Haynam's reading respond Personal practical knowledge" and Gowin's Vee




In her research essay Personal practical knowledge, Sun conducted a case study with a Chinese immigrant teacher in New Zealand and concluded that teachers' personal practical knowledge is influenced by "personal background and characteristics of the teacher" and "expressed in the teachers' practice".



Gowin's Vee

FOCUS/RESEARCH:

Questions

What is an immigrant Chinese language teacher’s personal practical knowledge?

How does the knowledge interwine with the teacher’s identity and cultural background?

EVENTS AND/OR OBJECTS:
Interview with an immigrant Chinese language teacher Wenying was conducted. Her
other teaching materials were studied.

CONCEPTUAL/THEORETICAL (THINKING)
WORLD VIEW:
Teacher knowledge and knowing affects every aspect of the teaching act
PHILOSOPHY:
The current research on teacher knowledge is mostly western-based

THEORY:
Teachers’ knowledge is interrelated to their identity


PRINCIPLES:
There are different aspects in teacher knowledge so different concepts should be applied
CONSTRUCTS:
personal practical knowledge


CONCEPTS:
narrative inquiry
teacher knowledge


Haynam's reading respond Personal practical knowledge" and Gowin's Vee

 METHODOLOGICAL
(DOING)

VALUE CLAIMS:
The study helps people realize the value of immigrant teachers and assists the teachers to make a smooth transition to their new cultural contexts
KNOWLEDGE CLAIMS:
1. Teachers’ cultural heritage has a strong influence on shaping their personal practical knowledge and their teaching practice
2. Teachers’ personal practical knowledge is entwined with identity.
3. Teachers’ personal practical knowledge is layered and goal-oriented

TRANSFORMATIONS:
Transcription of interviews, recording, graph of Wenying’s teaching practice

RECORDS:
Interviews, videos of classroom, Wenying’s lesson plans, worksheets, samples of student work

 In the article, Wenying exhibits her awareness as an imigrant and cultural heritages in pedagogical practices in her classroom that the author ascribes to her identity. In the interview, Wenying explained her practical knowledge that teaching is layered. The first layer is acceptance of students, second the building of qi-field and the thrid going smoothly. The first layer is closely related to her recognition of herself as an outsider in the western society and the second is a concept prevailing in Chinese culture. So Wenying's philosophy is largely affected by her identity--a Chinese immigrant.

It is interesting to note that among all the records of the study (interviews, videos of classroom, Wenying’s lesson plans, worksheets, samples of student work), interview plays the most part while the study in the others are neglectable. I am wondering whether it is because the other materials tells nothing different from the interview. It might be worthwhile to further dig into those materials.

Comments

  1. Susan GerofskyJanuary 23, 2018 at 2:01 PM

    Thanks Haynam! Ypu’ Off to a good start. We’ll get you connected with a reading circle group tonight in class.

    ReplyDelete
  2. NaureenFebruary 4, 2018 at 8:28 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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    Replies
    1. NaureenFebruary 4, 2018 at 8:30 AM

      This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. NaureenFebruary 4, 2018 at 8:32 AM

      Hi Haynam!

      Welcome to the class, and looking forward to meeting you. I have had a family emergency come up unfortunately, but will meet you in person soon. Thanks for your post, sounds like an interesting article.

      I thought of a couple of comments as I read your post, one more technical than the next:

      First (the more technical one), I really appreciated the last question you asked, about why one method of research (interviews) seemed to take over the article versus other methods of research. Perhaps you're right - that the interview draws similar conclusions to other research methods, and so the decision was made by the author to highlight the interview method mainly. Or perhaps the other methods highlighted other issues that may need to be considered in the analysis. Or perhaps the author was limited on pages Overall, I agree that if multiple research methods are used, then they need to be discussed at least to the extent that it is understood what kind of conclusions were drawn. I wonder, for our paper and for future research based analysis - depending on page limitations, is it appropriate to evaluate how many research methods to use? Is depth better than breadth? And how does one determine what research method to pick from the various options?

      As for my more qualitative thought- I find it interesting that the author explored how personal lived experience (identity) transcends into the teaching practice. This exploration identifies to me that teaching is a fluid practice, so a way one person teaches the same course as another could still be very different because of identity. This of course would have an impact on the learning experience too. If students had similar lived experiences as the teacher, would they learn better in that pedagogic relationship? I would think as a student it would be important to understand where a teacher's position is coming from, that is to understand what lived experiences are driving their decision making (on teaching approach, lesson plans, worksheets, etc) and this would require honest dialogue and listening. The article I read explained how enlightened listening helps to build a social consciousness and sense of community. Although the focus of my reading was art-making as the action project, if we extended this thinking to the classroom being the action project, then I can see how enlightened listening can help attain better understandings of identity (of teacher and student) leading to more socially aware and community focused pedagogy.

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