What+Works+Response

by Elizabeth Chiseri-Strater and Bonnie S. Sunstein
As a second-year teacher, the undertaking of a research project seemed like a daunting task, and in fact it was. Without “What Works?” to guide me, however, it would have been next to impossible. This text would benefit any teacher conducting research in her own classroom. It guides the teacher through the inquiry process, the creation of a proposal and implementation of the research project, and all the way through to the final project wrap-up and presentation possibilities.

This text anticipated many of the questions I had as a first-time researcher, and answered those questions with real-life stories from other teachers who had gone through the process and hit the same bumps and stumbles that I did. Reading about other experiences also gave me more ideas about what made a valid research project, since this was my first introduction to the concept that research isn’t only the scientifically based kind with control groups and multiple experiments.

As a researcher reads the book, he is introduced to the concept of educational research, given plenty of real-life stories to accompany each idea, and led through several sets of questions intended to help one narrow down a topic, find appropriate data collection and organizational methods, get the appropriate permissions from administrators, parents, and students, and conduct the research successfully and professionally.

Each chapter was complete with activities general enough for any teacher researcher to find helpful, and easy enough to do in short segments. If one were to follow through the book closely, it would be easy enough to take on only those activities or even portions of some activities that applied to one’s specific study. Many categories of studies were outlined, questioned, troubleshot, and accompanied by anecdotes that related. If this text were used for a class, it would be worthwhile for a professor to assign some of the activities to help students work their way easily and steadily through their research projects. Students would be able to quickly complete the activities and discover their passions and motivations along the way, culminating in a final project that would not only be professional, but something they would be passionate about as well.

My only problem with this text is that I did not have access to it early enough. I wish I had read “What Works?” and undertaken its mini lessons thoroughly before I had written my research proposal. That, combined with my inexperience as a teacher and the last-minute change in my chosen class for research, I think contributed to my constant feeling of being rushed and confused throughout my time as a researcher. I never took the time to truly process what this text had to offer me, and as a result the experience was never much fun and felt instead like a junior-level college project that had very little or nothing to do with my real job. My passion was missing because I didn’t take advantage of what this text had to offer.

Because of my confusion and because I kept changing my mind even after the research phase had begun, I never felt focused on this project. I do think the final portion of it when we did the multimedia digital stories was the best choice, but I’m not confident that I did a good enough job in planning my research, keeping records, utilizing my resources, and letting “What Works?” help me the way it was designed to do.