Aharonian, N., & Joffe, S. (2023). Uncovering care in my pedagogy and collaborative self-study. In A. Cameron-Standerford, B. Bergh, & C. U. Edge (Eds.), Pausing at the threshold: Opportunity through, with, and for self-study of teacher education practices. Equity Press. https://equitypress.org/pausing_at_the_thres
Aharonian, N., & Schatz Oppenheimer, O. (2024). ‘ If you do not write, you dry up ’: Tensions in teacher educator research and academic writing. Education Sciences, 14(9). https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/14/9/972
Open Access
Thank you so much to Professor Michal Zellermayer and the members of the Action Research and Self Study Interest group at the Mofet Institute!
Yesterday I had the honor to present my article for Journal X to the members of the group. Most of the participants are experienced teacher educators and researchers and all have a real interest in the sort of research I am doing. The atmosphere in the group is very supportive, and even though I was the first to present this year, I did not feel threatened or pressured at any stage.
As I approached the front of the room I asked myself a number of questions:
How will my work be accepted?
How does my research fit in under the category of Action / Participatory research?
How will I react to the criticism I will… may hear?
Was this text appropriate for this framework?
and last but not least…
Did I make a mistake volunteering to be the first?
I will begin by answering the last question – No! I certainly did not make a mistake, Presenting my article and receiving thoughtful and intelligent feedback from this group was an incredible honor and supplied me with a lot of material to think about and work on. The changes which were suggested in the structure of the article are similar to those that my supervisors would have suggested (I suppose).
Professor Zellermayer directed the group to look closer at the article using the characteristics of Action Research papers based on the work of McNiff and Whitehead and the analysis proved very useful. The main criticism which arose is that I haven’t spelled out the “What is my concern?” which is motivating my study in general and this article in general. This is one of the differences between a paper which fits in as a chapter in my PhD to a journal article which must stand on its own. This of course is something to consider in every article I attempt to create.
According to Professor Zellermayer and the members of the group, The article should begin with the answer to “What is my concern?” . Again and again I find myself being pulled back to opening my writing with more traditional academic styles and material on the context of the study, where really what I should be doing is plunging my reader into the study with the kind of professional texts which are at the heart of my work. The same thing happened when I wrote my paper for my confirmation process.
I have to take off my doctoral student cap now and replace it with my teacher cap. I hope to continue this reflection on the wonderful feedback I received yesterday as it had motivational value as well as a real push in a positive direction. I received many comments pointing to the strong points in my writing and also concrete comments in the direction of improvement.
Have a nice day!
I can’t believe that it is almost a month since I wrote last. Things have been terribly hectic at school and I finished teaching both of my courses. At home things are also heating up as end of year concerts, parties and ballet performances get closer. I am trying to organize an extra day off for study next year – otherwise there is no way that I will be able to keep up with all my commitments.
So what’s up?
School:
As every one who works in education knows, the end of the school year is a difficult period. There is a lot of tension in the air for many reasons: pressure to get everything done, not easy working with tired children who are dreaming about the swimming pool or their next party, the teachers still don’t know what they will be doing next year and they are nervous about it… I feel as though I am organizing hundreds of things at once and nothing gets done 100% properly and certainly not from A to B without interruptions.
Courses:
I finished teaching both my courses and received interesting feedback from both groups. I will write a separate post on that.
For the last meeting I showed the teachers the movie “The Freedom Writers” about the Freedom Writers Diary. It was a nice way to end the course and the movie touches many of the issues discussed during our learning. There was a great atmosphere in both groups and the movie and popcorn added a lot. There is nothing like sitting together and sniffling over a great movie.
I must quickly reread the written feedback I received and make some kind of report out of it. I must inform the Teachers’ Centers where the courses were held, and I want to get the school principals involved in what the teachers experienced. In addition I must start thinking about next year and how I will improve on this year’s programs.
I received an invitation to go to Tel Aviv to a meeting with those in charge of Language and literacy in the Education Department. They are interested in working with teachers and writing more next year and wanted to hear more about my courses. They are planning a series of filmed lectures on teaching writing which will be used in inservice teacher learning all over the country. The Centre for Educational Technology is producing them. They liked my ideas and I am already going to do one filmed lecture in the next month, before I go to Australia. It sounds like something new and exciting, but a bit scary too. Lecturing in front of a camera will be a totally new experience – I am used to developing a topic together with the teachers listening and participating.
Conference:
I swore to myself that I wouldn’t leave my paper to the last minute. This week this will be one item at the top of my list. My paper is on the last day of the conference and I probably will have a very small audience. I am quite happy about that as my main aim here is just gaining experience. The problem is that I was hoping to get it over and done with early in order to enjoy the conference.
PhD:
No progress here. I think in a way I am waiting to get to Australia to sit down face to face with my supervisors in order to get myself going. On the other hand, all I did and am doing with my courses is the ground work for this enormous project. What worries me here is the less you DO, the less self confidence you have. When I am busy reading and writing and discussing ideas I feel I can achieve this task, when I’m not involved, it looks impossible.
Good news:
GP wrote to congratulate me that my article for English in Australia is out, that he actually read it. I can’t wait to see it – exciting news.
I’m off to make huge lists of things to do. I WILL keep writing here!
I have been busy thinking about applying to present at the AATE conference in Hobart, Australia this summer (winter). If I decide to apply I only have a week to do it.
A while ago I thought of applying and then decided it was better to attend the first time as a regular participant. It seemed sensible to go, get the feel of the function and learn from others. When my supervisor heard I was going he encouraged me to to seriously consider presenting some of my work.
I will see… I still have a few days to get the 250 word abstract in. I’m working on it despite the fact that I still have no final answer.