April 13th, 2007 by Frank LaBanca, Ed.D.
No post in the past several months because I’ve been working intensely on the actual subject recruitment and data collection. Initally I thought I might post my field notes here, but I think, for the sake of confidentiality AND not having to reformat documents, I will focus on presenting my big ideas.
I am concerned more with big ideas recently because I have a student teahcer who has been stuggling with the concept. It is so critical in the classroom to be able to transmit the nature of what the concept for the day is going to be. Students need to have a center for focus, and transmitting the big idea is, I think, the critical step for good student learning.
So, it drives my thoughts here – what are the things that are important that my student-subjects and mentor-subjects are telling me. Certainly in the coding of my data, I expect it to come out. But how do I perceive what is happening when I interview students and mentors? I notice that I make big marks in my notebook as a student or mentor says something that is personally meaningful to me – especially when I haven’t thought of it before.
So, the posts that will soon appear above will have several comments about the interviews, but moreover it will have my big impression from the meeting I have with the student or mentor.
