Georgann Cope Watson | Thompson Rivers University (original) (raw)

Papers by Georgann Cope Watson

The division of students into social categories is a phenomenon that invites inquiry. Historicall... more The division of students into social categories is a phenomenon that invites inquiry. Historically, students have tended to migrate towards one of two groups: the preps who embrace all aspects of school life and the punks who reject all aspects of school life. These two groups are reproductions of the social order. This paper inquires into three elements of the discourse of schooling that influence the categorization of students; normalization, the hidden curriculum and the social contract. Résumé La division des étudiantes et étudiants en catégories sociales est un phénomène digne d’être exploré. Dans le passé, les étudiantes et étudiants ont eu tendance à s’attacher à l’un de deux groupes, soit les conventionnels « bon-chic-bon-genre » (preppies) qui acceptent tous les aspects de la vie à l’école et les rebelles (punks) qui rejettent tous ces aspects. Ces deux groupes reproduisent l’ordre social. Le texte qui suit examine trois éléments du discours au sujet de l’école qui influenc...

Textiles and Tapestries, 2020

, 2010). "A critical friend acts as a sounding board, asks challenging questions, supports refram... more , 2010). "A critical friend acts as a sounding board, asks challenging questions, supports reframing of events, and joins in the professional learning experience" (Schuck & Russell, 2005, p. 107). CEN is well-aligned with LaBoskey's (2004) criteria of self-study: "it is self-initiated and focused; it is improvementaimed; it is interactive; it includes multiple, mainly qualitative methods; and it defines validity as a validation process based on trustworthiness" (p. 817). Data includes detailed weekly reflections and feedback from students. Students provide written feedback at the end of each class and at the end of term through a survey and course evaluation. E-journal reflections are shared with a critical friend via email and in person over MS Teams. Then, together we make meaning from them. The research text evolves from teacher-to-teacher conversations (Howe, 2010; Howe & Cope-Watson, 2020; Yonemura, 1982).

In this self-study of teacher educator practices (S-STEP) I follow my journey with the alternate ... more In this self-study of teacher educator practices (S-STEP) I follow my journey with the alternate delivery mode during four semesters of graduate education in Educational Studies. I encountered many surprises, that came in the form of tensions around engaging students in online delivery. The surprises were grounded in my teacher identity, I had been teaching online for 13 years and I identify as a strong online pedagogue. However, I encountered many challenges in the sudden pivot to alternate delivery mode required due to the COVID19 Pandemic. This study applies a reflective process through a collection and thematic analysis of data from four lenses: the lens of students, the lens of colleagues, the lens of self and the lens of the literature (Brookfield, 2010). The purpose of this study is to listen to self and to others to find ways to improve student engagement in the alternate delivery mode of learning. The implications of this study are for both personal and professional practic...

Over the past 30 years my teaching strategies have evolved but I continue to use many pedagogies ... more Over the past 30 years my teaching strategies have evolved but I continue to use many pedagogies that have proven effective over the years (or so I think). Now, I am teaching a graduate course focused on comparative and international education (CIE). From my teaching experience abroad, I came to be fascinated by CIE. Will these students become engaged and immersed in the subject area as I have become? What can I do to facilitate their learning? How can S-STEP and a critical friend help me to improve my teaching of CIE? These are the research questions framing this self-study. I enlisted the help of an S-STEP critical friend also teaching in our graduate program. "A critical friend acts as a sounding board, asks challenging questions, supports reframing of events, and joins in the professional learning experience" (Schuck & Russell, 2005, p. 107). My Comparative Ethnographic Narrative (CEN) approach (Howe, 2010) to S-STEP is well-aligned with LaBoskey's (2004) criteria of self-study: "it is self-initiated and focused; it is improvementaimed; it is interactive; it includes multiple, mainly qualitative methods; and it defines validity as a validation process based on trustworthiness" (p. 817). Objectives In this research, I critically analyze my teaching of graduate students through S-STEP with the help of a critical friend. In addition, I explore CEN as another way of knowing within the S-STEP space. Methods Upon ERB approval, I am collecting data on my teaching September ~December 2019. I write detailed weekly reflections on my teaching in an e-journal. In addition, I include reflections on feedback received from my students. Students provide written feedback at the end of each class and at the end of term through course evaluation. I share my e-journal reflections with my critical friend via email and in person biweekly. Then, together we make meaning from them. The research text evolves from our teacher-to-teacher conversations (Howe, 2010; Yonemura, 1982).

Canadian Journal For the Study of Adult Education, 2010

This article discusses how narrative research that began as an exploration of adult educator prac... more This article discusses how narrative research that began as an exploration of adult educator practice transitioned to incorporate an examination of researcher lenses, ultimately resulting in an increased understanding of the critical role that researcher subjectivity plays in the collaborative qualitative research process. First, we discuss the aims and methodology of our original research study, which explored significant experiences in adult educators' practice. We examine how our focus shifted during the analytical stages of this research to explore our own presence in the research. We then discuss each of our own subjectivities and how our individual researcher lenses influenced our collaborative research. Next, we detail our research findings, exploring how acknowledging our own subjectivities altered our approach to the data, helping us to reconceptualize the 14 initial themes in our interviews with adult educators to three overriding ones: meaningfulness and ambiguities, power and critique, and reflection and authenticity. We then discuss emerging issues about collaborative inquiry and how our subjectivities as researchers construct lenses that continually inform our research processes, including the analysis and interpretation of data. We conclude that researcher subjectivities, when overtly invited into the research process, can become powerful tools in collaborative qualitative research .

The purpose of this study is to apply a self-study research methodology to seek out insights into... more The purpose of this study is to apply a self-study research methodology to seek out insights into the relationship between teacher social identity and student perceptions of teacher authenticity and credibility. The research question for this study is: How does teacher social identity intersect with authenticity and credibility when teaching about relations? The research problem for this study is grounded in the complexity of teaching power relations in graduate education to adult learners. I want to determine if my teaching practices are appropriate for a curriculum that examines diversity, multiculturalism and social justice education. My social identity is white, woman, cisgendered, with an invisible learning disability (dyslexia), middle class, educated, Christian and English speaking. My social location, linked to my social identity, affords me a privileged space in a complex web of intersecting identities as I hold the privileged position of a university professor. The theoretical framework for this study draws upon self-study literature to inform the reflective and analytical framework of a practice of analysis grounded in self

This qualitative research study is about two women doctoral students who are experiencing ―The Im... more This qualitative research study is about two women doctoral students who are experiencing ―The Imposter Syndrome‖ (Clance & Imes, 1978), a phenomenon characterized by an inability to internalize academic success. The purpose of this study is to connect the theoretical frameworks around this phenomenon to our experiences as women graduate students in a doctoral program. The research question for this study is: Do our email conversations provide us with clues to explain our imposter feelings? The methodology for this study is autoethnography (Ellis, 1997). Emails collected over an eight month period provide the data for this study. To analyze the data we used thematic analysis. The data reveal three predominant themes; fear, family and fellowship. The findings of this study provoke an extension into the experiences of other doctoral students as they meet the challenges of self concepts in their course of study.

This qualitative self-study explored the disappointment I felt as a part-time university teacher ... more This qualitative self-study explored the disappointment I felt as a part-time university teacher in a mid-sized, primarily undergraduate Ontario university, where I experienced difficulty integrating my beliefs about teaching into my practice of teaching. The purpose of this qualitative study was to inquire into why it was difficult for me, representative of a part-time university teacher in a mid-sized, primarily undergraduate university, to enact the critical pedagogical practices I espoused in my teaching philosophy. The secondary purpose was to apply the findings of the study to reframe my university teaching practice in a way that met my need to enact my beliefs about university teaching while complying with the broader geo-political conditions of part-time university teaching in Ontario (Loughran, 2006; Russell & Loughran, 2007). This study is grounded in the sociological theoretical framework of critical pedagogy (Freire, 1970; Giroux, 1988, 2010; McLaren, 2003) and the methodological framework of The Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices (S-STEP). This study combined the methods of Brookfield’s (1995; 2002) critically reflective practice and Cole and Knowles (2000) practice of reflexive inquiry with Creswell’s (2005) methods of thematic analysis to answer the research question: Why is it difficult for me to enact my beliefs about university teaching as a part-time teacher in an Ontario university? Findings suggest the geo-political contexts of part-time university teaching work can impact a teacher’s ability to enact his/her beliefs about teaching within his/her practice of teaching.

Frontiers in Education

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a dramatic pivot to online learning and has forced teachers to criti... more The COVID-19 pandemic caused a dramatic pivot to online learning and has forced teachers to critically re-evaluate teaching strategies. Thus, the questions, framing this self-study were: 1) How will I be able to do the learning activities I normally do in the classroom online including individual work, group activities, debates, and whole class discussions? and 2) How will I be able to pivot my signature lessons to the alternate delivery model? This self-study of teaching and teacher education practices (S-STTEP) builds on previous research to transform traditional face-to-face lessons into effective online lessons using alternate modes of delivery. In this paper, Ted shares some of his signature lessons including ice-breakers, critical response questions, discussions, group activities, and jigsaws, utilizing Moodle, Big Blue Button, Padlet, Google Docs, and other online tools. With Georgann’s help as a critical friend, Ted critically analyzed his teaching of Master of Education gra...

Abstract: This paper discusses a narrative inquiry research project which aims to learn how the l... more Abstract: This paper discusses a narrative inquiry research project which aims to learn how the lived experiences of adult educators may ormay,not be reflected in adult education literature. We conclude that, in our interviews, many elements of andragogical and transformative learning theories were present in the experiences of our participants. While this confirms the applicablity of these theories to educators’

The division of students into social categories is a phenomenon that invites inquiry. Historicall... more The division of students into social categories is a phenomenon that invites inquiry. Historically, students have tended to migrate towards one of two groups: the preps who embrace all aspects of school life and the punks who reject all aspects of school life. These two groups are reproductions of the social order. This paper inquires into three elements of the discourse of schooling that influence the categorization of students; normalization, the hidden curriculum and the social contract. Résumé La division des étudiantes et étudiants en catégories sociales est un phénomène digne d'être exploré. Dans le passé, les étudiantes et étudiants ont eu tendance à s'attacher à l'un de deux groupes, soit les conventionnels « bon-chic-bon-genre » (preppies) qui acceptent tous les aspects de la vie à l'école et les rebelles (punks) qui rejettent tous ces aspects. Ces deux groupes reproduisent l'ordre social. Le texte qui suit examine trois éléments du discours au sujet de l'école qui influencent la catégorisation des étudiantes et des étudiants: la normalisation, le curriculum caché et le contrat social.

This is a qualitative research study about two women doctoral students who are experiencing " The... more This is a qualitative research study about two women doctoral students who are experiencing " The Imposter Syndrome " (Clance & Imes, 1978), a phenomenon characterized by an inability to internalize academic success. The purpose of this study is to connect the theoretical frameworks around this phenomenon to our experiences as women graduate students in a doctoral program. The research question for this study is: Do our email conversations provide us with clues to explain our imposter feelings? The methodology for this study is autoethnography (Ellis, 1997). Emails collected over an eight month period provide the data for this study. To analyze the data we used thematic analysis. The data reveals three predominant themes; fear, family and fellowship. The findings of this study provoke an extension into the experiences of other doctoral students as they meet the challenges of self concepts in their course of study.

Conference Presentations by Georgann Cope Watson

This qualitative self-study explored the disappointment I felt as a part-time university teacher,... more This qualitative self-study explored the disappointment I felt as a part-time university teacher, where I experienced difficulty integrating my beliefs about teaching into my practice of teaching. The purpose of this study is to explore how the geo-political conditions of part-time university teaching were impacting my ability to reconcile my beliefs about teaching with my practice of teaching (Loughran, 2006; Russell & Loughran, 2007). This study is grounded in the sociological theoretical framework of critical pedagogy (Freire, 1970; Giroux, 1988, 2010; McLaren, 2003) and the methodological framework of The Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices (S-STEP). Findings suggest the geo-political contexts of part-time university teaching work can impact a teacher's ability to enact beliefs about teaching within the practice of teaching.

Textiles and Tapestries, 2020

Canadian Journal For the Study of Adult Education, 2010

Frontiers in Education

The division of students into social categories is a phenomenon that invites inquiry. Historicall... more The division of students into social categories is a phenomenon that invites inquiry. Historically, students have tended to migrate towards one of two groups: the preps who embrace all aspects of school life and the punks who reject all aspects of school life. These two groups are reproductions of the social order. This paper inquires into three elements of the discourse of schooling that influence the categorization of students; normalization, the hidden curriculum and the social contract. Résumé La division des étudiantes et étudiants en catégories sociales est un phénomène digne d'être exploré. Dans le passé, les étudiantes et étudiants ont eu tendance à s'attacher à l'un de deux groupes, soit les conventionnels « bon-chic-bon-genre » (preppies) qui acceptent tous les aspects de la vie à l'école et les rebelles (punks) qui rejettent tous ces aspects. Ces deux groupes reproduisent l'ordre social. Le texte qui suit examine trois éléments du discours au sujet de l'école qui influencent la catégorisation des étudiantes et des étudiants: la normalisation, le curriculum caché et le contrat social.