Place, Participants, Practitioner

Writing about your study context

Governor Christopher DelSesto Middle School is located near the border of Johnson and Providence, an intersection of two very different worlds. The homes that directly surround the school appear to be well kept from the outside, yet their older architectural style contrast with the more modern school building. DelSesto inhabits one of the newest school buildings in Providence: a rectangular, red brick building resting atop what once was a landfill. As you walk into the building, you feel a crisp freshness in the air-- the white floors and cool teal lockers really open and brighten up the space.

As you walk into my room, you feel light and at ease as you feel the warmth and taste the freshness in the air. You get hit with a warm, wintery balsam cedar scent-- an attempt to maintain the sensory pleasure associated with the holidays. The walls are yellow and blue, but leave enough white space to not be too overwhelming. Only one overhead light is on in order to reduce the harshness of a room that is too bright. In my opinion, this allows for a more soothing and appealing environment to be in. There are multiple places for student recognition: a student of the week board, a data tracker with fun animal stickers, and a cork board for student work. Our classroom is a shared space between teacher and student and I want that to be apparent to all who enter.

In an effort to maintain a sense of openness, the desks and tables are arranged to maximize the open space in the room. Students and adults alike are able to move swiftly throughout the room and students are given three distinctly different seating options. Different arrangements of chairs and tables allow students to learn in the most productive environment for them individually. Ultimately, I have tried to create a space where students feel comfortable in order to learn.

Describing the participants (2-3 paragraphs)

DelSesto Middle School is a 6 -8 middle school located in Providence, Rhode Island with a student population of 882 (according to RIDE data from the 2016-2017 school year). 94% of students qualify for subsidized lunch, 19% of students receive ESL services, and 19% receive special education services. 79% of students identify as Latinx, 9% identify as African American, 5% identify as White, 4% identify as Multiracial, 3% identify as Asian, and 1% identify as Native American. I currently teach two periods of sixth grade math, two periods of seventh grade accelerated math, and one period of eighth grade personalized learning.

For my research, I have chosen my third period, seventh grade accelerated math class. This class is comprised of 16 students, 7 females (44%) and 9 males (56%) with ages ranging from 12 to 13. 11 out of 16 of these students (73%) are utilizing the online Summit platform for the rest of the core classes and 5 (17%) are not. However, this period does not use the Summit platform because their accelerated curriculum is not a course on the platform. 2 out of the 16 (12.5%) students are considered English Language Learners, and are the only ELL students in accelerated math this year. They are enrolled in classes for English language learners in their three other core classes while pushing out for math class. 0% of this class receives special education services and 100% of the class have tested at or above grade level in math according to the STAR standardized assessment. The race demographics are as follows: 12 out 16 students (75%) identify as Hispanic or Latino, 1 out of 16 (6%) identify as Asian, 1 out of 16 (6%) identify as white, 1 out of 16 (6%) identify as black, and 1 out of 16 (6%) identify as multiracial.

This group of seventh graders is particularly mature, both as individual students and as a whole group as well. They are well mannered and very respectful to both me and their peers, and as a class emit a relaxed energy. They are extremely collaborative and competitive group, showcasing their ability to have thriving and high level conversations as a whole group and within small groups, as well as their determination to be the best in the class. In my class everyday, I encourage collaboration and peer assistance even when the activities aren’t explicitly or intentionally designed to be done in groups. However, no matter the setting, this group works extremely well together and from my point of view genuinely enjoys helping each other which proves to be helpful considering this class is tasked with a challenging curriculum. As an accelerated math class, they are responsible for mastering both seventh and eighth grade standards.

I am lucky to teach such a small class, for it has provided me with an opportunity to get to know each one of my 16 students. I have gotten to know unique interests: their families, cultures, sports participation, extracurricular activity, and general interests. I know that they all love candy, take a lot of pride in their sneakers, and care about their academic success. Fortunately, the culture we have built in this class is one that allows me to improvise and make changes as I see fit, whether that is in line with our math curriculum or more because I want to continue to build relationships. All of this plays into the success I have found in this class.

Describing your role as the teacher (2-3 paragraphs)

In college, I read countless numbers of research papers and additionally wrote a few of my own, therefore I fully acknowledge the need to protect the identities of participants. For one, protecting anonymity maintains the integrity of the research. It removes as much bias as possible for readers, besides the information that the researcher has provided. Additionally, it is important for the participants that identity remain confidential due to the vulnerable aspect of research. Participants are being observed used to make claims about, and at times they may not be things that participants want associated with them. I foresee myself needing to protect the identity of my students, both for the sake of research and because they are minors. An effective method is to randomly assign participants a number and refer to them by their number. The key word is “random,” so that an order of any kind cannot be detected.

To maintain integrity, research needs to eliminate as much bias as possible. I have worked to build strong relationships with my students for half of a school year now, which creates a strong bias on my part as a teacher researcher. For this class in particular, I have been able to build strong relationships with each student because of how small and mature the students are. I have developed very positive perceptions of each student in this class, and need to approach my research regarding this class with the viewpoint more similar to a third party observer than a dedicated and loving teacher (at least in terms of observations). I believe that random number assignment will help to further reduce this bias, as I collect data I will only be looking at numbers and not names. Thus, as I do my best to make objective observations and collect data via random numbers, bias will at least be somewhat reduced. Lastly, I need to be intentional and specific when choosing which data points to focus on. The more specific and focused the data point, the less room I have to be biased.

As a teacher researcher, I look forward to engaging in descriptive and focused observations. As I begin to collect descriptive observations, I foresee myself gaining a great deal of insight about my classroom that I did have before, and perhaps would not have acquired otherwise. In my current role as just a teacher, it is easy to get caught up in the everyday routine of the class and miss opportunities to see more subtle or nuanced happenings. However, when I start to look for specific pieces of information or data, I will start to learn a lot more about my students, my classroom, and myself as a teacher. Similarly, as I move into focused observations, I will learn how my decisions as a teacher truly affect my students and their learning. So far, I have used formative assessments and a dependency on my relationship with my students to gauge how my students are doing in class, but this research opportunity will give me more concrete and more focused data to work from.