Sarah Fletcher Creative Partner Educational research mentor http

Sarah Fletcher Creative Partner: Educational research mentor http: //www. Teacher. Research. net sjfmentor@yahoo. com

What is Action Research? “…any systematic enquiry conducted by teacher researchers to gather information about how their particular schools operate, how they teach and how well their students learn. Action research is done by teachers for themselves; it is not imposed on them by someone else …” Mills, G. (2003) “Action Research: a Guide for the Teacher Educator”, USA, New Jersey, Pearson Education

What is action research? How do I identify my focus or ‘research question’? How do I carry out an audit as a starting point? How do I map out possibilities for taking action? How do I collect data in rigorous, systematic ways? How do I make sure I am on track with my project and sharing ideas as I make appropriate headway? How do I provide evidence for any claims that my creative project is helping students and my school?

Action Research What matters most to me as a creative teacher? How do I teach best and how can I teach even better? In my work as an teacher, what is my main concern? How can I live out my professional values more fully? What can I do to become a more professional teacher by helping my colleagues to learn with me and to teach me? How can I help our students to learn creatively in lessons?

Action Research What is a ‘good’ focus for a research project? (relevant, realistic and rigorously researched) What is a good research question? Spot the difference. . How can students be more motivated and creative in lessons? How can we work with year 9 to develop motivation and raise attainment in English lessons based on our Scheme of Work? How can I evaluate and then improve teaching and learning? How can I publicly evidence and disseminate our claims to have improved students’ learning by developing creativity?

You don’t have to start with a problem! Start from enjoyment! Why do you want to develop creativity? What exactly do you hope to achieve? Which students do you want to work with creatively and what is your joint project? How do you know when students are being creative? What does it feel and look like?

Teachers’ Action Research How will you teach more creatively? How do you show you are creative in your project and how will others? How will you demonstrate that your creative project is worth all the time, energy and money invested in it?

Research Mentoring is “… concerned with continuing personal as well as professional development (CPPD) and not just continuing professional development. ” Fletcher, S. (2000) “Mentoring in Schools: A Handbook of Good Practice” London, Taylor and Francis

Research Mentoring … “…. should unblock the ways to change by building self-confidence, self-esteem and a readiness to act as well as to engage in ongoing constructive interpersonal relationship. ” (Fletcher, 2000)

How do teachers destroy CPs’ creativity when they work with students in a class? You are the creative one. Tell me what to do! I am not very creative … nor is my class. Could you do something creative with my students? They seem bored in my lesson… I’ll give you space to get going - I’ll be in the staffroom if you need me. I’m bit busy today. Shall we just say it went ‘Fine’ if we have to report on our CP project? Do we tick box 5?

How can teachers help enrich students’ creativity by sharing action research? How do students explain and share their creative knowledge in school? How do students share what they know with other students and other schools? How do students explain what they know to improve Creative Partnership’s regional and national work?

Why integrate mentoring in action research? Action research is formulaic when you restrict personal and professional interrelationships. Mentoring helps students, teachers and partners develop creative relationships with one another. Action research can sometimes be a solitary experience but mentoring builds supportive networks for building collaborative creativity. Mentoring students’ and teachers’ skills, values, knowledge and understandings develop. These are the ‘core areas’ for creative engagement.

How can we develop creativity with action research and mentoring …? at the Input stage? (idea, language, environment, resources, qualities, values) at the Doing stage? (identifying problems, divergent thinking, fascination, risk-taking, skills & challenges, refinement? ) at the Showing stage? (solving problems, new ideas, capacity to learn, confidence, new skills, valued outcomes at the Reflection stage? (an on-going process before, during and after a project)

Promoting and Sustaining Creativity with Action Research and technology How can we develop critical and structured thinking to assist our creativity-as-learning? (Critical Thinking Scaffolds, Coombs, 2000) How can we develop school websites to show and share our creativity-in-teaching? (http: //www. cfkeep. org http: //www. Teacher. Research. net ) How can we develop Creative Partnerships web-based networks to disseminate creativity-learning and learning-creativity?

Sarah Fletcher http: //www. Teacher. Research. net