Step 26: The Home Stretch

Believe it or not, I submitted my last project of graduate school last night. As previously described, the Term V assignment is the Inquiry Portfolio, in which we develop a question to examine through our student teaching experiences. Our question thus serves as a lens through which we can reflect back on our year; in addition to this reflective purpose this project also gives us experience in using our classroom for teacher action research in the future. As a former education researcher, I found the Inquiry Portfolio to be a great opportunity to link theory I had previously explored to the classroom practice that I am currently engrossed in.

When I recognized this connection, I actually changed my Inquiry Topic to something that I studied in my former work. In the past I was particularly interested in researching the effect of noncognitive factors on student success. These include a wide variety of feelings and concepts that students get out of school that are not specifically academic in nature. A well-researched noncognitive factor is self-efficacy, or a students' belief in his or her ability to succeed. In the past I have evaluated and written about the extent to which increasing students' perceptions of self-efficacy positively influences their performance (academic and behavioral); and so in this portfolio, I took the opportunity to explore the ways in which, as a teacher, I could build self-efficacy. This link between my past work and future career was a fitting culmination of my time in this program. And yet, interestingly, this all seems somewhat anticlimactic. Indeed, I am left somewhat "unsatisfied" - though by this I do not mean that I am disappointed. Rather, I think that this sense of dissatisfaction comes largely from the fact that I am not "done" with anything. Although my coursework is mostly over, my preparation as a teacher has only really just begun.

Logistically, however, the year really is wrapping up. We have two seminar classes remaining, and the last day of student teaching is next Friday!

Step 25: Bucket list

As my time in Philadelphia begins to wrap up, I am working my way through a bucket list of (mostly food-related) gems in this city - and let me tell you, Philadelphia is full of great ones! Hosting guests last weekend motivated me to do quite a few of them and I figured I could share them with you so you can start your list much earlier in your time here.  In no particular order, here are some fun Philly experiences I put off until the end of my year, and now I wish I had more time to go back to!

• See The Moth Story Slam at World Cafe Live. This performance venue is super close to campus and yet it took me until April to get there. This is especially shameful because The Moth is one of my favorite npr shows/podcasts, and this live story slam takes place monthly right here in University City! One of my favorite nights in Philly so far was the one I spent last Monday eating delicious appetizers and listening to these stories at the World Cafe.
• Wandering around South Philly and eating Italian pastries - I recommend those at Termini Bros, whose cannoli and cookies are incredible.
• Dinner and/or drinks at Frankford Hall: I finally made it to this beer garden last weekend and kicked myself for not having spent all of last summer there! With Jenga on every table, face-sized pretzels, and excellent beer, there is something for everyone here!
• The Franklin Institute and Philadelphia Museum of Art: Philadelphia has a lot of wonderful museums, and luckily for grad students, many offer discounted/free entry on certain weekends/nights/etc. Last week I visited an awesome Pixar exhibit at The Franklin Institute (the local science museum) which I would highly recommend, as well as a pop art exhibit at the art museum! Keep your eye out on uwishunu.com (a great site for city happenings) for discount days, etc.
• BYO Italian at one of many wonderful restaurants in the city. I have never been in a city where BYO is so common; I'm not sure why it's such a "thing" in Philadelphia, but I sure appreciate it! Bringing my own $7 bottle of wine makes a nice dinner out much less expensive. A couple favorites that I have tried so far include Sotto and La Viola. 
• And of course, the great cheesesteak taste off.  We did the classic Pat's v. Geno's and to us, Pat's won hands down!

Step 24: An Inquiry Stance

Although I only just wrote to you last week about my Term IV project, the truth is I am currently deep into my work on my fifth (and final!) integrated term project. Term V is also called the Inquiry Portfolio, and the title suggests both its role as a culmination of our development throughout the year, as well as its focus on encouraging an "inquiry stance". This term largely embodies the TEP educational philosophy: that good teachers are researchers who constantly ask questions about their practice, collect data in their classrooms, and make improvements to their teaching. This also fits with my strong belief that those with firsthand experiences in the classroom should be the people making the decisions that govern the classroom - and here, too, an inquiry stance should inform policy and practice. This focus on teacher researchers is largely what drew me to Penn GSE, and it is exciting to now feel myself truly acting as one in my current classroom.

And I must thank you, blog readers, for some of the inspiration for my inquiry question. See, as I found myself reflecting on my days and weeks in the classroom (as I have done publicly here, and through more frequent journals, etc.), I realized how valuable it is to truly challenge myself to self-assess, rather than just answer the common "how was your day?" with a typical, "fine." While doing this for myself, I began to think about how I could prioritize it in my interactions with my students as well. That is, if I personally was finding that I could best cement my learning experiences through reflection, it seemed only fitting to encourage that practice in my students, too. The question that I am exploring, therefore, is along these lines (exact wording is not yet determined):

How can I facilitate meaningful self-assessment of both behavior and performance in my classroom? And why should I do it?

To investigate this question in my current classroom, I am facilitating conversations with my students about previous behaviors, and encouraging goal setting; I am giving self-assessment rubrics with  assignments; I am using a behavior monitoring chart that requires students to reflect on specific daily actions; I am tracking student behaviors and performance, and more. This research is unlike that which I grew accustomed to in my work as a research analyst where we were concerned about controlling variables, seeking pure causation, etc.; I do not for an instant believe that I will be able to truly find a cause and effect relationship through this inquiry. I do believe, however, that by trying some purposeful things in the classroom and by keeping my eyes and ears open to student responses, I can improve my practice as a teacher.