I am in a unique teaching position because all of my classes are product based and filled with students who had to go through an application process for membership. All of these classes are deadline oriented - video production has a weekly deadline, newspaper has a monthly deadline and yearbook has quarterly deadlines. I have noticed an interesting and disturbing trend this year. I have always served as a safety net for students, finishing something here or polishing something there to be sure that things got out on time. I have always found that the “taste” of danger was enough to keep them on schedule and give them the incentive to work hard. This provided just enough stress to ensure a good product. Lately, my 8th grade video production class seems to be falling further behind on their weekly deadlines. These students have been working together for a year and a half and their skills are pretty well developed, but they seem to lack motivation and drive. Because their programs go out to the entire school, I am hesitant to allow the broadcast of an inferior product. Should I hang them out to dry, or continue to tie up their loose ends?
Stringer points to the cyclical nature of action research based on planning, acting, observing and reflecting in order to promote improved practices and behaviors through change. With that in mind, we turn to:
Planning: Obviously, the current situation is a concern for me, and is a problem for some of the students. We need to identify the issues that are decreasing our productivity and develop a plan to complete our productions in a timely manner.
Acting: We will then have to systematically test out the changes to class organization, shooting schedule, level of effort, or other theories.
Observing: We will probably be able to identify what works quickly since this is a weekly product, but we will simply have to watch our schedule and see if I’m still at school at 7:00 pm the night before a show.
-Jeff Kitchen
Comments (3)
Stringer would love this. You've already looked, and are currently thinking. Acting here will have real consequences (positive or negative) as the production is something shared by such a wide community. Having been involved in a similar situation while advising a school newspaper many years ago, I'm eager to see what you and the staff do, and what the effects are.
Conrad Martin
Posted by Anonymous | January 17, 2009 10:42 AM
Posted on January 17, 2009 10:42
Great idea Jeff. I would get the class involved in this process as much as possible. Let them take ownership of identifying the causes for the classes general lack of motivation. They should also be able to come up with some solutions.
Posted by Jason Mammano | January 19, 2009 7:57 PM
Posted on January 19, 2009 19:57
Jeff,
The strength of this research is that you cannot do it alone -- the students will have to be a part of the solution for it to be valid. You are off to a great start. I only have one question: if you look at the syllabus, data collection won't occur until March. Can you wait that long to begin?
Posted by Alecia Jackson | January 21, 2009 2:06 PM
Posted on January 21, 2009 14:06