Blog post #3 Research Menu

 Upon reading Rachel's Journey to Praxis: Supporting Youth Activism, it became evident that she was employing an innovative research method, 'Crust.' This qualitative approach, centered on interviews, enabled her to gather perspectives from nine youth workers within three non-profit organizations focused on supporting young people. 

To me, her sauce felt like a constructivist mindset. She used this research to build on a guiding idea or theory: that systems and structures are malleable and that young people can challenge the conditions and policies that inform their lives. From what I understand from the reading, she believes that can be done through youth social justice activism. 

Her toppings were the interviews. The interviews were used to build upon her research and come to a conclusion. 

Blog Post #2 Postpositivism

What I understood about postpositivism is that reality is out there and real, but we are either incapable or limited to fully capture it. Because of this, I find it hard to believe and act in 100 percent absolutes. I align with postpositivism in most of the three research ideologies. I believe in and search for objective truths, with the caveat that some truths might be imperfect. The example of the swans given in the video was perfect. When you think of a swan, you think of a white majestic bird. Seeing a black swan is enough proof to interrupt how a person might live or see the world. It reminds me of the first time I saw a black squirrel. For most of my life, I believed all squirrels were brown. It was a significant identifying trait. It was what I was used to. Seeing a black squirrel didn't shatter my world, but it was an "oh moment where it was made clear that my assumption was incorrect.

If I were to take a post-positivist approach and apply it to one of my questions about the previous post, I would shift over to my questions about the MLL students in RI. I would shift my thinking to Providence schools that are struggling to assist and teach MLL students. I would shift it and comb through the different classes and find what teachers are excelling and doing, and attempt to capture what the reality is.

Blog Post #1 21 minus 1 questions

1.  What is going on in the Rhode Island education system?
2. Why are La Salle, Barrington, and Jamestown students excelling, but Providence students aren't?
3. How much damage did the redline do to the education system?
4. Are Rhode Island High school students filling URI, Providence College, Brown, etc, seats, or are those students coming from out of state?
5. Should CTE schools be more prevalent in RI?
6. Is Providence equipped to be a sanctuary city?
7. Are RI Schools equipped to work with Multi-language Learners?
8. If not, who's fault is it? How can we make it better?
9. Is the American school system inequitable? 
10. Is restorative justice a true option as opposed to flat-out suspension? 
11.  What isn't being done in our state that other successful school systems in other states are doing?
12. What is being done about classroom control? How are teachers managing behavioral students compared to students who are paying attention?  
13. What is the budget for education in the state of Rhode Island?
14. Are there enough after-school programs that involve tutoring? 
15. Should there be longer school hours?
16. Are students learning another language?
17. How is Rhode Island testing compared to other successful states? 
18. Is technology affecting kids learning ability?
19. How is Technology helping/advancing their Learning ability?
20. What can parents/caregivers do to help the student be successful?