The Analytic Memo
An Excerpt
Teacher Talk does not appear to exist in a vacuum: the environment, occasion, assignment, my mood, and the
student all can influence my talk (and a student’s response).
This is my second analytic memo of this project. In my first memo, I spent considerable
time analyzing my own talk. I charted my teacher talk using the categories from Johnston’s
Choice Words (2004) and I worked to refine my conferences with students by aligning my
practice more closely with Calkins (2005) work. This was useful. In reviewing the data,
especially audio clips of conferences, I think my talk is becoming less stilted and the phases
of the conferences less like a formula to follow and more like a pathway to real instructional
conversations. And I have been relentless in using mentor-texts. Furthermore, in listening to
those audio clips and doing note taking/note making, there is evidence that my students are
responding more like writers and less like students wanting to please the teacher! This is
exactly what I’d hoped to see in this project. Here’s an illustration from the data:
Me: Carey, what are you working on as a writer today?
C:
Stuck. I want to write this like the Atemis Fowl book with codes and symbols
and stuff. I can’t get it to work so good. See? This doesn’t work.
Me: Mmmm…what have you tried so far?
C:
Putting the code in different places.
Me: Why isn’t it working?
C:
Well…..there isn’t much of a story, just a code?
Me: Carey, I am really proud of you for figuring that out! How did you do that?
C:
I went back to the book, just like you said yesterday in class. I read the
prologue again!
But there is another nagging turn of events in the project reflected in the synthesis statement
written above. When I read it now, it almost seems like a “Duh. Of course,” kind of
statement, but I think I assumed that if I got my teacher talk right, the conference phases
mastered and a hefty dose of mentor-text, that would be the end of the story. But it isn’t.
I begin noticing this when doing note making for my January 10 conference with Jenna. I
was tired, still upset about a lunch conversation during the conference. Jenna was bouncing
all over the place. She just could not focus. The office called twice in about 3 minutes
making requests. Jenna had this new bracelet and she would not stop twirling and twisting it.
I’d given her a story map to complete when she was stuck the day before, but instead of
writing on it, she had drawn pictures all over it and written her name in five different colors,
including at least three different spellings of “Jenna.” When note making, I realized the
pictures, the bracelet and the name writing might have all been potential writing topics. But
all I could focus on was her behavior and the fact that she hadn’t followed the story map. I
kept biting my tongue – a new form of teacher talk. Why couldn’t I see the potential in front
of me? How was the expectation of how the story map was to be completed getting in my
way of teaching Jenna?
Teacher Action Research Workshop:
Data Analysis & Interpretation
EARCOS Teachers’ Conference 2012
Donna Kalmbach Phillips