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Being and becoming: action research as pedagogy.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

Engaging in teacher action research provides practicing teachers with opportunities for growth as well as a means to contribute to understanding of best practice in the field. This article describes an educator's pedagogical growth through an action research project she conducted in a suburban high school English classroom in a Midwestern state.

Introduction

It all started with a question. I was teaching high school English at a suburban high school, taking a university graduate class on literary theory, and my British Literature students were curious. They knew I had assignments and papers to write; they wanted to know what it was I was studying. One day when I was recovering from the process of completing a paper for class the night before, a student asked "How can you take a whole class on literary theory? What does that mean?" I started in a brief explanation; various students asked more questions and I found myself diagramming different theoretical approaches on the chalkboard in response until the bell signaled the end of class. As they filed out the door, I stood rooted in front of my sketches, struck by the students' curiosity, their interest in the "secrets" of literary interpretation, and how quickly the class period had gone by. It wasn't long before I stepped into the role of teacher-researcher when I decided to capitalize on my students' curiosity. I searched for appropriate teaching materials or guides, but couldn't find any that suited the needs of my students. I began to develop my own methods for using literary theory to organize the way I taught literature.

The Project

My research goals were straightforward: I wanted to see if teaching with theory would serve as a successful reading and interpretative pedagogy, and I wanted to experiment with various methods of presenting theoretical ideas. I wanted to use literary theory to structure units, differentiate instruction and bring intellectually engaging approaches to the high school classroom literary experience. My investigation would center on gathering student responses and transcribing classroom discussion as I methodically introduced various literary theories. Not only did I want to discover how students would respond to theory and whether using theory did encourage metacognitive awareness of how they constructed meaning from text, but also how theory is best introduced as pedagogy in a high school English classroom. Could students successfully learn theoretical approaches in order to articulate a variety of responses to literature and uncover their reading strategies?

Action as Transformation

"First of all I have to act. First of all I have to transform. Secondly I can theorize my actions--but not before" (Freire, 1971, p. 2). Although I...

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