The Power of the Post-It

I would like to take this moment to thank 3M's Art Fry for creating the post-it note.  They hold immeasurable value in my life as a busy doctoral student and mother.  Here are some of the most valuable uses to date:

1. Documenting random thoughts- I have a lot of these and typically I don't know what to do with them, where to file them in my brain let alone my work, and fear loosing them.  Enter Mr. Post-it.  I write it down and stick it up on my desk.  
2. Marking favorite sections of a book, magazine, legal hearing, or journal article- OK, I realize this is an oldy but goody trick, but it truly is invaluable!
3. Organizing my writing- I'm still working on this one, but my thought is if I write down each main theme/argument on it's own post it I can keep rearranging them until the piece flows.  Like a moveable stick-note outline.  I'll let you know if it helps.
4. Keeping me focused when writing- this is related to #1, documenting random thoughts, but deserves it's own number.  My brain is very interactive when I write and often one topic will cause me to think, almost simultaneously, about another. I used to write it all down in my pieces making the flow seem quite illogical at times.  What I do now is keep a stack of post-its near by (or use the electronic post-it feature of my mac) and write down all the thoughts I have while writing, stick it where I think it might fit and then go back and re-arrange as need be to fill in my piece.  This trick has GREATLY improved my writing and I highly recommend it for people that tend to write/think as a flow of conscious vs. planned out method.
5. The Sticky Mess- OK, I don't use this one as often, but train schools to use it when planning educational services for kiddos.  Here is what you do- put all the classrooms on the top of a table so each column is a different teacher/period/course.  Then write each child's name on their own post it.  Put each related service provider's name on their own post it. Put each educational support provider/teacher on their own post-it. I like to color code- but that's bc I'm a visual person.  Then move things around until you get a good match between what the child needs and what classroom they are placed in.  It works wonders!
6. Love notes to my kids- OH yes. Definitely invaluable for a busy mom who is at school for many bed times.  My kiddos love to get mommy love notes in their bed when they awake in the AM after I missed bed time, in their lunch box, or stuck to the bathroom mirror.  The love note opportunities are endless when they stick!  I suppose this could, and should, be used for spouses and great friends.   You see where my priorities lie these days- my poor husband.
7. To do lists- I get overwhelmed with my never ending list of "to-do's" so the long checklist never worked for me.  A 20-30+ line to-do list causes me unnecessary (and at times crippling) anxiety.  Instead of a list I put each to-do item on a post-it.  Then I get to actually THROW IT AWAY once I've completed it.  Throwing something away provides me with MUCH MORE satisfaction then crossing items off a list that never ends.  It just seems more final.
8. ADD TO THE LIST WITH COMMENTS- I can't wait to hear how you all use post-its. Please, do share.

Developing a Research Question 4- steps

You may be noticing that I toggle between the philosophical self-critique to the practical.  This I do in my day to day life too.  Maybe it is part of doctoral training, or maybe it is just me.  I am hoping it will serve me well in the future as I work to bridge theory to practice and break down the ivory tower, but right now I may just look schizophrenic.  Oh well.

I found a great list of how to develop a meaningful research question and I just have to document it- for your own good and my own (probably more me than you since most people reading this are my non-researcher friends- I love you all)!

 I am working to know more about ethnographic and critical ethnographic studies and therefore am reading, reading, reading, and reading more on the topic.  My latest read, Critical Ethnography: Method, Ethics, and Performance by D. Soyini Madison (2005) is where I stumbled upon great advice. Her introduction writes generally about what critical ethnography is and how it differs from traditional ethnography, but ch.2, oh ch.2, this gets to the heart of how to develop a research question.  It is general enough for all types of research- something I appreciate and hope you will too, so I have to share it publicly. Soyini, if you're out there, THANK YOU!  I've been searching for this for years!!!! 


Here is what she says:


STEP 1     Ask yourself "what is the work my soul must have" (Alice Walker) and develop a topic from there.


STEP 2     Read past literature on the topic to familiarize yourself with the current discourse, methods and "findings".


STEP 3     Jot down titles, quotes, phrases, names, etc... from the literature that interested you.


STEP 4      Using the list and your own intuition WRITE questions- A LOT OF THEM.  In her words "write, write, and keep writing. Take a break, and then write more questions" (p.21).


STEP 5     Find overarching themes that run through the list- making connection and building "clusters of ideas... that surface" (p.21).


STEP 6     Write a topic/sub-heading question for each theme/cluster- this becomes your summary of topic questions


STEP 7      Consolidate your questions to determine what you want to study and why. "This is a process of prioritizing certain questions over others, eliminating overlaps, and blending questions together" (p.21).


TADA!  There it is.  Now if only I had found this a month ago.  Thank you D.Soyini Madison.




Madison, D.S. (2005). Critical Ethnography: Method, Ethics and Performance. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications

Hiding

I hide behind a veil of doing.  I manage my time and tasks so they fill the spaces in my brain with check-lists, wish lists, and pity parties over my self created chaos.  I am complicit.  I am in my own way.  The work I seek to do is overwhelming, yet critical.  This puts me in a catch-22.  I cannot work without addressing deeply entrenched issues of equity, inclusion and exclusion yet in working I cannot begin to unravel how to enter the conversation.  So behind my veil of doing I state "if only I had the time".  Well, folks, the reality is that I do have the time.  We all have time.  I just make conscious choices about how to spend my time that does not leave space for that which I seek to do.  I am in my own way.  Not you.  Not the system.  Not the course work.  Me.

Well, phew.  That's a relief.  All this time I thought the system was out to get me.  Looks like I've got some re-prioritizing to do.  Do you?

This might be all I have to say on the topic.  It seems to sum things up.  But does it?  Here I sit in my beautiful home.  My husband across the way working his corporate deals with reggae in the background, over looking my pool.  All the while my children are safe and secure at the local, not cheap, Montessori school, developing their individual cognition, creativity and leadership skills.  They are there not because I lack commitment to public education, but because I desire for them more than standards and test scores. 

            So how then am I complicit in that I seek to change?  In everyway I am.  Yet, would I change?  That is a serious question I have to battle with.  And that battle is going to have to start- veil or no veil. 

            You see- I have power.  I have white skin.  I have a nuclear family (not historically, but I have one now) and I am heterosexual.  I don’t profess to hold, at least publicly, non-traditional religious views and I have wealth.  No, not an exuberant amount- but enough to allow me many options and many opportunities of both need and extravagance. I indulge both.  This is not meant to be a personal self- disclosure.  It is meant to poignantly illustrate (to both my readers and myself) that I embrace and reproduce with my life all the social norms that are created and maintained in American society.  I am part of the inertia I speak against. 

            I push the edges in my own mind with the work I seek to do, but yet in my own life I can’t push even one.  Why is that?

Developing a Research Question 3- Look how far I've come

Okay devoted readers here is what I have for the pilot study.  It starts this week so we'll see how it goes and I'll be sure to update you along the way.

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OVERARCHING QUESTION: How does a school’s transition to an inclusionary model impact the broader school culture? How is the policy/concept of inclusion “as a culture” received and enacted across school contexts?

Participants: Teachers

Pilot study question: How can ethnographic data collection techniques help illuminate the culture of select classrooms that are/are not in line with the school’s vision of inclusion at school X during year 1 of implementation?

I.    In what ways are inclusive values embedded in your classroom? The school? Or are the values missing here?

      Data Collection Method: Informal interviews using grand tour questions-

 A. How do you see the norms. climate, rituals, celebrations, problem-solving groups, or just the way we do things around here  today as compared to the last two or three years prior?

   B.  What has changed or stayed the same or different for you as a teacher this year?  Your teaching practices?  Curriculum? Lesson Planning? Interactions with others outside the classroom? Problem-solving team 
       -What are the benefits and challenges for you? For students? For families? Your colleagues?

a.   "family": teachers part of co-teaching teams

b.   non-family: teachers not part of co-teaching teams (have no children        with special education needs in their class)

II.  What challenges arise and how are they being negotiated/mitigated?

     Data Collection Method: Participant observation & informal interviews       

III.  What do teacher practices look like? 

     Data Collection Method: participant observation

A.     What does teacher collaboration look like?

B. What does classroom teaching look like?

C.  What does student problem solving look like?

D.  What are teacher roles?

E. To what extend do you feel SWD are being/feel included (as equal members in the school's culture) today? Their parents? What about peer acceptance?

( note to self: look for signs of whether they as teachers feel included in the school)

Method: Case study using ethnographic techniques

Data Collection: 

     -Weekly Participant observation 
-3 informal interviews
-on-going reflective research diary (noting process)

Data Analysis: ????????? (I'm still thinking on this one)

-reflexive journal on the effects being immersed into the culture has on data collection