Notes on Notes

When putting together my data collection ideas for Action Research (AR) I gave very little thought to the logistics of each method. My initial idea was to use informal observations, students’ daily worksheets and students’ math journals. After rereading The Power of Questions and meeting with my AR professor, I began to realize that my methods were not effective or efficient. Informal observations are a great way to reflection on my perspective of the overall classroom atmosphere, but they not descriptive or concrete. Instead I have decided to use filed notes. In general, field notes cut to the chase. Below is a description from the Power of Questions that lays out the foundation of field notes: 1. Includes the date, place, and setting. 2. Describes actions of the child observed, reactions of other people involved, response of child to these reactions. 3. Uses descriptive words and phrases and avoids judgmental or evaluative words and phrases. 4. Includes quotes for the child observed. 5. Supplies “mood cues”- postures, gestures, voice qualities, and facial expressions. It does not include interpretations of their feelings. 6. The description is extensive enough to cover the episode. An improvement that I have made to my data collection is the selection of a small group of students to focus on when collecting daily math worksheets, rather than focusing on the whole class. Originally, I was gong to review all 25 worksheets in detail daily. Instead I have selected six students. The selection of a small group of students makes data collection more manageable and efficient.