My next step in action research is to begin analyzing my student data set and look for patterns or evidence of cross-cultural communication skill development. Specifically, I would want to understand how students, "recognize and express how diverse audiences may perceive different meaning from the same information and how that impacts communication." I will be examining students' posts on the iEARN BRIDGE project, "Future Citizens," and will be curious to see how students respond to each others' posts on the iEARN forum. While working on the BRIDGE project, my students and I had many discussions on how to respond to students' posts. I noticed my students had a tendency to write glib, unsubstantial responses and we worked a couple of strategies:
1. Show that you read the post my mentioning something they specifically wrote about. 2. Follow up with a question that references information in the post. 3. Use reflection starters to communicate new understandings.
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After our last action research learning circle meeting in October, I decided on a focus topic for this year’s research, student participating in the Bridge Program but I did not develop my work any further. Currently, I am at the Teachers for Global Classrooms Alumni Leadership Conference and ran into fellow action researcher, Anne, who asked me what was research question was. After fumbling around for an answer, it became clear that I need to sit down and formulate an question. Using Dr. Riel’s tutorial 6 on examples of framing the first cycle research question, I completed the following exercise:
T6-A - Framing your Overall and Cycle One Research Questions (Complete this template a number of times, discuss possible approaches with others, and then select the one that you most want to implement.) General Value: Promoting global competencies Value expressed in context: I value global competencies and want to understand how students develop these skill in the context of a 10th grade Modern World History Course. Nature of the problem to explore: How do I know if students are internalizing global competencies? Overall Action Research Question: How do I improve Students cross cultural communication skills? The action you could take: MWH students will participate in the iEARN Bridge Future Citizens Project The anticipated results: Students will improve their cross cultural communication skills Now, to form a viable Cycle One research question, use the last two entries in the following format. Your Cycle One Research Question: If I have students participate in the iEARN Bridge Future Citizens Project, what effect will it have on students’ cross cultural communication skills as measured by their forum posts and end of project reflection papers. So, this is where I will begin. Students began their Bridge participation last week with name introductions and a global citizen analysis. It is time to get organized for my action research project for this school year. While I have been thinking a lot about it, I have not began journaling, so here we go . . .
To help formulate my ideas, I always turn the Center For Collaborative Action Research and the work of Dr. Margaret Riel. Her online tutorials help guide teacher inquiry. Tutorial 1 asks educators to think about the following 3 questions.
Where to go from here? I have many areas of inquiry but no clear focus yet. Next, I am going to follow up with the iEARN BRIDGE program. This program connects teachers and students from the U.S. with their peers in the MENA region on global collaborative projects. I am signed up to participate in the project work for this semester. Perhaps, I can examine student participation in this project and who they develop a specific competency such as cross-cultural communication. Another area of exploration will be reviewing the Global Education Checklist. This resource has several interesting questions to explore such as:
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AuthorKatherine Korte is an eleven year public school veteran Social Studies teacher. She is a passionate advocator for global education and a practitioner of action research. ArchivesCategories |