Berkseducationaljourney

My Journey as an Educator: Classroom Teacher to Doctoral Student Darla R.
Kelberlau-Berks University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Comprehensive Exam Part II Dr. John Raible, Advisor March 13, 2014
Berks: Examining Factors of Success in Math: A Case Study of African American Males Math Achievement
Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Culturally Proficient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 White Privilege . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Who Stole the Lawn Dcor? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 A New Son . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 M2 = Math in the Middle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 A New Role . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Back to School Again . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Research Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Introduction It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end. -Ernest Hemingway
Recently, a former student interviewed me. She was a student in my seventh grade math class six years ago. She is currently a college student enrolled in an introductory education class as she is still contemplating her future career path. She asked question after question . . . wondering how I dealt with fairness in the classroom, how I adjusted for individual needs of students, how legislation and accountability have affected my role, and how I dealt with behavior issues and lack of parental support. The questions continued and were thought provoking. Having to articulate my thoughts and ideas was an enriching experience that I should experience more often. One thing became evident to me and intrigued me during the course of the interview . . . I realized how much Ive changed throughout the past eighteen years that Ive been a part of the education profession. I realized that how I answered the questions now were, in many cases, different than how I wouldve answered the questions at differing points along my career. The past eighteen years and even longer have been a journey that has helped create the educator that I am today. The same could be said about my journey as a scholar. There have been many courses and many professors that have impacted me and have helped guide me along this doctoral path. With both journeys which, of course, are very much interconnected I know that the beauty is not found in any destination or final goal; rather, the beauty is found within this passage. In the remainder of this paper, I will highlight events and happenings that have been foundational to me in my journey as a White educator in an ever-increasingly diverse society.
Culturally Proficient One of the district wide School Improvement goals read: We will close the Achievement Gap, K-12. (School Improvement, n.d.). Although this was (and currently still is) a goal at every building in Lincoln Public Schools, it was difficult for me to say how schools were attempting to achieve this goal. It was only recently that something was done that was more obvious and intentional in attempting to assist with this goal. Each building in the district was to complete some sort of Cultural Proficiency professional development for their staff. At the building that I was participating with, this was done through seven, one-hour small group sessions. A committee created the tasks for each session using the book Culturally Proficient Leadership: The Personal Journey Begins Within by Randall Lindsey and Raymond Terrell as its main resource. Lindsey and Terrell refer to cultural proficiency as an inside out process (2008). This refers to the idea that the cultural proficiency process begins with a personal, honest selfexamination. This process involves recognizing ones own personal biases and prejudices. Although often an uncomfortable and difficult task, it is thought to be an essential first step. Julian Weissglass echoed this belief when he cited this type of exercise as the hope to alleviating the effects of classism and racism on students (2002). This type of reflective experience was a natural part of the Education in a Pluralistic Society course that was led by Dr. John Raible. It, too, is a part of Howards Achievement Triangle (see Appendix A). In this Achievement Triangle, Howard identified three components teachers possess to ensure student achievement. He identified those as: knowing my practice, knowing my students, and knowing my self (2006). It is the knowing self component that relates to and includes honest realizations about ones beliefs and biases. Nuri-Robins et al. show the following differences between culturally 4
proficient behaviors and non-culturally proficient behaviors that may be exhibited in classrooms (2005): Reactive: Tolerance for Mandated Equality
Destructiveness Incapacity Blindness
Proactive: Transformation for Desired Equity

Pre-competence Competence Proficiency
Focuses on them being problems Tolerates, excludes, separates Diversity is a problem to be solved Prevent, mitigate, avoid cultural dissonance and conflict Stakeholders expect or help others assimilate Information added to existing policies and procedures
Focuses on us and our practices Esteems, respects, includes Diversity and inclusion are goals to be attained Manage, leverage, facilitate conflict Stakeholders adapt to meet needs of others Existing policies, procedures, practices examined and adapted to changing environment
Gloria Ladson-Billings discusses similar comparisons as she compares and contrasts the Culturally Relevant teacher and the Assimilationist. Like Nuri-Robins, Ladson-Billings refers to the Culturally Relevant teacher as one that is connected to his/her students and encourages a community of learners and collaborative learning (2009). Both of these descriptions show that the culturally proficient teacher appreciates and celebrates the diversity in his/her classroom. Rather than attempting to change the students, this type of teacher meets the students where they are and adjusts their teaching to meet the students needs. The morning session began early at 6:45 am. Many of the teachers were obviously tired and somewhat lethargic as they walked into the room with their cups of coffee. The opening task was not one that would help with the fatigue: the opening task was to look at data. There were several different pieces of data that we were to look at and analyze. There was a consistent format with each piece of data in that the results were grouped by students race/ethnicity. The data consisted of things such as: office referral information and scores on standardized assessments. The facilitator for this particular meeting happened to be the one administrator in
the group. He showed one piece of data on the screen and we were given a short amount of time to look at it, then he moved on to a new piece of data. After looking at all of the information, there were questions on the screen to help guide a discussion. The conversation started slowly. The administrator had a difficult time getting people to add to the discussion. There were the typical comments about being color-blind, but really nothing of substance to continue a conversation. Then there was that one comment that seemed to open a floodgate. One of the teachers appeared to have suddenly become much more alert and he said, I understand the point of all of this. We are supposed to see that our minority students arent doing as well. But that is just how it is here! I dont see the big deal . . . that is just how it is here! While I and one other teacher were obviously bothered by this comment, the rest of the teachers either sat quietly or added encouragement to that belief. The administrator was obviously uncomfortable with this sudden burst of involvement with the discussion and he tried to go back to the structured questions to no avail. Another teacher said, I have Black students in my classes and I have written office referrals for them. I cant help that they did what they did to deserve a referral. Are you trying to say that I should let the Black kids do what they want and not write a referral for it? That is just ridiculous, but that is what I feel like you are asking us to do! My level of irritation with the comments of these teachers was only increasing. I was also bothered by the fact that they were dismissing any part that we, as White teachers, may have had with this data. They dismissed the idea that there were things that we could do to help with this issue. The bell suddenly rang marking the end of the meeting. Although it was sudden and very uncomfortable and awkward, teachers left the room to return to their classrooms to start their day. I left the meeting so bothered that I was shaking. Not only were these teachers saying these things, but these were the teachers at this school . . . a school with great amounts of 6
diversity. Our students deserve teachers that care about them, not teachers that have prejudiced feelings about them that have accepted (and contributed to) inequities at the school. I couldnt help but wonder what the reaction would have been if it had been the White students that were underperforming. My eyes were being opened wider and wider and my understanding of the reality of our schools was becoming clearer and clearer.
White Privilege? Maybe I shouldnt have been surprised about the comments spoken at the Cultural Proficiency meeting . Looking back, there had been expressions of similar beliefs that I had quickly dismissed. One such experience that comes to mind took place many years earlier. I was a new teacher in the school district attending a required professional development session. The room was very large and full of relatively new teachers none of whom I knew. The topic of the three-day session was equity. The speaker on this day was an African American man that was very passionate and spoke with great energy and knowledge. Although it was early in his portion of the session, he appeared a bit flustered. He took a moments pause from his presentation and asked us the audience to show with a raise of hands, who believed there were automatic privileges for White people. Who agreed with the idea of White privilege? I slowly raised my hand surprised not only that the people at my table didnt raise their hands, but that there were few of us in the room to raise our hands at all. This only added to the energy and passion of the speaker. I sat puzzled with what was happening around me, trying to understand the thinking of so many in the room. Peggy McIntosh refers to White privilege as the invisible knapsack (1990) that helps individuals with White skin to get ahead in life without being aware of their hidden advantages. 7
She asserts that Whites are taught to not recognize these privileges, which only furthers inequities and the role of a dominant culture in our society (1990). As a White teacher, I first began to think about and understand the idea of White privilege while working at Boys Town. Upon graduation from Midland Lutheran College, I attended Boys Towns Social Skills in the Classroom training. I was thoroughly intrigued and impressed with the place and the positive things that were taking place for the young people there. That impression was so powerful that I decided to work in the homes there to obtain a Residential Youth Care certificate. It was while working there that I was first surrounded by visible diversity. I witnessed great acts of tolerance and acceptance amongst the people. I also, however, witnessed discrimination and prejudice there. It was at this time that I first began to truly think about what life is like for people that are different than me. I began to think about the privileges I experience on a daily basis because of the color of my skin that others dont get to experience. White privilege was a concept I never heard prior to that point in my life, but I was beginning to see and understand the concept even without knowing its name. Later, as I searched for a greater understanding of this idea of White privilege, I realized how subtle White privilege can be. I realized that, to many of us, we just accept the unearned privileges that Whites experience as normal. We dont think of others that do not receive these privileges, nor do we see that as racism. We like to think of ourselves as color blind as a way to prove that we are not treating others differently based on race (Greason, 2012). Many think of racism as more overt actions, rather than the often times invisible, subtle realities (Blanchett, 2006). Yet, these subtleties have a great impact on our schools today. Wanda Blanchett has identified three aspects of the educational system that are results of White privilege. Those three items are: inequitable funding for schools that contain a majority of minority/poor students, 8
curriculum that is not culturally responsive, and a lack of preparation in teacher education programs that address the issue of how to effectively teach students of color (2006). These items will be addressed in greater detail within the attached Literature Review.
Who Stole the Lawn Dcor? After working at Boys Town, my first public school teaching experience began in December of 1997 teaching at an elementary school in the Omaha area. My first semester of teaching really was as difficult as many had warned me it would be. Yet, I learned and grew a lot during those three years. One of the unfortunate lessons that I learned while teaching there was one of discrimination. At the same time, I also felt the agony of not knowing how to contend with those injustices. There were some (but not many) minority students at the school. One morning, the principal, an older, White gentleman, came into my room. He appeared serious and was obviously dealing with something of great importance. He called for the two African American students that were in my class and asked them to bring their bags with them. He was looking for stolen lawn dcor, but found none. Later, I asked the principal about the situation. He explained to me that a neighborhood woman had called to complain that a student from our school stole lawn dcor from her yard. She did not actually see this happen, but assumed it was one of our students due to the time of day. The principal assumed that it mustve been one of our minority students that did this, so he was looking through backpacks of our African American students, sure that he would find the stolen items with one of them. I was so extremely appalled; how could he accuse my African American students of this? What other beliefs did he hold about the minority students in the school and how did that impact their learning? How else was our school 9
being impacted by his discriminatory beliefs? Was that the reason why the parents of my African American students did not come into the school? I did not tell the principal my feelings or concerns with this. I did nothing about this unfair treatment of my students. Looking back on this situation with frustration with myself, I am somewhat unsure as to why I acted the way I did. I could blame my age and newness to the profession and newness to the school. I could say that this was an unfamiliar type of situation for me. Yet, to be honest with myself, I think that my action (or lack of action) was because that was the easiest thing to do. It avoided an uncomfortable conversation and it avoided a difficult topic, in general. What is most concerning, though, with the fact that I did nothing, is that at that time I was dating my now husband, who is African American. I had a personal connection to a person of the same race as the unfairly accused students. I shouldve been the first person to stand up for my minority students. I shouldve had the empathy to do what was right for the students. I had a personal reason to care about equal treatment, yet I did nothing. Even though I felt bothered by my inaction, I had not yet learned that remaining silent is one of those hidden privileges of Whiteness (McIntosh, 1988).
A New Son Several years later, I walked into the room down the hall from my math classroom where we normally met for our 7th grade team meetings. The counselor told us about a new student that would start school the following day. Dontay was found living out of a car with his older sister. Their mother was believed to be a drug addict. She had abandoned her children several times before, leaving them for significant periods of time, only to return later when the drug influence
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had waned. Dontay was placed at a temporary group home until a foster home could be found for him. Overall, there was not much known to school officials about this student, other than the fact that he was African American. Ironically, the school he was about to start was almost entirely White. I soon realized that Dontay was an amazingly wonderful young man. He was fairly quiet, yet had a dry, subtle sense of humor. He seemed to have lots of potential academically. Throughout that school year, the school counselor would periodically update us on his living arrangements. For instance, he was sent from the group home to a temporary foster home. Social workers were looking for a more permanent foster home for him, with the still small hope that an aunt would follow through with the promise to become his guardian. My husband and I decided that we would become foster parents for Dontay at the end of that school year. During that summer, we began the gradual process of having Dontay visit until he eventually moved into our home in August. Dontay did well in our home and even better with his schoolwork . That is, except for English. Dontay did not normally complain, but he did talk about concerns with his English teacher. He wasnt happy with his grades in the class either. He would show us items that he had completed and the grades he earned on them. We were unsure of the grading and how to help him improve. Since I taught at the same school, I was skeptical about how involved to be. However, the English teacher wasnt uncomfortable at all about coming to me to express concerns she had with Dontay. She came to me to complain about Dontays behavior (which did not sound like him at all); she also came to me to complain about his completed work. On one occasion, I asked her what he could do to improve his grade or what he couldve done differently on that particular assignment. The teacher looked at me, apparently surprised with my question and responded, Well, Darla, he got a C. That is a good 11
grade for him. I was once again shocked and dumbfounded. Was this good because he was a foster child? Was this good because he was African American? Or was this good because he was the child of a drug addict? Although I was unsure of how to respond at that moment, I knew that I could no longer stay silent about these unfair situations. This was my son. This subtle racism had become too personal for me to continue to allow it to happen unchallenged. My husband and I addressed the issue and were pleased that Dontay was placed in a different teachers class. Although I felt good about the much improved experience for our son, I did not feel good about the fact that the real issue wasnt addressed; we were kept appeased as parents by avoiding fixing the real issue with that teacher. That feeling of discontentment about not fixing the underlying issue, racism and classism, never did go away. In fact, it just gradually grew stronger and stronger. At about this same time, I attended a conference at the University of Maryland. There were many great speakers at this conference, but one in particular stood out to me. This was the first time that I had heard the name Gloria Ladson-Billings. She was an amazing storyteller. She told stories about her own educational experiences, the educational experiences of her own children, as well of others. This caused me to think again about the educational experiences of Dontay and caused me to want to know more about the works and ideas of Ladson-Billings. Ladson-Billings contributions to improving academic achievement of African American children is great and will be discussed in more detail in the attached Literature Review.
M2 = Math in the Middle My mother was a stay-at-home mom. As children, my siblings and I benefitted greatly from having our mother sacrifice her career for us, and our family in general. That family set-up 12
was all I knew. So when my husband and I decided to start a family, we talked about the possibility of me staying at home with our future children. While my husband attended graduate school, I never even considered it for myself. That was, until I learned about Math in the Middle M2). Math in the Middle was a program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln funded by the National Science Foundation under the leadership of Jim Lewis and Ruth Heaton. It involved an application process and consisted of three intense years of coursework with a cohort, culminating with a Masters Degree. Although this was not something I had considered earlier, it was also something that could not be dismissed. Not only was it an amazing opportunity to pursue an advanced degree, it was focused on one of my passions, math. I had always loved math. I took multiple math classes at a time while in high school and went to a nearby college for math during my senior year. I just had a fondness for mathematics and the logic that was involved with it; it was always a favorite subject and great interest of mine. While in college at Midland Lutheran, I thought more about my love of math. I was a Teacher Assistant for Pre-Calculus courses and considered changing my focus from elementary education to secondary math education. However, because of the extra courses/time involved with changing to secondary math at that point, I decided against it. I did find a compromise, though, in adding a middle-level endorsement. (That endorsement was for Middle Level Math, English and Social Sciences.) So, this new opportunity to focus on mathematics again while pursuing a Masters Degree seemed perfect. While pregnant with our second child, I applied and was accepted into Cohort One of Math in the Middle and began a three-year journey. I had no idea when beginning this program, that I would be completely transformed as an educator.
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The idea behind the program was two-fold. One component of the program was to increase the math content knowledge of upper elementary and middle level math teachers. Increasing the math knowledge of teachers, increases the quality of instruction those teachers can, in turn, provide for their students. The second component involved pedagogical knowledge. Courses were strategically paired together to allow for math topics and pedagogical topics to be connected. This three-year journey gradually caused me to think about teaching in a new way. I read about teaching for understanding and about teaching through the use of problem solving. I began to reflect on my teaching methods and thought about why I made the instructional decisions that I did. I also began to experiment with some of these new ideas. I tried beginning each unit with a more in-depth problem solving experience. I tried allowing my students to have a productive struggle rather than rescue them immediately or merely giving all of the formulas/math ideas. I began to ask higher-level questions. I incorporated more discourse within my classes as well as more student engagement. Although I would like to think that I was a fine teacher before Math in the Middle, I also know that my teaching before and after earning a Masters Degree were significantly different. On top of all of this, Math in the Middle has created a network of other math educators that I am still close to and in contact with today. This experience revitalized me and reminded me of what brought me to the field of education initially . . . a true love of school and a true love of learning! On behalf of all of the students that I have had in my classroom since Math in the Middle, we are so extremely grateful for this amazing experience!
A New Role
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I am a planner. I get bored quickly and like to move on to new challenges. After completing Math in the Middle, I then completed an administrative endorsement and National Board certification in 2008. I was then ready to move on to a new challenge and so I became a secondary math instructional coach with the Curriculum Department for Lincoln Public Schools. With this new role, I would be working with secondary math teachers. I would be helping them in a variety of ways: with lesson planning, with student engagement, modeling lessons and with facilitating/assisting with Professional Learning Communities. The Curriculum Department part of this role included new tasks, too. It included things like leading Professional Development sessions and writing district assessments and other curricular materials. Another interesting part to this role was that I worked with high schools and all of the high schools. I had been called nave, but wasnt really sure I agreed. I felt like I knew people and more specifically, I knew teachers and their different styles. I felt like I was aware of which teachers were superstars and which ones werent. In this new role as an instructional coach, though, I found myself often times amazed (and appalled) at what was happening in classrooms. To be fair, I should also recognize that there were many, many wonderful and amazing things happening in classrooms, too. Yet, the fact remained, that there were teachers whose intentions were not always positive. Their goal was to get students or to punish them. It felt as if some were just putting in their time to get a paycheck. Some were not abiding by district policy as far as curriculum and assessment practices. To say that I was shocked would be an understatement. In this new role of instructional coach, I found that spending time in classrooms was a very important aspect to my job that would allow me to be most effective. I needed teachers to see me as a peer wanting to collaborate with them and I needed to experience the classrooms to have a real sense of the current reality of the classes to best help the teachers. On one occasion 15
during the first week of school, one classroom that I was in was completing a Get-to-Know-You BINGO activity. With this activity, students were given several qualities/characteristics and their task was to find people in the class that fit those characteristics. The person that fit that quality signed their name on the others paper. The goal was to find as many people that fit the qualities (get the most signatures) within a certain amount of time. The activity began and I was participating along with the students in the class. One of the given qualities was has blond hair. It wasnt long before I realized that I had a line of students wanting me to sign my name for this particular category. I looked around to see who else could sign for this trait and to my surprise, nobody else in the classroom had blond hair. I looked more closely at the demographics of the students in the class and realized that the class consisted of mostly males and a majority were minority students. The class was an Algebra Block class (the lowest of the non-special education courses offered at the high school level). That made me curious about the other Algebra Block classrooms. Unfortunately, this disproportion of minority students was common in the lower level courses. The opposite could be said for the differentiated courses, as well. There were very few non-Asian minority students in the upper-level courses. (Specific numbers of students in below grade level, on grade level and above grade level courses is found in the Literature Review.) The feeling that I had that there is a real problem in our schools was only growing and growing . . .
Back to School Again When good opportunities present themselves, I try to take advantage of them even if the timing isnt what I had hoped for or planned. After earning a Masters Degree, I had
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assumed that my schooling was not over. However, I had pictured that happening at some point in the future . . . now didnt seem to be the right time. I learned of another National Science Foundation funded grant opportunity (again led by Jim Lewis at the University of Nebraska Lincoln). This opportunity was for twentyfour Nebraska Math teachers that already had a Masters Degree that worked in highneed school districts. The focus of high-need schools, the university, and the leader of the grant were all in my mind positive aspects of this opportunity. The focus of this program had some similarities with Math in the Middle. There was an emphasis on increasing math knowledge as well as a focus on pedagogical knowledge. This program, however, included the additional focus on diversity and working with students in highneed schools. Upon being accepted into this program, I began to think about topics of interest or problems of practice that I may be interested in researching. Since I wanted to be thorough and didnt want to jump to one topic too quickly, I tried to think through a complete list of possible ideas. The Doctoral Seminar courses led by Dr. Ted Hamann helped with this process as well. Reading about the problems of practice of others proved very beneficial. Reading about Ruth Heatons journey as well as Jeffrey Wilhelms experiences gave me a vision of what was to come for me in my journey. These two books showed me that it is okay to not have all of the answers; that the power and learning is in the process. I created lists and lists of topics of interests, yet I kept coming back to one topic . . . the problem of the achievement gap. The topic that I am interested in researching is math achievement of successful African American male students. It is a wonderful feeling to have a topic that is of great importance to me, but also to so many others. It is a
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great feeling to be researching a topic that I am so passionate about. In looking back at my journey as an educator, I can see many influential experiences over the past many, many years that have all contributed to me being at this point today. And for those experiences both positive and negative I hope to channel those events into something great and positive that can be a benefit to many!
Research Methods As a person that really enjoys and teaches math, I initially thought of myself as somebody that would enjoy and utilize quantitative methods with my own research; it just seemed like a natural fit. I quickly learned, though, that theres more to my style than numbers. Although seeing numbers related to the achievement gap is concerning (and seems to be the proof that there really is a discrepancy in performance of our students), its the real, human stories that can be the most powerful and impactful to me. I also learned that theres more to preparing research studies than matching the researchers preferences. Once I solidified in my mind that the topic of my research was to be something related to the math achievement of African American students, I started brainstorming what that may entail. I already knew of personal stories of students that were struggling with math as well as personal stories of students that were successful with math. One of the initial aspects that I thought could be a real possibility with my research was the use of interviews in hopes to learn more about those personal stories or others similar to them. Therefore, I enrolled in the Discourse Analysis course to learn more about analyzing language. Analyzing language in this way could describe how language works in order to
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understand it (Gee, 2011, p. 9). It was in this course that I began to think about the complexities with language and discourse. There is much more to be considered than the mere words spoken. The context is of importance as is the background of those involved. James Paul Gee used the term figured worlds to refer to these influences. A figured world is a picture of a simplified world that captures what is taken to be typical or normal. What is taken to be typical or normal, of course, varies by context and by peoples social and cultural group (Gee, 2011, p. 71). While interviewing people with my research, it will be important to address this issue and learn about the students viewpoint to ensure that I accurately understand what the students are saying. One way to get at peoples figured worlds is to ask: What must I assume this person (consciously or unconsciously) believes in order to make deep sense of what he or she is saying? (Gee, 2011, p. 94). One example of a figured world that Gee discussed that relates to my research is the figured world related to the idea of success. Gee described this figured world as: if one has ability, and if, because of competition or ones own strong drive, one works hard at achieving high goals, one will reach an outstanding level of accomplishment. And when one reaches this level one will be recognized as a success, which brings prestige and selfsatisfaction (Gee, 2011, p. 88). I would like to learn more from the African American students what their idea of success (as it relates to math class) is. I think that we, as educators, often times make assumptions about our students. We may assume that they value the same things we do. We might assume that students all have similar goals. That is why I am so eager to interview the students themselves. I want to hear from them what their thoughts are about math class and what factors have impacted their achievement. I
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am grateful to Dr. Sarroub and her work with teaching the Discourse Analysis course. I now feel much better prepared to analyze the data I collect in my upcoming research. In order to utilize interviews in my research, I needed to have an understanding of qualitative research, so that was the next research course I enrolled in. This course completely solidified that my passion lies with the human factor in research rather than with numbers and statistics. Dr. Ronald Shope began the course with a clear distinction between qualitative and quantitative methods. Below is a summary of my understanding of the differences: Quantitative Methods Large n value Processing and analyzing the data Researcher is not directly involved with the participants; objective Surveys, questionnaires and inventories Statistical analysis; numbers Cause-effect; predictions Qualitative Methods Small n value Being in the field with the participants Researcher is intensively involved with the participants; subjective Individual or small group interviews, observations Themes; words Complete understanding
Number of Participants (n) Time Devoted To Role of Researcher
Data Used Analysis Used Conclusions
Within the Qualitative Research course, five approaches were discussed (Narrative Research, Phenomenology, Grounded Theory, Ethnography and Case Study). The approach that I would like to pursue with my research is the case study approach. Case study research is a qualitative approach in which the investigator explores a real-life, contemporary bounded system (a case) . . . over time, through detailed, in-depth data collection (Creswell, 2013, p. 97). For my research, the participants would be from one specific school, thus the bounded system. My goal with utilizing this approach would be to gather a thorough, in-depth understanding of the thoughts and feelings of the African
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American male students about their experiences in math class. In interviewing several students, themes can be identified. Other possibilities within the case study might be classroom observations of the students or utilizing academic records/documents. Having a hard time abandoning the mathematical, number-loving part of me, I enrolled in the Introduction to Mixed Methods course. When beginning this course, I was sure that this was the research method I would use in my research project. The idea of using both quantitative and qualitative methods seemed to make so much sense (although merely using both methods alone is not true mixed methods; it includes mixing or integrating the results as well). The general idea and rationale of utilizing mixed methods is that the use of quantitative and qualitative approaches, in combination, provides a better understanding of research problems than either approach alone (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2007, p. 5). It seemed to make sense that both approaches could provide a more complete picture of the students that would be a part of my research. I had envisioned a transformative, sequential explanatory design in which the first phase would include quantitative surveys while the second phase would include in-depth qualitative interviews. The transformative piece made sense for this study because the study would focus on understanding the thoughts and experiences of African American students: a marginalized and underrepresented population. The topic of the study would be to address inequities and injustices within the education of African American students which again lends itself to being considered a transformative design. A final reason that this study could be labeled as transformational is that the goal of the study would be to provoke change and to thoroughly include the marginalized population in the research process (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011). Therefore, this mixed methods approach seemed practical because
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individuals tend to solve problems using both numbers and words (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011, p. 13). Its as if the mixed methods approach could provide a human touch to statistics/numbers. As I continued to think through the details of this possible mixed methods research project, however, I encountered some problems. I searched existing surveys to try to gather ideas of topics that could be assessed with this format. I found that there were very few surveys that would actually apply to this topic/research project. I also realized that the quantitative piece really did not add any additional information to my study. Anything that would be identified through the use of the surveys would be identified in the qualitative interviews (and would be with much more detail). I struggled with this dilemma for quite some time. I think this was an especially big struggle because of how much I enjoyed the Mixed Methods course and its instructor, Dr. Michelle Howell-Smith. However, I kept coming back to what I envision my central research question to be (What factors lead to math achievement for African American male students?) and how I would best gather information about that question. When I thought about that, I consistently came back to the idea of a qualitative case study. I cannot seem to justify a Mixed Methods study where I would be forcing a quantitative piece into the study. My love of math, the Boys Town youth, my experiences teaching elementary school, my foster son, Math in the Middle, the experiences I have had as an instructional coach and the teachers I have come in contact with in that role, as well as the courses I have taken as a part of my Program of Studies are all pieces of the puzzle that have helped create knowledge as well as an interest and passion inside of me. With that puzzle being nearly complete, I am now prepared and ready to complete the next step of this journey that I
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have been on. With the completion of coursework, I am still reminded that its not the ending point that is of value, but the entire voyage that is of greatest worth.
It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end. -Ernest Hemingway
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Appendix A: The Achievement Triangle (Howard, 2006)
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References Blanchett, W. J. (2006). Disproportionate representation of African American students in special education: Acknowledging the role of white privilege and racism. Educational Researcher, 35(6), 24-28. Creswell, J. W. (2013). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches (3rd ed.). Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publications. Creswell, J. W. & Plano Clark, V. L. (2007). Designing and conducting mixed methods research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Creswell, J. W. & Plano Clark, V. L. (2011). Designing and conducting mixed methods research. (2nd ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Gee, J. P. (2011). An introduction to discourse analysis: Theory and method (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. Greason, W. D. (2012). White like me. Journal of American Ethnic History, 32, 77-83. Howard, G. (2006). We can't teach what we don't know: White teachers, multiracial schools. New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Ladson-Billings, G. (2009). The dreamkeepers. (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Lindsey, R. B., & Terrell, R. D. (2008). Cultually proficient leadership: The personal journey begins within. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin. McIntosh, P. (1990, Winter). White privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack. Independent School, 31-36. Nuri-Robins, K., Lindsey, R. B., Lindsey, D., & Terrell, R. (2005). Culturally proficient instruction (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. School Improvement. (n.d.). Retrieved December 20, 2013, from Lincoln Public Schools 25
website: http://www.lps.org. Weissglass, J. (2002). Inequity in mathematics education: Questions for educators. The Mathematics Educator, 12(2), 34-39.
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My Journey as an Educator: Classroom Teacher to Doctoral Student Darla R.

Kelberlau-Berks University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Proactive: Transformation for Desired Equity

Number of Participants (n) Time Devoted To Role of Researcher

Data Used Analysis Used Conclusions

Appendix A: The Achievement Triangle (Howard, 2006)

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