Assignment for 09dENi: Professional Development / Action Research
1. Plan
Find a good research question which:
· has personal/professional interest
· is of relevance to the subject
· has a real-life basis
Look in reports (e.g. Undervisningsvejledningen from Fælles Mål 2009), talk to teachers, observe classrooms, think back to things you wondered about, learn from courses abroad, check your interviews with teachers…..
2. Act
Perform one or more relevant action(s) in the classroom (do an 'experiment').
You might be able to perform an 'action' during your placement. You might also be able to perform the same – or nearly the same – action during you study-abroad period.
If you are unable to perform an 'action' yourself, all teaching is basically made of teacher actions. So you may be able to use something you observe or something you come across online.
If an action in this sense is impossible, you could simply examine relevant real-life aspects which will give you insight into your research area.
3. Observe
Ensure you do systematic observation of your action and its results/effects. This could be your video recordings, the documents you collect or more specific types of observation (cf. your task in week 41).
If you don't manage to do actions, then make sure that you have systematic data in other senses, e.g. have different classroom experiences on the same aspect or find more than one online example of what you are looking into.
4. Reflect & share
Find theory on you research area. Make sure you have a selection of theory to take abroad with you, i.e. that you have done a literature search before you leave.
Use theory, courses and practice abroad to extend your knowledge of your research area.
With all the different types of information write an 8-10 page article on your research area.
If you manage to include knowledge from your course abroad, this is sufficient for your spring work for English. If you don't manage to use elements from your studies abroad, please write a separate FAD on whatever elements you find of relevance to TEFL.
We will collaborate online with various drafts of your article (and FAD). The final article should be uploaded on your blog as should relevant information and reflection on your studies abroad in general.
