English Composition
Fairuze Ahmed Ramirez
As a participant in the 2023-24 Open For Anti Racism Program, my cohort team and I all wrote anti-racist action plans, after we collectively explored how open pedagogy and open educational resources can support anti-racist and inclusive teaching practices. I was personally interested in implementing a research project that fostered students' abilities to investigate the following:
What is embodied solidarity? I aimed to tap into students’ emotional intellectual intelligence, and build on students’ cultural competence, and active listening and learning practices, with careful consideration to how different peoples from different backgrounds have been represented in both the historical and contemporary records such as–text, media, movies, books, public policy–to name a few.
I also wanted to make sure this project allowed students to think about what it means to report with integrity in a time where nuanced discourse has ceased to exist–that in order for life experiences to be valid and real, nuance and complexity needs to be illuminated, embraced, recorded, and authentically presented. For more details about this project, see the two prompts I created for English 300. I solicited students feedback about this project, to help me refine the prompt to ensure it was clear and guiding for students, and I was flexible about how they chose to present their findings, as long as they adhered to the ethics of qualitative research as outlined in our assessment composition requirements.
Overall, this project was a success because I learned about important issues and topics that students were passionate about discussing, and while there were some challenges, which I transparently discuss in my written reflections, and in my part 2 video below--students still completed this project successfully.
In this landing page, you will find my google slides introducing how my teaching methods and instruction supported students' learning for our research and mass communications unit in various modes like google slides and a talk contextualizing my methods. It is important to mention, before students conducted research on their topics, they first had to complete a module dedicated to media and information literacy. For instance, students engaged with videos and canvas pages that supported their understanding of cognitive and confirmation bias, and they participated in discussions about how our biases inform how we interact and consume texts--thus influencing deeply held beliefs about current or historical topics. Further, in our previous units, we read and discussed what is critical analysis, and students had many opportunities to distinguish and compose summary, analysis, and synthesis writing. In the google slides below, I tried my best to simplify how I implemented my OFAR action plan through the scaffolding of small low stakes assignments. In addition, below you will also find the prompts for the solidarity project and the readings I used to support students' understanding of qualitative research and how to conduct interviews keeping in mind ethical considerations. Further, you will also find how I modeled conducting an oral history interview with my colleague and team lead, Greg Breyer--all to set students up for success on our Solidarity Project.
Research Scaffolding Before I introduced the Solidarity Project, students participated in learning activities about Media and Information Literacy and How to Develop Research Questions. Faculty with existing accounts or would like to create an account with Canvas Learning Management System click Log In to Canvas to be able to access open access creative commons pages that you can easily add to your existing canvas course shells. For instance, if you are interested in including a module for information literacy these two pages are shared by me:
The Order of My Teaching Methods for The Solidarity Project:
Solidarity and Integrity: What do these words Mean? - Google Docs
Assigned Readings Below and guided comprehension questions asked in discussion format, to support students' learning about ethical considerations before conducting qualitative research.
Students also responded to this Ted Talk A Palestinian and an Israeli, Face to Face | Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon | TED
in this Think, Write, Share in-class to facilitate a deeper engagement with what is embodied solidarity?I also modeled with my colleague and cohort team lead, Greg Breyer, how to conduct an oral history interview, you can access my narrative reflection and our two recorded videos in this document: FAR- Oral-History Narrative Reflection & Interviews
Students in my English 300 class helped me simplify and clarify this prompt to ensure instructions were clear and guiding:
The Solidarity Project Prompt: Preserving an Oral HistoryIf students opt to share their stories in a podcast form use this prompt that students helped me create:
Reporting with Integrity Podcast
Teaching Guide and Extra Prompts for Scaffolding:
These prompts Reflexive Research Journal Prompt & Interpreting Results in Narrative Form Prompt -were assigned after students had developed their research questions, and after having met with their interviewee at least once. The goal is for students to keep self-assessing their thinking and write reflexively about their research process as facts or incidents emerge. And too, to openly share their ideas about the topic before, during, and after the interview and research has been completed, so students can articulate how their ideas or feelings about the topic evolved or not and to ensure they can easily write (translate and construct meaning) about their results.
After students interpret their results in narrative form, they have the freedom to choose how they showcase their results via podcast form, video recording, or in google sites. To set students up for success, it is helpful to show students examples of previous works done by previous students before they start curating and translating their findings and to supplement their learning with how to videos or guided workshops.
Another option to ensure projects are centered to build on students' strengths, ask students to use a mode of communication that they already have experience in using--like Tik-Tok, Canva to create a Research Poster or Brochure, Google Slides with embedded images or links, or Google Sites.
The important role of the teacher is to provide students with opportunities for online or in class feedback, guidance, and peer review with clear assessment criteria on how to present their findings in a way that is easily accessible for students' audience and readers.
For students who did not interview someone or perhaps did not do the reflexive journal, and instead use their own social positionings and lived experiences to preserve and share their perspectives or story, I encouraged students to be as detailed and transparent as possible about why their story is important, and to ensure their writing overall adheres to the final prompt of this project.
Oral History Interviewing with Purpose and Critical Awareness.pdfGuided Comprehension Questions for Students:
This handbook addresses "major issues that emerge are those of understanding the purpose of power structures in participants’ lives, arts-based approaches to oral history aware of transdisciplinary and developing critical consciousness or awareness of one’s place in societal structures. Possibilities are endless in terms of using digital techniques and arts-based techniques for data presentation, data analysis, and dissemination. The power of oral history is the power of storytelling. By using current technology and working in a transdisciplinary context, oral history may now be more readily accessible and available to a wider population, thus moving toward a critical social consciousness"- as cited in the Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Research (2020).
Carefully read the section of Types of Interview Questions to Consider- keeping in mind your research interest and topic, what kinds of questions might you consider asking your interviewee?
On page 463, it discusses the importance of doing oral history- recall and discuss at least 3 reasons why it is important to conduct oral interviews and how it leads to a more democratic society?
Read the section on Writing Oral History as a Narrative and Researchers Reflexive Journal -What role does a reflective journal have on the success of writing the Oral History as a Narrative? What is reflexive writing?
What are some major issues facing Oral History Researchers?
What art-based approaches are you considering after reading your options for how you will present your data?
Please share your research question(s) at least 2 that your interview will hopefully provide depth on the topic. Also share any concerns with your instructor, in this space or any other questions you have.
The Influence of Power Shifts in Data Collection and Analysis Sta (1).pdfGuided Comprehension Questions for Students:
What are the practical recommendations for minimizing the power dynamics during data analysis in the research qualitative interview?
What are the benefits of a semi-structured interview method as described in the section of the ‘author’s case?
In terms of power asymmetry between the interviewer and interviewee, what actions might you take before the actual interview to enhance a deeper discerning into your research process?
