My inquiry question for this project is, what are some strategies to effectively allocate time and attention to students in the classroom? This became my inquiry question because during my practicum visits, I have experienced overwhelming amount of students who wanted my attention in the classroom, while I have also noticed those who needed more attention than others, but I felt that I did not get to them in time and also given enough attention because of many other students who were coming to me as well. My motivation behind this particular inquiry is that I want to be fair when I am giving my attention to students in the classroom. I wanted to give my full attention to everyone, but in most instances, it is something that I could not practically accomplish.
I have a personal connection to this particular inquiry as well. When my family immigrated to Canada and I had to adjust to a new environment, language and culture, I became quite reserved because I was not sure if I was expressing myself enough or correctly. I did want attention but I just never really asked for it as much as others in my opinion. Most of the times, I did not raise my hands, even if I knew an answer or I knew what I wanted to say, but the fear of messing up my question or not being able to phrase it correctly led me to being more reserved. This particular experience is something that I connect to very much because I know that there are students who do not really ask for a lot of attention but those who still need it. Although the question of whether giving enough attention to students or not might look like an obvious question, but in my opinion, there are more to it than just putting more effort in showing interest and learning about the students. Thus, I think my inquiry question can shed some light in what it might look like in a practical situation, which is something significant for me, but also for others as they will encounter a lot of students with much different backgrounds.
The general direction that I am taking with this inquiry first starts with questioning of the pragmatism of teachers having to be attentive for more than twenty students at once. At one time, as I was being exhausted with having multiple students coming up to me for a question or confirmation of their work, it reminded me of how difficult it is to have these students all in one classroom. To put things in perspective, when two parents raise their child, it takes tremendous time and effort for them to help the child to grow and be educated. However, these children now are coming into a one big room called the classroom. It is very difficult for a teacher to manage his or her time to give equal amount of attention to all. I wonder if it is realistic to reduce the size of the classroom? The reality and the extensive researches done on classroom size reduction clearly addresses the difficulties in the logistics of such endeavour. (I will try to address this particular research later in time.)
The second part of the inquiry research is in the domain of individual teaching practice in classroom settings. It makes sense that logistically, by reducing the size of the classroom will help teachers to gain more energy and be able to attend to less students, allowing them to give students the much needed attention. However, in my opinion, individual quality of a teacher has more impact on students than that of the logistical side. I think that there is a tension between the two domains of my inquiry and that is why I want to really dig deeper into this conversation about what sort of practices are out there for teachers to address this kind of issues and whether we could improve on it.
At the end of the research, I hope to find that all students are interested in at least some aspects of school. However, what I expect to find is that many students are not really interested in school subjects, but rather it is the teacher who helps them to become more interested in them. Some of the research materials that I have found were about student-centered learning and that teachers should become more considerate of the students’ backgrounds and their different abilities and use that information to differentiate the lessons and guide them to their fullest potential.
I think from this particular inquiry; I want to use it as an opportunity for me to become a good professional teacher. However, there are many important qualities in demand for teachers, because they have to be the one who has the skills and the patience and the vigilance to effectively guide students to their full potential. If smaller classes do make a huge impact on student learning, where should we draw the line for how much a teacher can do and how much can there be a logistical and practical support for teachers who are in the frontline in this field? Is there practical solution for this difficulty? I hope to find that there is a solution and that we can have long term goals to tackle such difficulty in the world of education.
References
Achilles, C. M. (1996). Students achieve more in smaller classes. Educational Leadership, 53(5), 76-77.
Gillies, R. M. (2014). Developments in classroom-based talk. International Journal of Educational Research, 63, 63-68.
Santamaria, L. J. (2009). Culturally responsive differentiated instruction: Narrowing gaps between best pedagogical practices benefiting all learners. Teachers College Record, 111(1), 214-247.
Thompson, C. L., Cunningham, E. K., & North Carolina Education, R. C. (2001). The lessons of class size reduction. first in america special report. ().