Limitations:
Limitations of Time:
One of the largest limitations was in fact with time. My AR took place over a four month period with the implementation phases lasting two weeks, and two and a half weeks, respectively. While I was working together with my co-operting teachers I needed to keep to a general guideline with respect to time, assignments, tests and projects. The time limitations were also compounded by the fact that I began to work on assessments and think of AR ideas that I ultimately chose not to pursue after I became more aquatinted with my students' needs. In all, I gave three assessments before I located one that I thought would most benefit my students.
With regard to the school schedule, I needed to complete my implementations over the middle and final project schedules of our class. Specifically in phase two, this required that I work with students in a period of time where we didn't meet formally every day. My co-operating teachers were extremely supportive of the project and work the students and I were trying to accomplish, however, I would have loved the whole year. With excitement, I plan to take the whole year for the next one.
Teaching Learning Curve:
One of the larger hurdles I had to overcome was the fact that I am relatively new to teaching. I generally look at my first implementation as a very sharp learning curve. Actually, to be honest, I look at every day as a new sharp learning curve. It is wonderful but some of the mistakes I made had less to do with the AR than they did with my trying new things while still learning the ropes. I wouldn't change it though, because I never tried to always be right, or seem that I was trying to be perfect in front of the students. I was very candid when I made mistakes and I believed it helped in the long run. For example, in one of my first assessments I found what I thought was great primary source for them to examine and write about. In my estimation the reading would have taken about ten minutes and another twenty for the write up. I did what I always do and gave a short introduction about what we were doing for the day and covered the brief background on it. Ten minutes later when I asked who was done , no one raised their hand. Forty minutes later, when I asked who was finished reading, again, not one hand went up. The next day, I had to present the article again and walk them through, paragraph by paragraph, greatly altering the assignment I was planning on giving. The source was something they could do but all needed scaffolding and much more time. I have noted elsewhere in this AR, that as I worked through this process, I have strived to grow as a teacher. That being said, the growing did take while during my phase implementations.
Teacher Bias:
Another limitation to my research was the inherent bias that comes from being an active participant in a study. Because I, as the teacher, have generated the implementations, and there is the expectation that I will modify the process as it goes forward in order to achieve the best possible result, I am at a biased disadvantage to study all that I have seen and recorded. While I have tried to triangulate results and offer the least biased results, I am still part of the process and inherently want to think my implementations are helping my students. Because of this I have reflected on my own bias in a personal journal as well as discussed findings with others when drawing overall conclusions for my work. Despite this, my dual roles in implementing and documenting should be noted for anyone considering this research.
Limitations of Time:
One of the largest limitations was in fact with time. My AR took place over a four month period with the implementation phases lasting two weeks, and two and a half weeks, respectively. While I was working together with my co-operting teachers I needed to keep to a general guideline with respect to time, assignments, tests and projects. The time limitations were also compounded by the fact that I began to work on assessments and think of AR ideas that I ultimately chose not to pursue after I became more aquatinted with my students' needs. In all, I gave three assessments before I located one that I thought would most benefit my students.
With regard to the school schedule, I needed to complete my implementations over the middle and final project schedules of our class. Specifically in phase two, this required that I work with students in a period of time where we didn't meet formally every day. My co-operating teachers were extremely supportive of the project and work the students and I were trying to accomplish, however, I would have loved the whole year. With excitement, I plan to take the whole year for the next one.
Teaching Learning Curve:
One of the larger hurdles I had to overcome was the fact that I am relatively new to teaching. I generally look at my first implementation as a very sharp learning curve. Actually, to be honest, I look at every day as a new sharp learning curve. It is wonderful but some of the mistakes I made had less to do with the AR than they did with my trying new things while still learning the ropes. I wouldn't change it though, because I never tried to always be right, or seem that I was trying to be perfect in front of the students. I was very candid when I made mistakes and I believed it helped in the long run. For example, in one of my first assessments I found what I thought was great primary source for them to examine and write about. In my estimation the reading would have taken about ten minutes and another twenty for the write up. I did what I always do and gave a short introduction about what we were doing for the day and covered the brief background on it. Ten minutes later when I asked who was done , no one raised their hand. Forty minutes later, when I asked who was finished reading, again, not one hand went up. The next day, I had to present the article again and walk them through, paragraph by paragraph, greatly altering the assignment I was planning on giving. The source was something they could do but all needed scaffolding and much more time. I have noted elsewhere in this AR, that as I worked through this process, I have strived to grow as a teacher. That being said, the growing did take while during my phase implementations.
Teacher Bias:
Another limitation to my research was the inherent bias that comes from being an active participant in a study. Because I, as the teacher, have generated the implementations, and there is the expectation that I will modify the process as it goes forward in order to achieve the best possible result, I am at a biased disadvantage to study all that I have seen and recorded. While I have tried to triangulate results and offer the least biased results, I am still part of the process and inherently want to think my implementations are helping my students. Because of this I have reflected on my own bias in a personal journal as well as discussed findings with others when drawing overall conclusions for my work. Despite this, my dual roles in implementing and documenting should be noted for anyone considering this research.