The Inquiry of Celebration is always something I look forward to. It's important to me because as discussed our textbook (Phillips and Carr), "going public" with work is the "process of articulating the actual learning that has happened". Also, giving WVU faculty, PDS school teachers and administration, and tutors, participants, and interns in the WVU Benedum Collaborative Teaching Program a chance to view the work of others, it instills a passion and energizes us to continue our action research in our classrooms. Lastly, the sharing itself is a celebration that comes from searching and interpreting meaningful discoveries in our teaching.
One thing I noticed about The 13th Annual Inquiry of Celebration is that it defied all the myths that you normally think of when you think "academic research". The interns provided practical information that not only applied in their classrooms, but that could be transferred into our classrooms as well. The stories they shared made their presentations personal because we could based upon anecdotes how the students were responding to the interventions. Lastly, I noticed that even if interns were in similar categories, such as implementing stations or math talks, each had their unique spin and findings, which contrasts that idea that all academic research on a topic sounds the same. Each presentation had something valuable that resonated with me and sparked ideas for implementation in my own classroom.
Inquiry of Celebration has taught me that not all research has to come out the way you "envisioned it". Instead, it's okay and welcomed if you talk about the struggles, conflict, dilemmas, and moments of chaos. That's part of it! No one is going to have a perfect experience collecting data and finding exactly what we expected, but that's okay because it still gives valuable information to attend to. The sessions I attended gave me ideas about incorporating math stations and math talks into my classroom. I'm currently working on my mini action research and they gave me so many ideas about things I could have done differently to better help my study. I was excited and ready to begin the entire process over because I wondered how making those changes could influence my students' learning.
I really like being able to choose with sessions we attend so we can focus on something that may be more relevant to use in our classroom placements than others. The interns are always so well prepared and excited to share their findings, which makes it contagious for us in the audience. The presenters always use terms such as "The data suggests...." or "In my experience in the classroom..." which brings about a knowledge that although this is what they found, it is not definitely the "answer" to everyone's classroom. I think it was also important to hear how they came up with their research and the data sources they used. Our small group facilitators often tell us how important researcher notebooks are and how valuable they can be as a tool. However, to hear from an intern that video and notetaking really developed their data sources, we begin to see the importance of them.
Overall, I see The Inquiry of Celebration as a key step for the interns to celebrate and share their findings, but also as an example to tutors and participants on how to successfully implement a project and spark ideas and creativity. By giving ideas about teaching practices and learning of our students, we are enriching the tools veteran teachers can develop as well as teaching getting ready to enter the profession.
