The Research Question

Do not underestimate the research question.  I did.  Big mistake.  Looking on the bright side, the best part about making mistakes is learning from them.  This is the basic premise of Assessment for Learning (AFL).  Engage, get feedback, and revise.  Guess where I am?  I am in the AFL cycle.  The biggest hurdle for me is getting feedback.  Well, I got it.  Strangely, it was not as bad as I thought it would be.  Yes, I am in the midst of revision and thinking about what’s important to me, but it was reassuring to hear that how I feel resonates with the feedback I received.  This is a good connection.  On the one hand, it was deja vu.  On the other hand, I heard what was said.  This is promising.

As much as I am passionate about teaching mathematics, students learning mathematics, and students LOVING mathematics, I cannot pinpoint what is actually “important” to me in terms of research.  What question do I want to know the answer to?  That is the question.  At first I was looking at out-of-field teaching, secondary mathematics education, quality of teaching, building expertise, content and pedagogical content knowledge, professional learning, and student achievement.  Whew.  As you can see, it is a mouthful.  Although the “topic” is good, what is my entry point?

The underpinning to AFL is exercising the virtues of courage, honesty, and justice (MacIntyre, 1984).  Courage means to take risks, honesty is about truthfulness and trust, and justice entails formative feedback from those who are experts in the field.  To exercise all three virtues is to strive for excellence and achieve the goods internal to my research and pursuing my degree in Educational Leadership.  I need a “good” research question to venture forwards.  It is not to say that what I have done so far has been worthless, it is to say that I need to find my focus to make it worthwhile.