What A Difference A Day Makes

Whilst I was negotiating with school about the possibility of undertaking doctoral study, we agreed that I would be able to take the equivalent of five 'study days' through the year at mutually convenient times. The summer term seems to have been the first opportunity for a 'mutually convenient' time now that exam classes have departed and the general mele has died down.

I had the first of those study days today. And what a difference a day makes. I worked a solid eight hours, and realised (after a slow start) just how much can be achieved in that time. It was a slow start because I chose to do the hardest thing first. This was wading through an article I have been putting off  as it seemed long and difficult. It was long and difficult, but worthwhile. 

I began using the 'RefMe' app; it seemed convenient, but not infallible. Any thoughts greatly appreciated. I feel much more organised and on top of the reading, note making, and indeed the writing, having added several hundred words to my methodology section.

My physical study (the room) is clear and my actual study (the research) seems clearer.

And in the nick of time, as I am finalising deadlines for formal presentation, proposal submission and mini viva, which look as though they will be mid July, late August and early September, respectively - with three conference presentations in June. 

The heat is on.

Note to self: don't take on a large role in a play for the remaining duration of your study... 

Informal Presentation to Peers

I have reached another important milestone on this first year of my doctoral journey: the 'informal' presentation of my proposal to peers.

This was, frankly, terrifying.

I am now a confident public speaker, and regularly get invited to present at education conferences.  The thing is, when I do that, I am usually the person in the room who knows most about my 'thing', whatever it happens to be. Often, it is related to the specific way we have handled a particular idea or initiative within the department and I am merely disseminating something that is perceived as good practice.  I am the expert; I have done the 'thing', and I am one of the people most qualified to talk about it.  I am, therefore, usually confident that I can respond to any question that might be generated.

For this presentation though, whilst I still know an awful lot about my substantive topic (the teaching of reading in secondary English education) on points of methodology I am just about the least knowledgeable person in the room. And given that I am intending to undertake a form of participatory action research, not PAR in its truest sense, there was plenty that was shaky, or at least unsubstantiated, about the methodology.

Also, because of the part-time nature of my studies, I have only met the other members of my cohort ever so briefly; only had a real, actual, conversation with one of them.  So they weren't really a known audience.

But I did it, and have now had something of an opportunity to reflect on it.

I know that I need to make the 'narrative' aspect of the presentation, the rationale, more joined up. I realise that some of what I was saying was irrelevant, and leading me (and my audience) down unnecessary paths. I need to define some of my terms. 'Authentic' is one. My methodology needs to be significantly more robust - but I think I am beginning to see where and how. There are some gaps that are easy to fill - aspects of early ethical considerations in relation to teacher-time need to be more clearly explained, for example.

How did I feel at the end of it? Relieved, elated and grateful.

Relieved that I'd made it through.
Elated by the supportive, thoughtful responses offered by my academic peers.
Grateful for their suggestions and feedback.

I also, finally, understood that I need not be defensive (at this stage!) - it really was an opportunity to 'test the water'. The water is quite cool, but now I have dipped a toe in I think I can get a little bit braver.

Vaulting Hurdles and Admiring Ivory Towers

Blame the English teacher in me who can't resist a metaphor. Last month it was milestones, this time it is hurdles. I'm safely over one (submitting that draft literature review) and now in the run up to the second.

One of the perils of full time work combined with part-time study is the disconnectedness from all campus activity. I have a 'cohort' of some faces that I recognise, but might struggle to put a name to, or could only do so by a process of elimination.  The rest of the cohort know and support each other and are familiar with aspects of each other's research.  They are also at the stage now of presenting their proposals before seeking ethical approval. I have a date provisionally booked in for an informal presentation of mine in early May (that next hurdle) along with the other part-time student.  Notice the singular.

But yesterday was a rare opportunity to spend the day at the university, watching the presentations and meeting up with people that I haven't seen since the first day of the academic year back in September. The style of those presentations was as varied as the projects and the presenters themselves. Ideas spanned disciplines, paradigms and continents. All were nervous before they began, and some were treated more sensitively than others in the question and answer sessions which followed. Gulp. So I know now what I am aiming it.

But the biggest privilege of yesterday's experience was the reminder of the pace of life within the walls of the university.

There was time for a two hour lunch break. I read, reflected on the morning's presentations, made some notes, visited the library (oh, what a place to be). It was all so civilised and so far removed from inside the walls of my school where this week has been the monthly department meeting, the Year 11 'Walking Talking Mock' and all the resulting marking; BBC School Report with 270 Year 8 students and all the stress of the deadline; Year 12 and Year 13 tracking - and then a full teaching load around all of that.

It really is two worlds colliding and I have to keep reminding myself of their ultimate interconnectedness and the fact that they do and will impinge on each other in dramatic ways.  Difficult to remember when I finally remembered to wolf down lunch as the bell went this afternoon. But the feedback on my literature review put a little fillip into Monday's step - so thorough and developmental as it was - and I have to remember to offer my own students the same.  A timely reminder, indeed.

Limbering up now for that next leap.

Reached First Milestone

I had to write something.

And submit it.

It felt hopelessly inadequate.

I have read, read, read since last July, so it represented six months of my life.  I have had so many thoughts, ideas, responses; eureka moments and moments where I feel like I am groping around in the dark, about to reach something.

And I was supposed to condense that in to less than 3000 words of a literature review for my proposal.  Before research questions have been fully formed, even. It was clumsy, inarticulate prose bolted together with a few quotations.

It has made me value the power of 'free writing' even more; in comparison to what felt like stilted, pseudo-academic nonsense - that I always seem to spout when I use a computer and have the cloud of a deadline hanging over me. And it makes a good argument for the handwritten reflective journal - which can always be turned into academic writing once the thought has been expressed and the point made.

But, reader, I submitted it.

And breathe.

And wait.

The way ahead is long, and will no doubt get a little hillier - mountainous, even; certainly much rougher terrain.  But there it is. Mile 1.  (Or 3000 words of the 80,000? The first mile of the marathon.)

Christmas Reading and New Year's Study Resolutions

A question that I continually wrestle with is this: As a part-time PhD student, how much study am I meant to do?  How much study can I do? What are the most effective ways of studying? Working full-time within the education system means that the holidays become, naturally, my most 'productive' times in relation to my studies. But I am conscious of the need to make this work consistently throughout the year - certainly as best as I can.

So, in writing, here are my New Year's resolutions in relation to carving out time for my research:

• Sunday night is bath night.  It must also become 'reading' night. I can get a good two hours in before the water turns cold!
• Monday mornings need, therefore, to be an opportunity for reflection. The alarm must go off at 5am to make sure that I get at least an hour and a half in of quality work in before having to get ready for school.
• Monday evenings will continue to be my main study time. 7-10pm gives me three hours, and should include attending to my university emails. That block-booking of six and a half hours over an actual time span of about twenty eight hours is crucial to maintain some sort of consistency.
• The use of my research journal must become more rigorous. I need to build in time for regular re-reading of my research journal. The first hour of the Monday night session would work well.
• The second hour for new writing - either in research journal or with ongoing writing up; currently on the literature review for my research proposal. 

My Christmas reading has been very much about research and away from the substantive topic of reading. The Routledge Doctoral Student's Companion remains my main text.  I've read to Chapter 23 now. It continues to both reassure and unsettle in equal measure.

I'm preoccupied with the continued need to define 'values', that it is no longer enough to simply identify and then establish oneself within a constructivist or interpretive paradigm. But then there is the inevitable acknowledgement of the ethical problems inherent in researching in 'one's own backyard', alongside some warnings about reflexivity as a methodological tool. Sigh.

I also feel that I have been granted 'permission' to write in the first person, and in the active voice. This is something that I definitely struggled with on my Masters course, but I think that first person active might allow my writing to be 'truer' to the particular academic genre in which I find myself.

I am conscious of the emphasis that there needs to be on argument, even in the literature review. This is very hard to construct when I don't yet know exactly what it is that I wish to 'argue', but it is something that I intend to take to heart.

So onwards and upwards. I feel that it has been a good first term, but the much harder work is about to begin as I move towards actual deadlines in relation to the research proposal.

One Giant Leap Forward and Several Hasty Retreats

Supervisor, cheer me, for I have read. It is one month since my last meeting.

Brown, J. .S, Collins, A & Duguid, P. 1989. Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning. Educational Researcher. [Online]. 18(1), 32-42. [30 November 2015]. Available from: http://edr.sagepub.com/content/18/1/32
Kalenze, E (2014). Education is Upside-Down Reframing reform to focus on the right problems. (1st ed.). Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield.
Merga, M.K. (2015). Access to Books in the Home and Adolescent Engagement in Recreational Book Reading: Considerations for secondary school educators. English in Education. 49(3), pp. 197-214.
Nationalcollegeorguk. 2015. Nationalcollegeorguk. [Online]. [24 November 2015]. Available from: https://network.nationalcollege.org.uk/collegediscussions/28075
Revisiting Margaret Meek

I was also lucky enough to attend Tom Bennett's Research Ed English conference at Swindon on the 7th November. I heard David Didau, Debra Kidd, Professor Ray Land of Durham University who gave the keynote address on threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge. I took something from each. From Andy Tharby I am utilising an ideal: imagine if every English teacher read one paper every half term over a period of ten years...Eric Kalenze's discussion of context and his urge to 'put those comprehension strategies down' was compelling.  Each sent me scuttling in a different reading direction.

But of this month's new reading, Brown's Situated Cognition was the most interesting (and the most difficult to process!) I need to investigate much further, but this could be the start of a theoretical framework in which to root my research. I am definitely shaping around the building of a reading community, and the things that are within my power in the classroom and across the department. Influenced by Brown, I am questioning what it means to be a reader in the real world, and what that might look like translated into a classroom – so still maintaining those initial threads of ideas about teacher knowledge; systems, environment and opportunities; and knowledge of the students themselves as readers all contributing to some kind of departmental pedagogy about the teaching of reading.

From the eminently companionable Doctoral Student's Companion I have enjoyed a useful chapter on the Literature Review with really concrete examples of good and bad writing - so I have begun, and will have something by the January deadline. A timely and useful prod since I feel like I actually have to do something other than read and think in a bubble but it is, still, difficult to do without formulated research questions. I have too many of them and they are simply too big at the moment. Which is where Pryor's essay on constructing research questions has been invaluable. I have undertaken the suggested map of significance exercise to try and focus thinking.

It transpires that, currently, the profile and status of reading for pleasure institutionally, notions of ‘authentic’ reading and ‘authentic’ situations and opportunity for reading both in terms of access and curriculum are central. I suspect that, in spite of everything that might be going on to promote reading at the surface, teachers are still subconsciously but intrinsically and implicitly condemning it as an activity.  I think about the 'Currently I'm Reading...poster campaign at school and its now tired unsustainability; the half-hearted support amongst non-English staff for things like DEAR; the fact that reading in lessons is side-lined the minute exams or any kind of internal assessment are on the scene; even the language that we use to describe the most able readers, not to mention the lack of curriculum time currently allowed to pursuing reading for pleasure. All these initiatives which might be having the opposite effect of that which is intended. Perhaps school culture creates an unintentional devaluing of books and reading.

So, I have a more clearly defined focus than I have had since the heady days of my research proposal application for study, when I thought I knew what I was doing...!

The problem is that this is most definitely a case of one step forward and two steps backwards.

Until this point I have always thought about things that I would like to do…and then worked backwards to reading and theories.  I now find that whilst I think I have now narrowed down the area of focus, I have no idea now about what to actually do!

Supervision tomorrow.  Perhaps I will be absolved.

Quintilian Victories

'The role of the teacher is to arrange victories for the students.' This quotation is attributed to Quintilian, but, my Latin being a little bit rusty, and a few internet searches being largely inconclusive, I need to investigate this further. (I find that another side effect of the PhD is not being able to take anything at face value. Helpful in terms of research, unhelpful in terms of life.)

But this notion of little victories has got me thinking. I am not interested in investigating things over which I have no control. The idea that students who are read to as five-year-olds do better than their peers in tests aged 16 is interesting, but doesn't help me greatly as an English teacher in a secondary school - unless, perhaps, I have a way of identifying who those children are. And even then it doesn't help me terribly much in terms of what to do with them.

What I am interested in doing is exploring the ways of stemming the decline in recreational reading amongst students in KS3 and KS4 in my own setting, where I do have some jurisdiction - certainly at curriculum level.

I have some hypotheses about the reasons for this decline. They are all to do, perhaps unsurprisingly, with things which are 'lacking' in some way:

1. The lack of access to self-selected recreational reading books in a more sustained way than through the school library. This is largely due to reading Margaret Merga, and, in particular, Merga, M.K. (2015). Access to Books in the Home and Adolescent Engagement in Recreational Book Reading: Considerations for secondary school educators. English in Education. 49(3), pp. 197-214.I think I have been particularly influenced by this given my current experience as the mother of three primary school age children with constant supply of school books and the parental reading log, and the inevitable deficit comparisons I can make with the experience of my own students at secondary level. Merga also points to the dearth of research in this area at secondary level, so there may well be a gap here waiting to be filled. 
2. The lack of teacher knowledge about contemporary YA fiction. Cremin has been particularly influential here, though the research is located in the primary sector there are plenty of resonances with my own experience in a large secondary English department with a team of practitioners (myself included) who are predominantly literature experts; adept at analysing and teaching the ‘set text’. The switch from Othello to Hamlet for A level has meant a summer of critical reading for many of us. We are also avid wider readers, the majority of the English department are members of one or more book groups. Philipa Hunt is another exponent of the community, shared aspect of reading ‘But even as a keen adult reader, I depend on friends’ recommendations for many of the books I read’ (Hunt, p86) But, this does not mean that they are really aware of YA fiction.  How does this link with teacher theoretical knowledge about the teaching of reading itself? And the notion of teacher identity? This is also related to the policy context – the ‘gap’ arising from limitations in National Literacy Strategy.
3. The lack of value placed on recreational reading in the curriculum itself, combined with the 'lip-service' paid in extra-curricular terms to interventions designed to encourage reading for pleasure - the author visits, competitions, reading passports, DEAR, and other events that go on throughout the school year. There is no authenticity in terms of building a reading community from the inside. (There is some Cremin influence here, too.) What can be done in curriculum terms to redress this?
4. The lack of good contemporary reading opportunities resulting from the narrowing of the curriculum, at KS4 in particular, which has removed some of the 'big-hitters' in terms of student engagement and motivation and replaced them with more challenging and less immediately accessible pre 1900 texts. This is linked with Cliff Hodges' idea, from Researching and Teaching Reading by Gabrielle Cliff Hodges Routledge, Abingdon 2016 that 'It is ironic that one possible reason for these students forgetting how to read novels is literature teaching itself, especially if novels are viewed as set texts instead of narratives written to be read for pleasure.’ (Cliff Hodges, 2016, p93)
5. The lack of respect for keen readers within the existing community. Again, inspired by Cliff Hodges and her reading of Paul Gee, noting that in one setting, ‘The fact that the adults use the same derogatory terminology as the students, even though they are group leaders of this scheme who might be expected to eschew such a simplistic perception, serves to reinforce Gee’s point about the power of figured worlds such as these and the importance of discourse analysis in helping us to make them visible and understand them’ (Cliff Hodges, 2016, p123)

So these are the places where I want to be able to arrange some little victories. The next question is 'how'?

My supervisors have also been setting up some victories for me: in the timeline created at my last supervision meeting we have plotted out a route which includes the literature review for the proposal being complete by January. Gulp.