Revision Plan

From the comments on my rough draft, I can see that I need to provide more details and examples. I also see the need to make my paper more specific to a particular focus rather than having a few non-central focal points. I will have to review my sources again, and find more effective ways of getting a point across. Better use of my sources would also be needed in some areas; to use evidence to help tie a few points together.

Revised Bibliography

Fitzgerald, Mike. "No mark for effort skews assessment." Times Higher Education Supplement. 5 April 1996.1222: 12. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOHost. Indiana Univ. of Pennsylvania Lib., Indiana, PA. 20 Oct. 2004 <http://search.epnet.com>.

Sappington, John, Kinsey, Kimberly, and Munsayac, Kirk. "Two Studies of Reading Compliance Among College Students." Teaching of Psychology. 29.4 (2002): 272. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOHost. Indiana Univ. of Pennsylvania Lib., Indiana, PA. 21 Oct. 2004 <http://search.epnet.com/>.

Howell, Cynthia Lake. "Reforming Higher Education Curriculum to Emphasize Student Responsibility Waves of Rhetoric but Glacial Change." College Teaching. 50.3 (2002): 116. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOHost. Indiana Univ. of Pennsylvania Lib., Indiana, PA. 20 Oct. 2004 <http://search.epnet.com/>.

Williams, Sylvia Y. "A New Teacher's Perspective." National Forum. 81.4 (2001): 28.
Elliott, Joyce. "'Taking personal responsibility for learning'." Education Week. 5 June 1996. 15.37: 41. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOHost. Indiana Univ. of Pennsylvania Lib., Indiana, PA. 20 Oct. 2004 <http://search.epnet.com/>.

Brookfield, Stephen. The skillful teacher : on technique, trust, and responsiveness in the classroom. San Francisco : Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1990.

Sizer, Theodore R., and Sizer, Nancy Faust. "Grappling." Phi Delta Kappan. 81.3 (Nov 1999): 184. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOHost. Indiana Univ. of Pennsylvania Lib., Indiana, PA. 21 Oct. 2004 <http://search.epnet.com>.

Davis, Todd M., and Murrell, Patricia Hillman. Turning Teaching Into Learning: The Role of
Student Responsibility in the Collegiate Experience. 22 Oct 2004. <http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/93-8dig.htm>.

Libresco, Andrea S. "The Career of Teaching." Vital Speeches of the Day. 70.19 (July 2004): 602. Academic Search Premier. EBSCOHost. Indiana Univ. of Pennsylvania Lib., Indiana, PA. 6 Nov. 2004 <http://search.epnet.com>.

Goodlad, John I., Roger Soder, and Kenneth A. Sirotnik. The Moral Dimensions of Teaching. San Francisco : Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1990.

Draft

Teaching or “Studenting”: Which should it be?
As schools, colleges, and other learning facilities become more complex and advanced, so also do the requirements for education. Many factors of these educational programs need to be kept up to date, but perhaps most importantly are the responsibilities of both the students and the teachers. It seems that whenever education is involved, finger-pointing is at a high. Human nature automatically wants us to rationalize a situation and “pass the buck” onto someone else and wash our own hands of the problem. When this happens in regards to educational systems, there is never a winning side, in fact everyone seems to lose in some way. These are the types of situations that make the line between teacher and student an ambiguous one, without specific boundaries.

Fieldwork Plan

Place: Campus dormitories
Convenient meeting location for teachers (possibly an office, lounge, etc)

November 5:
Interview floormates and friends, construct/contact list of possible teachers (either on campus or from high schools) to gather information from.

Fieldwork Purposes:
1. To gain insight into how to successfully get through classes and homework by asking students their methods or opinions, and comparing these results to each other.
2. To find any common threads or feelings toward what students feel their job as a student is, and what teachers feel their job as a teacher is.
3. To draw a comparison/contrast between what teachers believe their role, as teachers in general, in student education is and what it should be.

Interview:
Design questions for both teachers and students that would provide specific information on their particular position in the education process.
Students:
Have you changed your work habits since high school? If so, to what degree? If not, why not? Do you feel the responsibility of learning class material is more dependent on you or the teacher? Do you think that teachers ask too much of students? Do you have any general suggestions for teaching strategies that may be more effective?
Teachers:
During your teaching career, what, if any, differences have you noticed in students' work ethic throughout the years? Have you adapted your teaching to these changes? What amount of the material do you feel students should be accountable for learning on their own? What are a few things that students do not seem to know, but you believe are necessary to know?
I plan to conduct the student interviews first, in order to ask specific questions about some responses to teachers. I believe this will provide a better connection between the two worlds. Perhaps a second student interview would be possible using the same method only with teacher responses.

Observation:
Try to gain an understanding of how both students and teachers perceive each side in the grander scheme of education as a whole. Are these views similar to each other or are they very different? Is there an understanding of each side, or do they see each other as “enemies”?

Research Proposal

Title: Teaching or "Studenting": Which should it be?
Name: Nick DiBuono
Class info: English 202 Research Writing Fall 2004

Abstract:
This project will look at several aspects of the educational environment and the methods used within it. It will ask the question: Who is responsible for the learning process? Students, teachers, or both? This question would lead to the discussion of how and why that responsibility is determined. By examining different facets of student and teacher life, several points can be established. A few of these points could be: students' thoughts on their classes or professors, how student groups or organizations can help, teachers' personal feelings toward students or classes, and personal interactions between teacher and student.

Introduction:
Although everyone knows what it meant to be a student at some point, not everyone knows what exactly is expected of students nowadays. On the other hand, not everyone knows what it means to be a teacher, especially most students. Therefore, it is reasonably safe to say neither teachers nor students have a solid grasp of each other’s positions. I plan to uncover what conceptions or misconceptions each group has about the other.
"Studenting" is a term that you never really hear, but it is still important nonetheless. Everyone has heard of teaching, but studenting is a term that makes just as much sense. I plan to explore the idea of "studenting" and how it changes the role of a student in his or her own learning experience. How have students needed to change or adapt to their learning environment over time? I doubt that students at the turn of the last century had as demanding of a curriculum as students at the turn of this century. I would like to see how much the school environment has changed in the last 100 or so years.

Review of Literature:


Search Plan & Project Timeline:
- Finish gathering potential sources and determine which areas or sources may be a weak point.
- Begin to synthesize sources, revisit research question and see whether I am still heading in the direction of determining what student vs. teacher roles are in the education process.
- Design fieldwork interview and make list of possible interviewees.
- Contact possible teachers to interview, and set up meeting place and time.
- Conduct fieldwork in order of: student interview, teacher interview, and possibly student follow-up interview.
- Compile notes from interviews, analyze, and summarize.
- Create a general outline of the paper using major points and topics.
- Draft
- Revise
- Edit

Working Bibliography:

Front and Back Regions

Front and back regions are a very real and sometimes disturbing concept for many people. With the example that Goffman gave of a hotel kitchen's front and back regions, you can really get a glimpse of what can really happen "behind the scenes." I think my topic can have a few front and back regions. For instance, with the topic of student versus teacher responsibility of studying/teaching, the possibility is likely of students and teachers lying about their work effort. For students, telling teachers that they do a certain amount of work when they really are not is an example when, in comparison, teachers can tell students that they are trying to grade tests or papers when they are just putting it off. That is an example of the front region, the one that both sides can actually see, in contrast the back region is one in which neither side can really prove right or wrong. The student's back region is when they decide to put off their homework and assignments to the last minute or maybe not do it at all. Similarly, the teacher's back region would be when they wait longer than would be expected to grade or return tests or projects that the students turn in. This could provide a good research approach to my topic and maybe shed some light on problems that teachers and students may face on a daily basis. It may even help to find ways of fixing or alleviating this problem.

Bibliography

Fitzgerald, Mike. "No mark for effort skews assessment." Times Higher Education Supplement. 5 April 1996.1222: 12.

Sappington, John, Kinsey, Kimberly, and Munsayac, Kirk. "Two Studies of Reading Compliance Among College Students." Teaching of Psychology. 29.4 (2002): 272.

Howell, Cynthia Lake. "Reforming Higher Education Curriculum to Emphasize Student Responsibility Waves of Rhetoric but Glacial Change." College Teaching. 50.3 (2002): 116.

Williams, Sylvia Y. "A New Teacher's Perspective." National Forum. 81.4 (2001): 28.

Elliott, Joyce. "'Taking personal responsibility for learning'." Education Week. 5 June 1996. 15.37: 41.

Brookfield, Stephen. The skillful teacher : on technique, trust, and responsiveness in the classroom. San Francisco : Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1990.

Sizer, Theodore R., and Sizer, Nancy Faust. "Grappling." Phi Delta Kappan. 81.3 (Nov 1999): 184.

Davis, Todd M., and Murrell, Patricia Hillman. Turning Teaching Into Learning: The Role of Student Responsibility in the Collegiate Experience. 22 Oct 2004. <http://www.ntlf.com/html/lib/bib/93-8dig.htm>.