Starting my inquiry:

“Doing practitioner research will allow you to critically think about what you do so that you can make informed decisions based on evidence.” Reader 4

I have an idea for a question in my head that is close to my heart, so I am going to ask questions to peers, parents, colleagues and students to see if my question develops or alters.

The question that I am going to start my research with is “Should all students be made to study drama at secondary level”

I will ask different questions depending on the group of people.

Teachers

1.     Do you notice a change in class between the students in your classes who study drama and who don’t? Discuss.

2.     Did you study Drama at school?

3.     Do you see the links between Drama and other subjects, for example English?

4.     Do you teach anything in your subject that you think could be helped by Drama training?

5.     Do students with extracurricular activities tend to get behind in class?

6.     Would you feel a lack of confidence hinders some of your students?

7.     Do the more confident members of your classes tend to achieve more?

Students

1.     What main things do you learn in Drama?

2.     Do you wish you had more confidence?

3.     Do you find it easy to have conversations with people of all ages?

4.     Would you be interested in learning about body language and how to appear confident etc

5.     Would you be interested in learning how to behave in an interview situation and be confident?

6.     Are you shy when walking into a room of people you don’t know?

7.     Do you get nervous talking out loud in class? If yes does this hold you back?

8.     Would you like help with diction, speech and talking clearly.

9.     Would you prefer the time you spent in Drama class to be spent on other subjects?

10.  Do you think you will use any of the skills you learn in Drama in your future careers/life or do you use them now?

Asking the Perfect Question.

·     What’s my intent (value) behind this question.

·      Ethically who should I ask

·      Who has the competence to answer this question

·      What do I want to get out of this question

·      What do I imagine I’ll find out

·      I should embrace/seek different perspectives to challenge pre-conceptions

·      What other questions could I ask

·      I should ask questions that prompt people to ask questions back- creating a conversation

·      I should know the difference between instant and crafted questions

·      You can tell a lot about people by the questions that they ask

·      Is your questioning influenced by your social conditions

·      Am I asking in the correct context for the information I am seeking

·      How many questions should I ask to get the insight I’m looking for

·      What is the relevance? What is the validity of the question

·      Clarity, I should have quality over quantity of questions

1.     When did I ask it

2.     Can I add more

3.     Do I agree

4.     Can I change it

·      Research the person I am questioning. Are they a reliable source?

·      What is the environment I am asking my question in

·      Enquiry should unpack assumptions

·      Do I have a biased opinion

What is bias:

1.     One sided opinion

2.     Background before question/knowledge

3.     Values

4.     Passive element and/or perspective

All research is biased in some way. (Newspapers for example)

·      Authenticity: have I had a proper representation of their view?

·      Is it bad research have I hid intent behind the questions

Be upfront with our enquiries and honest, and then bias will be slightly eliminated. 

Proposal for a Professional Enquiry

In the campus session  on 9^th October  we discussed our plan for going forward and how we intend to do our proposal, by asking questions and critiquing them. We also discussed the professional ethics to asking a question and what license we have to ask them.  All of these questions will result in our 3,000 word proposal.

We will also do a short incisive critical reflection of 500 words. Which will discuss our potential actions and help us to reflect and make better choices in the future. Critical reflection is important for people in practice.

During our proposal we will be asking questions to professionals, peers and members of the public if we wish but first we will have forms to fill in so that the University can see that the questions we ask are ethical, and see exactly what we are planning to do/ask.  If we are involving minors in data collecting we will have to ask the university for clearance.

We should keep a journal of observations, and not necessarily make an intervention. I will be interviewing other teachers and performers for their experiences (adults will be more reliable and authentic sources of information)

We need to work out where the knowledge is. Layer our questions and make sure our inquiry stays in line, and use questioning that teases out a greater enquiry. We need to craft questions with intent as Alan suggested that good academics ask good questions but we mustn’t forget to locate the basis of the question (why are we asking it).

We will be proposing our title (The university will set out some common ones (and if like me you are a teacher we have been advised to stick to standard recognizable titles. Our title should show our disciplinary background E.g Drama.  Our advisor will help us with this and look at our personal circumstances.

The assessment is similar to Module 1 in terms of what things are valued.

Module 2

So we kicked off Module 2 with a campus session led by Alan last week and he ran through an over view of what this module entails. We started off discussing S.I.G groups (Special Interest Groups) Which are groups of people where the link is a shared interest.  A S.I.G carries a nework forward and we can learn from eachother. It’s a Pro-active space where we can explore ideas.

Following on from this I started to look at my own S.I.G which is quite easy for me. My close circle of friends and colleagues are all teachers. I will however try to broaden my S.I.G and network with teachers of different subjects, who are from different backgrounds of all different ages as my current network has quite a limited experience and knowledge as we are all in a similar field.