Action Research

This is what all PD should be like!

This is the comment I was given following our meeting/roundtable/workshop on Monday. I was gratified by all the positive comments, thank you’s and affirmations by the teachers.  A couple said, “our consultant rocks!” and one gave me a hug.  This is also the nature of this group of teachers. They are boisterous, emotional, open, opinionated, intelligent and appreciative professionals. People were happy with the day and left feeling good about the work we are doing and the support being given. This made me happy.

As I cleaned up the room and put away books I started to realize just how little of my original agenda was covered. I estimated we approached about 1/3 of what I hoped or imagined. Granted, I knew I was being optimistic with the agenda (I always have too much in the fear of running out of material), but we spent a good deal of time talking about the nature of art, what constitutes art and the value of process.  The discussion was intense at times and went quite deep as we analyzed where some perceptions come from and influences on attitude. It was quite enlightening.  Middle class values and work ethic in opposition to elitism was raised on more than one occasion. Teachers seemed to be thoroughly engaged in the debate and keen to offer opinion or to challenge assumptions.  What fun! How little we get opportunity to do this in our daily life!

Going into this day I questioned my power and authority and wanted to be aware of agenda driven control over the group. I can see by the outcome that it was not an issue.  Were we too off track? Difficult to know, but I’ll try to find out from the teachers.

Planning: They have been asked to contribute to a Voice Thread as a reflection tool on our process. We didn’t have time in the day and so they are doing it on their own. I have a feeling I may have to gently push this along – its easy to get busy with everything back in the classroom, I certainly understand why it wouldn’t be a priority. I hope to visit each one individually and see if I can help them by covering classes perhaps.

We also agreed to the concept of teacher as researcher and building our “culture of evidence” together. They were given cameras and asked to try to document the process with students, write about the thinking and to post it online on the Ning.  Already, several of them have personalized their pages and have started posting.  One teacher has begun a discussion thread about the nature of art vs technical skill.  I am excited by the prospect of getting our discussions underway through this medium.

Next step: collect Voice Thread reflection, gather feedback on our day, book personal visits with teachers and encourage Ning discussion.  My three actions are complete, now I need to finish gathering the data I need.

Whew! That feels good to take a moment and recognize where I am at.

I just returned from the Learning and Arts Symposium in Regina, hosted by the ArtsSmart program and the Saskatchewan Arts Board.  The National ArtsSmart organizes an annual forum to exchange ideas between the partners across the country.  Participants were from every province, except the Territories – although one participant from Labrador spoke about her Innu culture and that of her students.

I was asked to be a part of a panel on Arts Research and to reflect upon our experience with the ArtsSmart project: “Our Voice, Our Story” in which filmmakers Gabriel Yahyahkeekoot and Shane Bellegarde came to Spiritwood and Cutknife for a week each and worked with students to create original films.  I was nervous to be on the panel as the other partners have been involved longer and with much higher numbers of participants.  I realized I still feel rather new as a researcher and my inexperience would be apparent.  Regardless, I decided that my experience (specifically that of our teachers and students) would be of value and would offer a perspective unique to our province.

As I listened to the other presenters on the panel (I went last), I started to zone out somewhat. They were listing statistics and figures and data in an impressive way, but it felt disconnected to my experience. When it was finally my turn to speak (after 2 long power point presentations!) my voice came out squeaky and wavering. Was I more intimidated than I thought?

I did a little game with the audience to make them stand up and identify with categories and I could see their bodies relax as they smiled or laughed. Okay, now I was back in familiar territory, people were with me in the room again. I began to describe Saskatchewan and the isolation we often feel. Especially the isolation of being the Arts Educator or the Artsy student. Our research helped us form a community, a bond as people committed to the Arts and eager to engage with one another.  It was all hinging on relationship. The artists needed to connect to the community, the teachers needed to feel purposeful to the project and the students needed to feel connected to the artists and the concepts being explored.  There was a bond that formed over the course of the week and we could observe high levels of commitment by all parties. We used journals, interviews and observations as a way to collect our data and we were able to analyze it reflecting, sharing and comparing with one another.

I looked around and people were nodding and still smiling (not zoned out). They understood my message and had experienced it as well.

Research and data is necessary, it is a way to systematically organize and analyze our information and get a picture of the growth. It helps as a way of communicating this growth to others – the stakeholders. BUT it is not about the numbers, the charts, the facts, the statistics – it is about the relationships and the people. There is a huge tension for me as I try to understand how this works in praxsis, and it is not easily handled.  On the one hand, the Arts provide an avenue for creativity to flourish by allowing for a process to unflod. The process may be entirely dependent upon factors of personality, philosophy, contextual issues and environement.  We do not identify the arrival before the wandering. And yet we need to be able to foresee methods and moments of importance when data should be collected and documented. How can we begin to anticipate when and how when we are engaged and in it, living the experience?

My job is be both inside (living it)

and outside (analyzing it)

the experience at the same time.

An aha moment!

But …. what to do about it? hhmmm ….

Personalize It

Steve Kemp is a wise man. He knows how to listen, ask questions and challenge.  He has helped me see a new aspect to my research I had not considered previously and has encouraged me to delve a little deeper into my analysis.  He has suggested I “personalize” my research and draw parallels between the experience I create for teachers and the one I engage in myself. I asked the question “What feeds your soul, your creative spirit?” of our teachers and invited them to join us in an experience of a process, without thought to the lesson plan or the product. Why did I choose to develop it in that way, a non-traditional approach to PD? I think it is because I respond well to experiences and realize how stimulated I become in my thinking about my practice as I get to create and not just deliver creative experiences for others. Comments from the day, such as the one above, clearly indicate that others feel the same way and appreciated a chance to take a risk.

The role of the advisor is not an easy one – Steve has to have an understanding of who I am (my philosophy), comprehend my project parameters and have thought about my research question – and then he needs to be able to listen, probe, analyze, synthesize and redirect me on the spot. Critical and creative thinking. He was able to identify my central themes (not even clear in my own mind) and could reframe my thinking by revealing the underpinning understandings. Quite the feat.

As I reflect upon the personal nature of this encounter and draw parallels to the role I play as a consultant (as Steve suggested), I see similarities to the way I interact with teachers. I think I try to do the same thing as I listen to them talk about their work, and identify the underlying beliefs, values and philosophy that drives their practice. Encouraging them through conversation focused not on what they do, but why they do it.

Why do I do what I do? What drives me forward? Why am I always so interested in learning?

As I look at myself, I realize I am looking at a composite of my beliefs about others as well:

• My motivation is personal, I am curious by nature.
• I love to sit back and observe. I love to participate too.
• Sometimes I am spontaneous and impulsive, at other times reflective and quiet.
• I feel I can make a difference by sharing my expertise with teachers. I share best when I draw it from them, when we create together, constructing through experiences and process.
• I feel my spirit is fed when I am creative, I need to engage as an artist as well as a teacher.
• My imagination is fed through laughter, play and interaction with others – but I am also an introvert and require long moments of silence and contemplation in private.
• I appreciate when others acknowledge my experience, skills and knowledge – I am aware of this and try to do this for others as well.
• I learn best when I can read, reflect, share, discuss, debate, analyze, compare, imagine, design and create in an open environment. It is especially fruitful when I engage with a like minded community of learners, who understand my language and philosophy.

My next question may be in examining how true these assumptions may be. A next step may be to ask the teachers with whom I work about their beliefs about learning.

Studio Thinking for Teachers: the Artist Within

Oct. 2, 2008

Mixed Messages: Fragmented Stories
An exhibition of textile, collage, mixed media – looking at our histories, and imagined histories, memories and imagined memories.

Holly Hildebrand (the artist) took us through a process – with no product in sight – of creating texture, layers of image (photocopies) and text, prints, stamps and scratching our canvas. We worked the surface of both sides of the canvas.

Then we let it dry and went off to meet with Paul who led us through another process to create a soundscape from text we found in her show.  Then Michele challenged us to work through a process with text and movement that led to scenes inspired from the those same words. All rather risky, creative, messy and with no real product in mind. Participating in the experience, free from expectations or classroom (teacher) considerations.
When we returned to our somewhat dry canvas pieces, Holly showed us how to fold them into books, with a hidden page for secrets or other fragments. We ran out of time, but she also showed us how we might sew the pages and stitch other items in to the piece (she uses old letters, keys, buttons, whatever she finds. She described for us the “zen of make do” from a generation past, and why she likes to collect bits, finding new purpose in reusing.

These books are not done, but they do represent a process of thinking, responding and creating.

“I really enjoyed the experience. I enjoyed the cross curriculum approach. I was very impressed with the instruction and expertise in all three areas of art. I found the music portion challenging and frightening, exciting, and useful all at the same time. I had not considered that type of process before, and as a result would like to consider an artist in residence, or Art SMART grant. My kids could/would benefit from working with people similar to those that you arranged to have us work with and the possibilities excite me. I am looking forward to the Oct. 17th meeting. Thank you again, Sherron.” (a Studio Thinking participant reflecting on the artists workshop)

At the end of our first day of Studio Thinking I felt we had begun to bond as a community. We shared our beliefs about teaching and how the Arts make us different from our colleagues.  People identified a sense of isolation, feeling like others don’t know what to make of them. Our classrooms are often loud, messy, divergent and full of movement. This can look like chaos to the outsider.

We know it’s not chaos – it’s structured interaction in a free and flowing environment.

As a group we described ourselves as:

• artists, creative
• having passion
• being flexible and yet structured
• promoting risk taking – and yet a safe environment
• building respect for process, history and one another
• problem solvers
• based on the Principles of Art (foundational)

Teacher feedback about the day was very positive and enthusiastic. They felt empowered,  stimulated and supported. A few comments:

“I really enjoyed the other day…so nice to hear other people passionate about Arts Ed talk…I found that it put me in a little differnet frame of mind today…there were some small blocks I was experiencing in terms of just the right way to approach some of what I’m teaching right now that suddenly seemed to clear up and just be obvious rather than a small struggle…”

“Yesterday was SUPER! Amy and I talked about art and teaching art and philosophy all the way home.  It was a very enriching day.  Teacher pampering – like a teacher spa!!”

Personal interpretations about themselves as artist/teacher in mixed media