I'm back! That's right, after a whole school year without hearing my voice in your head, I am back with lots to share. It's been very busy! Despite being in the process of completing my final year in the Education program at StFX, applying to become a substitute teacher, and getting my head on straight in general, the research never really stopped. I've continued to read about poverty and its huge impact on education in rural spaces, but have also been a part of some really interesting developments I'd like to share with you.
The first thing is something that I imagine most of the readers of this blog probably already know about because they were probably there. I'm talking about the Professional Development session that Alanna Saunders and I presented in October at StFX. During the session we discussed our research with fellow Bachelor of Education students, detailing the ways in which barriers to student success can be mitigated in a practical way. It's important, I think, that when we talk about educational research we always remember to root it in the everyday implications - research doesn't help us if it doesn't give us insight into things we can do differently. This was what made the session so successful - we could share our research with other students, get some feedback, and have an open and honest conversation about how poverty impacts student learning and classroom contexts.
The second development links well to that very point. In March I attended StFX's Student Research Day, which was another opportunity to share what I learned throughout the creation of the literature review. And, because I've now formally shared my findings, that means I can share them with you!
According to my review of 100 research articles, there are 9 themes central in informing teachers in their pedagogical practices and daily instructional interactions with students who experience poverty:
What was fantastic about it, if I'm honest, was the validation I got from researchers and community members who aren't invested in the Faculty of Education. I spoke to people about what I read, and about the implications that the commonalities in that reading have for the education system in
supporting impoverished students, and I was floored by the response. I had professors congratulate me for bringing this work to light, and community members sharing the ways in which this information may have changed their own experiences in school for the better. People loved what I had to say (which really inflated my ego), and were really happy to see that the good teaching practices that they remember from their favourite teachers are embraced and praised in the research literature. Don't get me wrong, it was really nice to have my personal work congratulated and recognized, it was very flattering, but the most validating part of the responses was the call to action. While happy to see it, community members and professors who heard my message were shocked by the element of common sense that threaded my research together, and none of us could understand why the themes weren't more widely recognized. Teachers should collaborate with students? Imagine that. There should be more supports in place for struggling students? Seems a bit obvious. All of the themes make perfect sense, so why aren't they more commonly found in our schools?
This point brings me to my third very exciting thing - The Art Matters Conference I attended at the end of March. The conference was held at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, and it was all about "leveraging knowledge to influence change." Everyone who attended the conference had that concept in mind when applying and presenting their research, which lent to the conference's diverse and interesting group of student researchers, all of which talked about different aspects of social sciences, humanities, and arts. It was a really interesting experience in that, having just finished the StFX Student Research Day, I had an opportunity to share my work with people from all over Atlantic Canada and engage with different perspectives. It was also absolutely terrifying because it was the first time I was truly presenting to people I didn't know beforehand. I was among friends at the PD session, and former professors and peers at the Research Day, so this was an incredibly intimidating venue.
That said, I managed to condense my research findings and discussion into a 10-minute presentation, which I delivered in front of a group of complete strangers. People often assume that because teachers have experiencing lecturing and speaking to students that they're predisposed to be excellent public speakers, but the dynamic changes when you're speaking to a group of people who are older, highly educated, and ooze authority. At the end of the day, I'm a 23-year-old with a Teacher's License - sometimes I can't help feeling unqualified sitting next to Ph.D. candidates and brilliant long-time researchers. Nervousness would have been fine normally, but this work has come to mean a lot to me, and I didn't want to get it wrong. I was overwhelmed with the thought that if I butchered the presentation, the information would have come across as being hokey or unimportant, which would have broken my heart.
But I did it. I presented the findings, answered some questions, and have lived to tell the tale. I attended several fantastic presentations that day, and though I didn't see any other Education students, I met some really down to earth and perceptive people. I even won an award, despite my fears, for having an "Outstanding Research Presentation." I never expected that I would win anything for doing work that, again, seems like such common sense in retrospect, but I was incredibly grateful for it. Student success is really important to me - this work in general is - and anything I can do to keep spreading this information and the value it has in helping disadvantaged youth is something I'm going to continue to pursue. I know most of my friends from the B. Ed. program have graduated and are out there teaching in the "real-world," but that doesn't mean the learning ends, or that the investments in becoming better stop.
Anyway, those are my updates, and there are sure to be more in the near future. I'm fully immersed in the research world again, and though the focus is a little different than it was last summer, it's sure to be just as enlightening (even for all the non-Educator types out there). I hope you stick with me for another round of wild and wonderful learning!
Thanks for checking in!
Savannah MacDonald
..
https://www.stfx.ca/research/student-research-opportunities/student-research-day
https://artsmatters.wixsite.com/artsmatters2019/abstracts
 |
| A poster from the PD session combining the different ideas that those attending felt were important takeaway messages. |
The first thing is something that I imagine most of the readers of this blog probably already know about because they were probably there. I'm talking about the Professional Development session that Alanna Saunders and I presented in October at StFX. During the session we discussed our research with fellow Bachelor of Education students, detailing the ways in which barriers to student success can be mitigated in a practical way. It's important, I think, that when we talk about educational research we always remember to root it in the everyday implications - research doesn't help us if it doesn't give us insight into things we can do differently. This was what made the session so successful - we could share our research with other students, get some feedback, and have an open and honest conversation about how poverty impacts student learning and classroom contexts.
The second development links well to that very point. In March I attended StFX's Student Research Day, which was another opportunity to share what I learned throughout the creation of the literature review. And, because I've now formally shared my findings, that means I can share them with you!
 |
| The graphic I generated to illustrate what I found in my literature review of 100 articles. |
What was fantastic about it, if I'm honest, was the validation I got from researchers and community members who aren't invested in the Faculty of Education. I spoke to people about what I read, and about the implications that the commonalities in that reading have for the education system in
 |
| My poster from the StFX Research Day! |
This point brings me to my third very exciting thing - The Art Matters Conference I attended at the end of March. The conference was held at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, and it was all about "leveraging knowledge to influence change." Everyone who attended the conference had that concept in mind when applying and presenting their research, which lent to the conference's diverse and interesting group of student researchers, all of which talked about different aspects of social sciences, humanities, and arts. It was a really interesting experience in that, having just finished the StFX Student Research Day, I had an opportunity to share my work with people from all over Atlantic Canada and engage with different perspectives. It was also absolutely terrifying because it was the first time I was truly presenting to people I didn't know beforehand. I was among friends at the PD session, and former professors and peers at the Research Day, so this was an incredibly intimidating venue.That said, I managed to condense my research findings and discussion into a 10-minute presentation, which I delivered in front of a group of complete strangers. People often assume that because teachers have experiencing lecturing and speaking to students that they're predisposed to be excellent public speakers, but the dynamic changes when you're speaking to a group of people who are older, highly educated, and ooze authority. At the end of the day, I'm a 23-year-old with a Teacher's License - sometimes I can't help feeling unqualified sitting next to Ph.D. candidates and brilliant long-time researchers. Nervousness would have been fine normally, but this work has come to mean a lot to me, and I didn't want to get it wrong. I was overwhelmed with the thought that if I butchered the presentation, the information would have come across as being hokey or unimportant, which would have broken my heart.
Anyway, those are my updates, and there are sure to be more in the near future. I'm fully immersed in the research world again, and though the focus is a little different than it was last summer, it's sure to be just as enlightening (even for all the non-Educator types out there). I hope you stick with me for another round of wild and wonderful learning!
Thanks for checking in!
Savannah MacDonald
..
https://www.stfx.ca/research/student-research-opportunities/student-research-day
https://artsmatters.wixsite.com/artsmatters2019/abstracts
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