QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ABOUT SELF-STUDY PROJECTS DURING STUDENT TEACHING

For Cooperating Teachers, Fall 2009

1. What does it mean to engage in self-study during student teaching?
2. Is the student teacher’s self-study project to be considered “research” by the school district?
3. Why do student teachers have to engage in a self study project?
4. Is the self-study in addition to student teaching and seminar requirements?
5. What is the interplay of the Self-study and Senior Portfolio projects?
6. How will student teachers identify an area of focus for their self-studies?
7. What is the cooperating teacher’s role in the student teacher’s self-study project?
8. What is the timeline for the self-study?
9. What kind of documents will student teachers collect?
10. What assurances will parents, students, and I have regarding the confidentiality of any student work? 
11. What about photographs and other recordings?
12. I am still fuzzy on what exactly a self-study is – where can I view a sample?
13. I have some questions about student teachers’ self study and/or portfolio projects– who can help me with the answers?

1. What does it mean to engage in self-study during student teaching? (top)

Engaging in self-study of one’s teaching involves “systematic, intentional inquiry” on an identified focus of professional development (Lytle and Cochran-Smith, 1990).  These terms are defined as:

Systematic:  Ordered ways of gathering and recording information, documenting experiences, and making a written record.  Includes “ordered ways of recollecting, rethinking, and analyzing classroom events for which there may be only partial or unwritten records.”

Intentional:  Planned rather than spontaneous.

Inquiry:  The generation of questions to make sense of, and improvements to, the teaching and learning experience.

2. Is the student teacher’s self-study project to be considered “research” by the school district?  (top)

No, not with respect to the historical meaning of the term as used by most social scientists and researchers.  Student teachers’ self-studies are being conducted in an established accepted educational setting, involving normal educational practices, such as education instructional strategies, the effectiveness of or the comparison among instructional techniques, curricula, or classroom management approaches.  All studies involve the collection or study of existing documents and records typically available to classroom teachers.  Student teachers will not be doing anything out of the ordinary with respect to what student teachers always do in their classrooms.  Engaging in self-study simply means that student teachers will identify a specific area of professional development on which to focus and engage in systematic documentation of their learning process over the course of the year.

3. Why do student teachers have to engage in a self study project?  (top)

There is a growing emphasis in the teacher education and professional development literature on what is often called teacher inquiry or self-study.  We prefer the term “self-study” to indicate that student teachers’ project do not involve any out of the ordinary classroom activities or document collection typical of teachers in classrooms, and that the focus of the inquiry is on the student teacher and his or her own professional development.

The primary purpose for conducting a self-study focused on one area of professional development is to improve one’s own teaching practice, and simultaneously student learning.  A focused inquiry has the power to energize and inspire novice teachers to grow in new ways, and the process is then one of personal and professional transformation.  Engaging in self-study is one way that IWU student teachers demonstrate that they are teacher-scholars, in consonance with our teacher education mission statement.

4. Is the self-study in addition to student teaching and seminar requirements?  (top)

No.  The self-study projects should be integrated into student teachers’ regular student teaching responsibilities, and provide a focus for their required assignments, including any written reflections and preparation for evaluation conferences.

5. What is the interplay of the Self-study and Senior Portfolio projects?  (top)

Student teachers need to collect documents for both their senior portfolio and self-study projects.  That is why the consent form asks for permission to collect student work and other documents for both these projects.  Some documents may serve both purposes.  For example, student teachers are required to include lesson and unit plans and evidence of student work in their portfolios.  There may be some overlap in documents for portfolios and self-studies.  In addition, as student teachers assess their teaching competencies with respect to state standards for teachers, they may come to identify an area of focus for their self-studies.

6. How will student teachers identify an area of focus for their self-studies?  (top)

Students have been provided with a document, Defining and Refining Your Self Study Questions, which is also posted to the cooperating teacher link on the IWU Ed Studies website (http://www.iwu.edu/edstudies/teachers/).   Often student teachers don’t know the actual focus of their self-studies until immersed in the process.  They will engage in a process of continual refinement of their questions, and modify their approaches to document collection as needed.

7. What is the cooperating teacher’s role in the student teacher’s self-study project?  (top)

We view the cooperating teacher as a valuable mentor as student teachers engage in self-study.

In addition, the cooperating teacher always has the final say and responsibility for what take place in his or her classroom.  Student teachers need cooperating teacher approval for lesson plans, student assignments, and all other classroom activities, including those connected to the self-study.  Cooperating teacher approval is also required for all consent letters and forms used with parents and students. 

In April of 2010, cooperating teachers will be invited to the annual Educational Studies inquiry conference to learn how student teachers synthesized the understandings emerging from their self-studies.

8. What is the timeline for the self-study?  (top)

There are several phases to the self-study:

1. Early on in the semester, student teachers should have some awareness of their strengths and challenges with respect to being an effective and responsive educator.  This is the time to frame their understandings in the form of questions for further growth. 
2. Student teachers have been asked to have a preliminary question or topic identified by September 11.  They are to seek consent from their cooperating teachers to pursue their topics.
3. Student teachers’ self study topics and needed document collection should be agreed upon by the cooperating teacher and student teacher by September 21.  Uppermost is that ordinary routines of teaching not be disrupted.
4. By September 21, student teachers’ self-study focus should be well defined, and they should have a clear plan for any document collection that is required-- with the understanding that the project will evolve.
5. By September 25, requests for parent consents, with the cooperating teachers’ approval, should be mailed or sent home with students, using the templates and following the protocols established by the Educational Studies department and posted to the cooperating teacher website.  Cooperating teachers may ask student teachers to modify the letters and consent forms.  Cooperating teacher approval is required for all correspondence to parents and guardians.
6. Once parental or guardian consent has been granted, student teachers may collect documents over the course of the semester, omitting those for whom consent has not been granted.  Documents are to be stored in a secure place.
7. During the midterm evaluation conference, student teachers consult with their cooperating teachers and supervisor to identify any ways in which the self-study might be modified to achieve his or her professional development goals.
8. During full-time teaching, student teachers continue to collect relevant documents.  This is the time when they might experiment with particular pedagogies, student assessments, or subject matter connected to their self-study focus.
9. During the final evaluation conference, student teachers will share preliminary understandings yielded by their self-studies.

9. What kind of documents will student teachers collect?  (top)

The kind of documents collected by student teachers will depend upon their questions.  The primary method of documenting self-studies will be the student teachers’ own field notes or journal reflections.  Documents also may include student work that is connected to the self-study focus.  Student work includes written assignments, worksheets, quizzes, and other assessments of their knowledge, skills and learning, as ordinarily required by their teachers.   In some instances, when consent has been granted, student teachers may choose to tape-record class discussions and student conversations, take photographs, and videotape classroom lessons.  Student teachers are not to implement any student questionnaires, surveys, or interviews which do not fall within the ordinary classroom routines of learning and teaching.  Below is a summary of the kind of documentation students may collect, with cooperating teacher and parental approval.

• observational field notes of daily classroom activities, or in the instance of a
• case study, observational field notes focused on an individual student and his or her journey of learning
• journal reflections on daily teaching experiences
• narrative observations/evaluations completed by the IWU supervisor and notes from evaluation conferences with cooperating teacher and IWU supervisor
• the student teacher’s lesson plans and reflections on the implementation of lessons
• everyday classroom records, including children’s academic work for which consent has been granted 
• photographs of children at work in the classroom or during lessons I teach for whom consent has been granted 
• audio recordings of classroom lessons, conversations, and discussions for those children for whom consent has been granted
• video recordings of my own teaching in the classroom, which may include those children for whom consent has been granted

10. What assurances will parents, students, and I have regarding the confidentiality of any student work?  (top)

The following protocols have been established that all student teachers must adhere to:

• IWU student teachers will use their students’ work only with student and parental permission.  No coercion or undue influence will be used in seeking consents.  While students may be required to participate in the lessons planned by student teachers (as part of the ordinary course of student teaching), they are not required to consent to use of their work for the student teacher’s projects.
• Students’ names and any other identifiable information will be deleted from any documents used by student teachers in their self-studies.  Pseudonyms will be used in any discussion of children’s work in any written reports so that no child will be identifiable.  Neither will specific classrooms, teachers, or schools be identified in any written reports.
• Storage and security:  All documents will be stored by the student teacher in a secure site not accessible by other IWU or public school students.
• Access:  Only the student teacher, cooperating teacher, and IWU supervising faculty member will have access to copies of student work, and the latter only after identifying information is removed.
• Destruction:  Documents and images will be stored by the student teacher in a secure site until the end of the academic year of this proposal.

11. What about photographs and other recordings?  (top)

When student teachers choose to audio- or videotape themselves while teaching in the classroom in order to engage in self-assessment, as well as take photographs of students engaged in classroom activities to document the performance of their student teaching responsibilities, the following protocols must be adhered to:

• Students for whom no consent for photographs has been given will not be photographed, without any negative consequence. 
• When videotaping, the camera will be focused on the student teacher.  Public school students for whom consent has not been granted to be included in such taping will have their faces deleted or blurred in any videotapes that contain their images.  Videotapes will never be publicly shown – they are solely for the student teachers’ own use, and any transcriptions of videotapes will not contain identifiable information about students or teachers.  
• Audio tapes are solely for the student teachers’ own use, and any transcriptions of audio tapes will not contain identifiable information about students or teachers.  
• Students will remain anonymous in any audio or videotapes.
• Storage and security:  All recordings (voice and image) will be stored by the student teacher in a secure site not accessible by other IWU or public school students.
• Access:  Only the student teacher, cooperating teacher, and IWU supervising faculty member will have access to documents and recorded images and voice, and the latter only after identifying information is removed.
• Transcription:  The student teacher is responsible for any transcription of voice recordings or coding of video or photographic images.  The transcription process will include the use of pseudonyms so that no child will be identifiable.  Children for whom consent has not been granted will not be included in any way, regardless of any use of pseudonyms.
• Destruction:  Documents and images will be stored by the student teacher until the end of the academic year of this proposal.

12. I am still fuzzy on what exactly a self-study is – where can I view a sample?  (top)

You can access some examples of students’ self-study proposals here.

13. I have some questions about student teachers’ self study and/or portfolio projects– who can help me with the answers?  (top)

Professors Leavitt and Nillas are more than happy to respond to any inquiries.