Comments from students on the
discussion board have been overwhelmingly positive, approving of my subject
matter and wishing me luck. Since
creating my Action Research Plan, I have also been sharing my progress with my
fellow Career and Technology teachers through emails and bi-monthly staff
meetings, and this is where I have received feedback that has actually changed
my plan.
Some of the comments from other
teachers have admittedly been self-serving.
Those whose classes were not included in the study wanted to know why
(although I had explained the decision process), and one even went into great
detail why her class (Forensics) would be a better subject to include in a
media campaign because “girls look so good in a uniform.” I replied that I was trying to focus on the
positive aspects of the content of the class and what taking the class might
mean to a student’s future. I reiterated
this in a subsequent email to the department with a review of how the classes
were chosen.
One teacher (Health Sciences) did
bring up the fact that she didn’t want me to use the word “Nursing” in the
media campaign where her classes were concerned. Her course is officially called “Health
Sciences‚” but everyone (counselors, administrators, even our own director) continually
lumps all the classes into “Nursing.” I
was not aware of this and was guilty of doing the same.
As a result of the feedback from
this teacher, I began reflecting on the process of the study rather than the
end result. I had no doubt that just
including media depicting male students in Health Science classes would
encourage male student enrollment, however, using the term “Health Sciences”
instead of “Nursing” seemed to me to be deviating from the particulars of the
study. I felt that issue needed to be
addressed in another study, one focusing on changing the terminology used by
members of the school in regards to that course.
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