WSRA Pat Bricker Memorial Award
How Do I Turn Reflective Practice into Research?
Writing a WSRA Pat Bricker Research Proposal
Brenda A. Shearer
former Research Committee Chair
University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh
Oshkosh, Wisconsin
Over thirty years ago, I sat in an undergraduate student-teaching seminar at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, I was describing a new method I was trying with my second grade class when my professor challenged me. "You mean you were experimenting with your students?" he asked gruffly. I felt the blood rush to my cheeks as I stammered, "Well, yes...no, not exactly..." He raised his index finger in the air, smiled, and whispered dramatically, "Ah-h-h, but isn't all of teaching an experiment?" I have given his question a great deal of thought over the last thirty years as a classroom teacher, a professor, and a researcher. While most of us refrain from trying every new method that comes along, we would probably agree that a certain amount of strategic experimentation with methods and materials is at the heart of reflective practice. When we engage in such reflection in systematic ways, we recast ourselves as researchers and our classrooms become our living laboratories.
One way to begin to frame aspects of your reflective practice in terms of research is to focus on what is happening in your classroom or in your school. Is there a teaching strategy related to reading/writing that you would like to try with your class? Are there same teaching materials that you would like to test? What might happen to your language arts program if you changed approaches or materials? What are some effective ways in which you can engage parents in your writing program? These are the kinds of questions that are ideal for developing a classroom action study and applying for a Pat Bricker Memorial Award.
What is the Pat Bricker Award?
Pat Bricker Awards are funds given annually by WSRA for either traditional or classroom action research related to literacy. Applicants may submit proposals requesting anywhere from $25 to $500 depending on the nature of the study and the funding needed.
Who is eligible to apply for a Pat Bricker Award?
Any member of the Wisconsin State Reading Association is eligible to apply for a Pat Bricker Memorial Award. If more than one person is involved in conducting the study, at least one of the applicants must be a WSRA member . This could provide an excellent opportunity for a reading specialist to develop a classroom action study with content teachers or other individuals in a school on a topic related to reading.
What are the deadlines?
Proposals must be received by November 1 each year. Research must be completed by the end of the school year after the award is received. For example, if a proposal is submitted by November 1, 2008, and an award is given at the WSRA Conference in February 2009, the research must be completed anytime before the end of the 2009-10 school year.
What is the format of the proposal?
All proposals must follow the appropriate format. (Click for a PDF sample proposal.) The body of the proposal must be 500-1000 words (single-spaced). Attach your list of three to five references and budget. Total proposal, references, and budget must total no more than four pages. Proposals exceeding four pages will not be considered. A rubric is provided. Follow it carefully since it reflects the criteria on which your proposal will be evaluated.
What are the parts of the proposal?
Proposals for the Pat Bricker Award include the following six components:
- An introduction/research question
- A review of related research
- A description of methods and a discussion of evaluation procedures
- A list of references
- An itemized budget.
- An explanation of the development of each of these components is provided below.
How do I develop the Introduction/Research Question?
The introduction contains the research problem in the form of a brief question or questions that can be systematically evaluated or measured. Let us say that Mr. Bookly wants to find out whether his students will be more enthusiastic about reading if, after reading a book to his students, he holds up other books from the library and says, "If you liked Black Beauty, you might want to read Misty or The Black Stallion." Here are some variations on the way he might frame his research question:
- Will suggesting related reading from our classroom library increase my students' enthusiasm for reading? (This question is quite ambiguous. While not impossible to investigate, it is difficult to evaluate enthusiasm for reading in a systematic or objective manner.)
- Will suggesting related readings from books in our room after a story is read result in increased reading from our classroom library? (This question is more easily measured.)
- Will suggesting related reading from books in our room after a story is read result in increased recreational reading from our classroom library by struggling readers? (This is the most measurable of the three.)
Which question is best? That may depend on the match between the question and the research method chosen. More holistic questions, such as the first of the three might be addressed as classroom action research in which the teacher faithfully journals, either daily or at fixed and frequent intervals. Still, objectivity is difficult. The third question might lend itself to a traditional research design with measurable variables. However, it may lack the holistic flavor inherent in Mr. Bookly's original idea of examining his students' enthusiasm for reading. Thus, the individual teacher-researcher will have to decide how narrowly or broadly to frame the question.
Another example of a reflective teaching question is one related to discussions of literature. For instance, Ms. Smiley, who is attempting to engage struggling readers in book discussions, may decide she would like to try three or four different kinds of discussion strategies with these students and journal about her daily impressions. She might ask, "Which methods of discussion of literature will result in an increased engagement of my three reluctant readers?
Still another teacher may want to find out if using Writers' Workshop improves students' writing. She may ask a series of questions. Will Writers' Workshop result in: a) increased number of words written, b) fewer spelling errors, and c) higher quality writing (based on a rubric). Notice that all three of these variables are measurable and can be sampled at fixed intervals during the course of the research.
As you write the introduction and the research question, it is important to clearly define your terms. Do not assume everyone knows what "Reading Recovery" or "CRISS" is. What do you mean by "phonics instruction," "parent involvement," "enthusiasm," or "positive attitude"? How do you define a "struggling reader?" Carefully examine each term in your question, looking for ideas that lend themselves to multiple interpretations or that describe a specific program with which others may not be familiar.
What is included in the Rationale/Research Base?
Explain why this study is needed. Why is it important? What do you hope to accomplish? Be sure to cite current, relevant research that supports what you are doing.
The following example accomplishes these tasks in a single paragraph:
EX: Numerous studies (Bashful, 1996; Dopey, 1999; and Grumpy, 1997) suggest that daily partner reading of independent level books increases both fluency and comprehension. When Doc (1998) engaged second graders in 15 minutes per day of partner reading, he found that they not only read better, but also that they read more books both in and out of school. I have been looking for ways to increase the amount of in-school recreational reading my students do. I would like to see if 15 minutes of daily partner reading would have this effect on my third graders and would improve their comprehension.
What are the components of the Methods section of my proposal?
Methodology encompasses systematic and ethical methods of subject seiection, data collection, data analysis, and evaluation. The match between the question and the methodology is crucial to arriving at valid conclusions. It is important to ask yourself the following question: What is the best way to gather data related to my question?
One of the most frequently overlooked aspects in proposals is an adequate description of the subjects. This can usually be accomplished in one or two sentences. In addition to reporting how many subjects, in this case students, are participating, include other information that is relevant, such as their ages, grades, or performance levels. Of course, your question will determine the information to include, such as identifying that the students are Second Language Learners or Title 1 second graders. For example, "This study includes 22 Title 1 second graders whose proficiency scores on an informal reading inventory place them at least six months to one year below grade level." Any time you are collecting data on students you must obtain written consent forms from parents. There is a place on the application form to indicate you have complied with the consent requirement. Although description of the subjects is standard for all kinds of research proposals, other aspects of methodology will vary greatly depending on whether yours is a traditional research investigation or a classroom action research study.
What are the methods associated with traditional research designs?
In traditional research, the investigator identifies the variables to be studied. In the example of the teacher who asked, "Will Writers' Workshop result in: a) increased number of words written, b) fewer spelling errors, and c) higher quality writing (based on a rubric)", the variables are the three things that will be measured: number of words, spelling errors, and quality of writing. The researcher will have to decide how each of these three variables will be systematically observed and how each will be measured, usually in some pre-and-post manner.
Because the teacher is asking whether Writers Workshop will improve scores, the teacher must use some basis of comparison. In classroom research, this comparison could be the scores of students from previous years, or writing samples of past students. The more quantitative/traditional way to accomplish this is to randomly assign students to an experimental group (those who receive the treatment) and a control group (those who do not). It should be obvious by now that creating experimental and control groups within your classroom is probably neither practical nor desirable. After all, you want to try Writers' Workshop because you believe it will help students improve their writing, so it is problematic to decide not to offer Writers' Workshop to half of your students. You will want to decide how you will determine that these students are writing better than they would have had you used the old method.
What are the methods used in classroom action research?
Teachers engaging in action research must ask themselves if their methods of observation are sufficiently holistic, systematic, and frequent to adequately measure the phenomena observed? For example, if you are looking at what a sixth grader does during reading, a "Think-Aloud" might be a good way to capture the complexity of the phenomena. In this case, a standardized test score would probably tell you very little. If you are looking at how you are teaching reading and how students are reacting, videotaping might be appropriate. Then you will need to decide how often to tape. (Once a week? Once a month?)
How will you analyze and report the data?
Before you collect any data, you must explain in your proposal how you will analyze and report that data. This is true regaldless of whether you are conducting traditional or action research. If you are collecting student journal writing, you might want to develop a rubric to sort and classify responses. If you are looking for increased behavior, such as a greater number of books read, you may choose to tally the number of times a certain event occurs. In another study, the teacher might compare test scores over time. Again, the nature of the data will influence the method of reporting. You might choose to report anecdotally, using excerpts from taped conversations, teacher or student journal entries, or descriptions of classroom events. Some teachers use a case study format in which they report in detail the growth or changes over time of one or a few students. However, you might report quantitative scores of the whole class and include a case study to more fully capture the nature of classroom phenomena.
What should I include in the references?
The reference section of the Pat Bricker Award proposal should contain only those references that were cited earlier in the Rationale/Research Base section. Since this is a proposal, you will be listing a few key pieces, not all of the references you will be using as you conduct your research. For those pieces cited, you will provide the following information in the format given.
For a book:
Dopey, I. M. (1998). Partner reading in a rural, all mall group home. Deepwoods, WI: Fairytale Press.
For a journal:
Grumpy, U.T. R., & Sleepy, Z.Z. (1997). Motivating reluctant readers in a rural, all-male group home, using partner reading. The Fictitious Journal of Reading, 7 , 222-233.
These citations are written in American Psychological Association (APA) format. They follow the examples of citations at the end of articies in publications such as this WSRA Journal or The Reading Teacher . You can find the most recent APA Manual in many libraries.
How do I prepare the budget for my proposal?
The budget for your research proposal should include as detailed a list of materials and expenses as possible. These items may include books, teaching materials, reference materials, tapes, copying costs, postage, clerical or in-service expenses, and any other expense associated with the investigation (up to $500). If you are ordering a commercial set of books or software, be as specific as possible about the titles and publishers. If you are going to order 100 Scholastic paperback books for second graders to use during independent reading and you will have some copying costs, your budget might look like the one below. Obviously you will not list all of the titles.
Approximately 100 Scholastic
paperback books such as:
(list about five to ten titles to give the committee -
an idea of what you will buy) |
$350.00 |
Copying costs of record sheets
and parent weekly reports |
$25.00 |
| 22 student response journals |
$37.00 |
|
|
| Total Budget |
$412.00 |
How Do Pat Bricker Award winners share their findings with WSRA members?
Recipients of Pat Bricker Memorial Awards must be willing to share their findings in one of the following ways:
We want our membership to have the benefit of your results!
How can I find out more about the Pat Bricker Award?
Click here for the Pat Bricker Award form in HTML . Click here if you prefer to download a PDF file of the form to print and complete. You can also obtain a copy from the Fall-Winter 1999-2000 issue of the WSRA Journal . Council presidents and university faculty have received copies of the application forms and informational material. Specific questions can be answered by any member of the WSRA Research Committee , or by contacting:
Tania Mertzman
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
P.O. Box 413, Enderis 310
Milwaukee, WI 53201
mertzman@uwm.edu
414-229-4931
|
