to tell others what to do. However, when I turned around to leave, I noticed Student Y, crying and totally devastated. I asked the student group with (student X) about the crying student and asked them if they could figure out a way to heal her heart. (We have used the metaphor of wrinkled heart and how to heal the wrinkled heart). I left the scene and wanted to know how they were going to resolve it. Student X was refusing to accept responsibility because he felt that he was not the only one to refuse directions from Student Y and didn’t want to take full responsibility. Other students also did not want to follow the suggestions by Student Y and they supported him in refusing to comply. I overheard one of the students saying, we don’t want Student Y sad, so let’s all say sorry that she felt hurt by it. I thought that was a very interesting suggestion—one I might not have come to myself. It showed capability to take both viewpoints—recognizing that Student Y’s feelings were hurt and needed to be repaired. It also showed camaraderie for Student X’s position since he needed some support in acknowledging having hurt the feelings of another student.
Bullying
I found out recently that one of my students was bullied by 2 students from another class. I also learned that one of my students stood up for him and told the boys to stop. I haven’t talked about the incident with my students because the parents of the student who was bullied do not want to put the student in the spotlight. They do not want to highlight the incident in any way. I understand that fear of making the student self conscious and put them through considerable discomfort. Without bringing up the incident itself, my next step is to find a parallel children’s book to discuss the issue.
Measuring Success
My inquiry is a hard one to measure in terms of success for students. I realize that looking at specific/target student data keeps me from getting a sense of class climate and overall a sense of my classroom community. Initially I was switching my target students around to get a dynamic sense of how my students operated as a team/group.
Changes to My Teaching Practice
The greatest benefit to me from doing the inquiry is learning skills, confidence and tools for resolving issues that fall in the gray zone—issues with not clear cut solutions, complex issues that bring up our imperfect human tendencies and behaviors. I have come to recognize that my utopia is not achievable. The classroom is not going to be a smoothly functioning unit that will just love and work together nicely all the time, be respectful to each other, play and work together with or without supervision. That is an unreasonable expectation. My inquiry has made me more reasonable in terms of expecting things to come up that involve conflict of interest issues, intentional and unintentional hurt feelings, testing boundaries that manifest as misbehavior, breaking rules, destroying school property etc. However, the big change for me has been about feeling equipped to handle things, having the tools to resolve issues, understanding the importance of providing a forum for student input, having a classroom culture that facilitates and makes time for addressing issues and creating a place where students feel like they know each other and are comfortable interacting with each other and addressing each other when issues arise.
To sum up, I feel like I am becoming smarter at what I do. I also recognize that creating community is a dynamic process, a work in progress, requiring regular evaluation and improvement.
