You should have received a grade sheet with your grade for the term, and a copy
of your final research project with a grade and feedback. Look them over and
let me know if you need something corrected. I will be posting your grade to
Keanwise on Saturday.
I have enjoyed our time together in class, and
reading your work. Thanks to each of you for participating in our class. Good
luck in your studies - and stop back to let me know how you are doing!
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
12.18 Grades
Grades: As soon as I finish grading the research papers, I will send you
an email with your final score for the course. I will also return the research
essay with a score & some comments.
Grades will be calculated according to the point system listed in the syllabus.
If you receive a higher grade on your final research essay than on your short analysis, you will receive a percentage score based on the research essay. If your research essay grade is lower than the short anlaysis score, you will receive all the scores as listed.
After you receive your grade, look over the points. If you are good with your score, we are all set. If you feel I made a mistake or that your work has not been evaluated accurately or fairly, you have 24 hours to send me an email stating what you feel should be re-considered - and I will re-examine by assessment and get back to you.
One day after sending your grades, I will post your final grade to Keanwise.
Grades will be calculated according to the point system listed in the syllabus.
1. Blog + comments (response to
readings; practice analysis, drafts, reflections, etc) 300
points
2. Class presentations + group
work + participation + quizzes
150 points
3. Best short analysis project 250 points
4. Research project
300 points 3. Best short analysis project 250 points
If you receive a higher grade on your final research essay than on your short analysis, you will receive a percentage score based on the research essay. If your research essay grade is lower than the short anlaysis score, you will receive all the scores as listed.
After you receive your grade, look over the points. If you are good with your score, we are all set. If you feel I made a mistake or that your work has not been evaluated accurately or fairly, you have 24 hours to send me an email stating what you feel should be re-considered - and I will re-examine by assessment and get back to you.
One day after sending your grades, I will post your final grade to Keanwise.
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
12.11 Presentations
After reviewing the requirements for the assignment, you gave presentations and your classmates gave you feedback on how to meet the criteria. I also gave you either oral or written notes for revising your essay.
Important note: If you have not turned in a copy of the interview protocol and the transcript/data, do so as soon as possible. Your protocol and transcript are the basis for your data collection and I will need to read them in order to evaluate your essay. These documents are necessary for you to receive full credit for your essay (an A). The interview protocol was posted as Blog 16, and your transcripts were requested as part of your assignment on my blog 11.27.
Next week all work for your grade is due by the end of class. Grades will be calculated as listed in the syllabus and discussed in class.
In class we will hear the remaining presentation, and do some reflecting on the course.
Have a good week and if you have additional questions or want additional feedback - send me an email.
Important note: If you have not turned in a copy of the interview protocol and the transcript/data, do so as soon as possible. Your protocol and transcript are the basis for your data collection and I will need to read them in order to evaluate your essay. These documents are necessary for you to receive full credit for your essay (an A). The interview protocol was posted as Blog 16, and your transcripts were requested as part of your assignment on my blog 11.27.
Next week all work for your grade is due by the end of class. Grades will be calculated as listed in the syllabus and discussed in class.
In class we will hear the remaining presentation, and do some reflecting on the course.
Have a good week and if you have additional questions or want additional feedback - send me an email.
Thursday, December 6, 2012
12.4 Analyzing data, writing a draft
It took this a little longer than I expected to get this posted. Yesterday was full of surprises!
What we did in class. Most of you have collected your data and are ready to begin looking for patterns that will help you explore/answer your research question. In class tonight, we started by listening to Antoinette and Brian talk about their data and what they "saw" within the materials they were examining.
Antionette identified a number of thematic issues that connected literacy and economics in the conversations with her participants. For example, she saw issues with parents: (parents' need to work/lack of time, their lack of preparedness in terms of doing the "pre-teaching" that young children need, a relationship that valued reading and writing but did not necessarily "push" literacy as Antoinette put it (encourage children to go to school beyond high school. All three of these connected economic realities to literacy accomplishment - and therefore to the ability to move beyond the difficult economics where the children began.
Brian presented a discussion of methods for exploring differences in how Doc Holliday and Ike Canton were represented in transcripts, interviews, and materials written by the press (and others). His analysis will account for how and why these two men - who were both "ornery" - acquired very different "reputations" and personae within the public "lore." (did I get that right?)
Making sense of (messy and unfocused) data: After these presentations we briefly discussed several general approaches to finding patterns in your data. These patterns will be the basis of three to five solid observations about what your data "show" with respect to your research question. Your discussion of these observations - what they mean, your "proof" that they are indeed in your data, and how they answer your research question => will pretty much be the focus of your paper.
1. Categorizing and coding. One approach for "making sense" of data is to name and classify what you see going on in your data, sentence by sentence. This approach gives you language to talk about the ideas, actions, interactions, actors, contexts, outcomes, and other characteristics you see within your data. This is the approach we took for the analysis of the shaggy dog stories.
2. Focused analysis or naming big chunks of text or connected materials. If you apply this approach to a transcript, you might watch for where the focus of conversation shifts and mark places where the conversation moves from one focus to another. You would then give each section a name (much like coding, except that you are naming larger sections of text. The sample for finding a focus (posted to the right) uses this approach. The student researchers named the different "stories" she found in her transcript, and then selected a series of related stories (with a similar focus) for the focus of her research essay.
3. Thematic analysis. This approach is similar to the way readers approach literary texts. You identify repeating themes or ideas or phrases and look at how they work within your body of data.
Writing up your essay. During the second half of class I drew your attention to the different "parts" of a research essay that gathers and analyzes data: introduction, literature review, methods, presentation of data, analysis of data, conclusions. These sections are sometimes merged or divided into slightly different headings = but this is the general organization. Each of you did some writing to set up the statements you would make in each section - and then we generalized the kinds of "moves" you make in each section. You can look at the research essays we read as models - or view research essays in journals like Computers and Composition or The Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (through the Kean Library databases).
For next week:
Blog 20: Post your draft research essay so far.
In class you will be giving presentations on your project. In your presentation you will:
Our purpose for these presentations is to provide you with feedback for your project so you can strengthen it before you turn it in for your grade, the following week. I will be assessing your talks as a way to evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching for this semester. I will use the rubric posted on the previous blog. Your grades and the scores on the rubrics will not necessarily correlate.
If you have not done so already, you should send me your data/transcripts so I will be able to help with your analysis and findings sections. If you have questions or would like to talk through your data before class, send me an email and we can set up a conference.
What we did in class. Most of you have collected your data and are ready to begin looking for patterns that will help you explore/answer your research question. In class tonight, we started by listening to Antoinette and Brian talk about their data and what they "saw" within the materials they were examining.
Antionette identified a number of thematic issues that connected literacy and economics in the conversations with her participants. For example, she saw issues with parents: (parents' need to work/lack of time, their lack of preparedness in terms of doing the "pre-teaching" that young children need, a relationship that valued reading and writing but did not necessarily "push" literacy as Antoinette put it (encourage children to go to school beyond high school. All three of these connected economic realities to literacy accomplishment - and therefore to the ability to move beyond the difficult economics where the children began.
Brian presented a discussion of methods for exploring differences in how Doc Holliday and Ike Canton were represented in transcripts, interviews, and materials written by the press (and others). His analysis will account for how and why these two men - who were both "ornery" - acquired very different "reputations" and personae within the public "lore." (did I get that right?)
Making sense of (messy and unfocused) data: After these presentations we briefly discussed several general approaches to finding patterns in your data. These patterns will be the basis of three to five solid observations about what your data "show" with respect to your research question. Your discussion of these observations - what they mean, your "proof" that they are indeed in your data, and how they answer your research question => will pretty much be the focus of your paper.
1. Categorizing and coding. One approach for "making sense" of data is to name and classify what you see going on in your data, sentence by sentence. This approach gives you language to talk about the ideas, actions, interactions, actors, contexts, outcomes, and other characteristics you see within your data. This is the approach we took for the analysis of the shaggy dog stories.
2. Focused analysis or naming big chunks of text or connected materials. If you apply this approach to a transcript, you might watch for where the focus of conversation shifts and mark places where the conversation moves from one focus to another. You would then give each section a name (much like coding, except that you are naming larger sections of text. The sample for finding a focus (posted to the right) uses this approach. The student researchers named the different "stories" she found in her transcript, and then selected a series of related stories (with a similar focus) for the focus of her research essay.
3. Thematic analysis. This approach is similar to the way readers approach literary texts. You identify repeating themes or ideas or phrases and look at how they work within your body of data.
Writing up your essay. During the second half of class I drew your attention to the different "parts" of a research essay that gathers and analyzes data: introduction, literature review, methods, presentation of data, analysis of data, conclusions. These sections are sometimes merged or divided into slightly different headings = but this is the general organization. Each of you did some writing to set up the statements you would make in each section - and then we generalized the kinds of "moves" you make in each section. You can look at the research essays we read as models - or view research essays in journals like Computers and Composition or The Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (through the Kean Library databases).
For next week:
Blog 20: Post your draft research essay so far.
In class you will be giving presentations on your project. In your presentation you will:
- identify your research question
- talk about what other researchers have written about your project
- point out what your project adds to this area of research and state why it is important
- describe your method for collecting and analyzing your data
- present your findings
- and state your conclusions (as they relate to your research question and the importance of your project to research in the field)
Our purpose for these presentations is to provide you with feedback for your project so you can strengthen it before you turn it in for your grade, the following week. I will be assessing your talks as a way to evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching for this semester. I will use the rubric posted on the previous blog. Your grades and the scores on the rubrics will not necessarily correlate.
If you have not done so already, you should send me your data/transcripts so I will be able to help with your analysis and findings sections. If you have questions or would like to talk through your data before class, send me an email and we can set up a conference.
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Presentations
Criterion
|
4
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3
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2
|
1
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0
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Explanation
of Issues
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|||||
Evidence
|
|||||
Influence
of context and assumptions
|
|||||
Student’s
position (perspective thesis/hypothesis)
|
|||||
Conclusions
and related outcomes (implications and consequences)
|
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