Jeff Bretsch

May 15, 2005

I. "MY SYNTHESIS PRODUCT SHOWS THAT..."

A. I can convey who I want to influence/affect concerning what (Subject, Audience, Purpose).

My sense of who I wanted to influence evolved throughout the past three semesters as my website took shape. I originally wanted to affect my students and their experience in my high school math classes. As time went on I began to see that the potential impact for this website went beyond my students and that other teachers could benefit from this concrete example of how the web can help them to achieve goals that are otherwise difficult. I began to envision a school where teacher websites were the norm rather than the exception. My focus then became convincing teachers that this was a worthy investment of their time. I am working with several allies in the faculty and administration in an effort to provide teachers with the opportunity, time, and basic technical instruction to make the creation of similar websites a possibility.

B. I know what others have done before, either in the form of writing or action, that informs and connects with my project, and I know what others are doing now.

In my practicum course in particular, I spent a great deal of time researching the work of others in the field of educational technology and constructivist educational theory in particular. In the future, I would like the opportunity to connect with other individuals who are working in similar directions to share ideas and dialogue about future directions.

C. I have teased out my vision, so as to expand my view of issues associated with the project, expose possible new directions, clarify direction/scope within the larger set of issues, and decide the most important direction.

In my synthesis, before outlining the specifics of my website, I worked to justify this effort in the larger context of educational theory and instructional practice, in particular that of student-centered and constructivist learning. After presenting the specifics of the website, I also spent some time exploring and discussing four possible future directions for this project (assessment, expanding the content of the site, motivating student use, and getting other teachers on board). I think the challenge at this point is to stay the course and follow through along these avenues for future development.

D. I have identified the premises and propositions that my project depends on, and can state counter-propositions. I have taken stock of the thinking and research I need to do to counter those counter-propositions or to revise my own propositions.


I stated the goals of the website explicitly in the body of my synthesis. I also discussed and defended the educational theory behind this effort. I attempted to give credence to the perspective of opponents to constructivist learning and to propose my idea as a middle ground between pure constructivism and the traditional teacher-centered approach. I believe that this resistance to student-centered learning is a significant obstacle and warrants further study and careful facilitation on my part if this change is to take place on a large scale in my school community.

E. I have clear objectives with respect to product, both written and practice, and process, including personal development as a reflective practitioner. I have arranged my work in a sequence (with realistic deadlines) to realize these objectives.

I have been working on this synthesis since I entered the program. In each of the last three classes (Eval., Pract., & Synth.) I have focused on developing specific components of the website. In the Evaluation course I keyed in and discussed the communication aspects of the site and in Practicum I developed and discussed the critical thinking components. The main focus of my work in the synthesis course wasn’t as much website development as it was exploring the future directions and tying it all together. Breaking the project down into these more manageable sub-goals made the writing of the final synthesis paper less of a generative process and more of an opportunity to truly synthesize my previous critical and creative work.

F. I have gained direct information, models, and experience not readily available from other sources.

By exploring other examples of teacher websites and conversing with colleagues, fellow students, and professors, I was able to refine my vision for my class website as well as see possible future directions. Again, now that my resource is more fully developed, I see conversations with other professionals who are working toward the goals of course website development or student-centered learning in a more general sense as a goal in the months ahead.

G. I have clarified the overall progression or argument underlying my research and the written reports.

Two activities in particular had a major impact in terms of helping me to clarify my overall progression. Both occurred in the Synthesis course. One was the creation of a mind map to help me pin down where I needed to invest my time and to help me see possible areas that could be omitted. I was initially not very enthusiastic about spending my time doing this, but once I had created this map, I felt much more in control of my project and my vision for its development. Having all of my various lists connected in a visual and less linear fashion communicated the big picture in a way that the lists did not.
Once I had a better sense of my overall vision, the other significant activity was the creation of my table of contents. This forced me to see the progression in a more linear sense as it would play out in my paper. I was also better able to recognize the different sections and work on effectively transitioning between them.

H. My writing and other products Grab the attention of the readers/audience, Orient them, move them along in Steps, so they appreciate the Position I've led them to.

I titled the synthesis in an attention-grabbing manner “Have your pi and eat it too!” I also tried to begin the paper in an engaging almost conversational tone to help get the reader’s interest and to frame the problem in a way that is concrete and easily understood. I then attempted to orient the reader as to the major points that I would be discussing, namely constructivist learning and the creation of a course website. The paper then progressed in logical steps, first discussing the research on constructivism, followed by a careful walkthrough of the goals and content of the website, concluding in a discussion of where I see my project going from here. I hope that by the end, the teacher can understand my position, will consider it relevant, and may be willing to pursue similar avenues on their own.

I. I have facilitated new avenues of classroom, workplace, and public participation.

I am presently involved with a team of colleagues with the support of administration working on a professional development experience that would give other teachers the opportunity to create their own websites using a software package that provides an easy to use interface and ready-made templates. I am hoping that the example of my website will serve to validate the effort and inspire enthusiasm toward the task. We will be conducting this in-service during the 2005-2006 school year.

J. To feed into my future learning and other work, I have taken stock of what has been working well and what needs changing.

I have collected data regarding individual experiences with my website from my students and their parents as well as my colleagues and CCT classmates. This feedback will then be used to help me revise and improve the site. This ongoing process of evaluation and revision has been helpful and should work to keep the site useful and relevant. I was also very happy with the results of my early attempts to integrate an action research model with a team of students focused on improving the site. They were tremendously helpful and their enthusiasm for the project validated yet again the effectiveness of the action research model in establishing ownership and motivation for change.

II. DEVELOPING AS A REFLECTIVE PRACTITIONER, INCLUDING TAKING INITIATIVE IN AND THROUGH RELATIONSHIPS

1. I have integrated knowledge and perspectives from CCT and other courses into my own inquiry and engagement in social and/or educational change.

The CCT program in general has helped me to become a reflective practitioner in my teaching. I have also sought out ways to bring the idea of collaborative change and participatory action research to my colleagues and administrators. I plan to continue to work to bring about this type of decision-making and problem-solving structure in my school. As a teacher, I have also developed a stronger sense of my own philosophy of education and have sought out ways to provide my students with quality opportunities for critical and even creative thought in the context of my mathematics classes.

2. I have also integrated into my own inquiry and engagement the processes, experiences, and struggles of previous courses.

The critical and creative thinking courses helped me better understand the interplay between these two functions of my brain. I am naturally a critical thinker and I have tried to loosen up the critical reigns at the beginning of a project or paper by free-writing or brainstorming without initial judgment. I have found that when I have spent some time generating a variety of new work, I am then able to use these sometimes disconnected thoughts to critically build a more interesting and complete product than I could have if I had tried to write a finished product on the first try.

3. I have developed efficient ways to organize my time, research materials, computer access, bibliographies, etc.

Organizational ability is one of my strengths, but procrastination is a major weakness! Setting deadlines and requiring that certain portions of my work be completed for these minor deadlines has helped in this respect. Also the focus in the CCT program on revision has held me accountable for my progress. One area in which I learned a great deal was that of research. I became much more adept at accessing relevant research and I was able to group this research along shared threads.

4. I have experimented with new tools and experiences, even if not every one became part of my toolkit as a learner, teacher/facilitator of others, and reflective practitioner.

In the evaluation course in particular I experimented with some new tools. With a team of students I conducted a plus/delta evaluation and an ORID focused discussion. I also worked through the processes of group creativity in the Invention course. This process of contributing, listening, and even sacrificing was a valuable one.

5. I have paid attention to the emotional dimensions of undertaking my own project but have found ways to clear away distractions from other sources (present & past) and not get blocked, turning apparent obstacles into opportunities to move into unfamiliar or uncomfortable territory.

I tend to get overwhelmed by the prospect of writing large papers. My struggles with procrastination can be very frustrating. Even during the times set aside for writing, I often find myself doing everything but writing. My desk is pristine, the bills are all paid, etc. I was able to overcome this by breaking this massive assignment down into smaller, more manageable chunks. I would try to give myself specific attainable goals for my time. Achieving these smaller goals made my time feel productive and these successes helped me to overcome inertia the next time.

6. I have developed peer and other horizontal relationships. I have sought support and advice from peers, and have given support and advice to them when asked for.

I was fortunate to share my time in this program with some terrific people. They provided excellent constructive feedback as well as encouragement and enthusiastic support. I was able to get advice from other math teachers as well as individuals who were coming from completely different fields with much different perspectives. I was also able to contribute to their work in much the same way.

7. I have taken the lead, not dragged my feet, in dialogue with my advisor and other readers. I didn't wait for the them to tell me how to solve an expository problem, what must be read and covered in a literature review, or what was meant by some comment I didn't understand. I didn't put off giving my writing to my advisor and other readers or avoid talking to them because I thought that they didn't see things the same way as I do.

I have been fortunate to work with advisors and readers in each of my past three classes who were prompt and thoughtful in their responses to my work. I respected that and tried to reciprocate by being prompt with my assignments and by taking their advice seriously and addressing their concerns.

8. I have revised seriously, which involved responding to the comments of others. I came to see this not as bowing down to the views of others, but taking them in and working them into my own reflective inquiry until I could convey more powerfully to others what I'm about (which may have changed as a result of the reflective inquiry).

I felt that I had a solid relationship with each of my advisors and professors and appreciated their feedback. Although I did not always agree with every idea they advanced, I appreciated that they were engaging with my work on more than a surface level. As a result I took their suggestions seriously and tried to use this feedback to refine my vision and to adjust my presentation until it was clear and convincing.

9. I have inquired and negotiated about formal standards, but gone on to develop and internalize my own criteria for doing work—criteria other than jumping through hoops set by the professor so I get a good grade.

I hold high personal standards for myself as to the quality of my work, so I appreciated the freedom given in this program to explore my own directions and to create products that I felt were meaningful to me. I did not often feel constrained by the professors’ expectations, but felt free to work toward satisfying my own expectations. As an individual who is intrinsically motivated, this freedom made my experience in this program personally valuable.

10. I have approached the CCT synthesis course and the CCT program as works-in-progress, which means that, instead of harboring criticisms to submit after the fact, I have found opportunities to affirm what is working well and to suggest directions for further development.

I have always found the dialogue in the CCT program to be very open and honest. The directors and professors are willing to hear differing opinions and to take those into account. The program seems to always be evolving as do the people within it. I have tried to contribute to this ongoing dialogue concerning what I think are the programs strengths and areas that I think it occasionally falls short. This type of organizational style is not common, but it works (especially for creative people!). In my experience, the students feel invested in the program and root for its success.