Stage 1: Data Collection (2000)

Data collection began in 2000. This was the first significant stage of this research project, which began after initial background reading was completed, the research proposal approved by the University and the Faculty of Education, and ethical clearance given.

The main data source was my teaching journal. This was how I generated my ‘field notes’ that were written in and out of the context I was investigating (Jenks, 2002). The journal was electronically recorded and was maintained regularly (mostly daily). During the year I wrote on two computers, my own personal computer at home, and the school assigned laptop that I used mainly at school, but which could also come home when necessary or desirable. I switched to my school computer half way through the year as I found that writing within the school context enabled me to write more effectively. Ideas and feelings were fresh. This strategy, however, did make my teaching days longer, and was difficult to maintain particularly on the days I felt like I was ‘sinking’.

Journal writing is recognised as an effective way of promoting professional and developmental critical reflection. It is a means of becoming a reflective practitioner (Brookfield, 1995, 1998). Clandinin & Connelly (1994) commented that journals can capture knowledge of teaching, ‘in their journals they weave together their accounts of the private and the professional, capturing fragments of experience in attempts to sort themselves out’ (p.421). Therefore maintaining a daily teaching journal allowed me to capture the interwoven elements of the personal and the professional.

Journaling was an appropriate means of collecting data in the field of beginning teaching, as reflection by beginning teachers is a recognised means of accessing beginning teacher knowledge (Beattie, 1997; Brown, Doecke, & Loughran, 1997; Craig, 1997; Danielewicz, 2001; Doecke, Brown, & Loughran 2000). It is recognised in qualitative research methodologies as a valuable means of data generation. Conle (2000) wrote, ‘although I did not know it at the time, by proceeding in this way, I began to generate data… we tend to write about a few issues over and over again, always in a different context’ (p.184). I made entries in my journal frequently, hoping that issues would become apparent later, and I tried not to judge the contents as I went along. Reflection was a familiar part of my undergraduate teacher training, and I found maintaining this teaching journal in my first year of teaching to be a routine and familiar task. I tried not to censor or restrict my entries to any particular formula or topic, but rather let the focus of my writing be based on what I was feeling in that physical and temporal context. Where was I? What was on my mind? What was I concerned about? What made me smile at that point in time?

I was immersed in the experience I was researching. I was experiencing the experience (Clandinin and Connelly, 1994), which meant that what was written about was heavily based on what happened to me on that particular day. The topics that I wrote about were not predetermined, but came from the experience itself and the particular events that had captured my attention and sparked my interest. Sullivan (2000, p.211) stated that it is through such sustained attention that qualitative researchers in educational research learn about phenomena. Tension was an important element in the process of writing my teaching journal.

Dewey (1934) recognised that tension is a key element in stimulating reflection on experience. When we are concerned, confused, or uncertain about something, this encourages us to wonder about what has happened further. Conle (2000) saw such tension as an important preface for data generation. Hence, what I wrote about was frequently based on what I was worried about.

Immersion was an important part of my research method. Throughout this project I was immersed in writing about my teaching days and the topic of beginning teaching. Wolcott (1990) argued that writing early, frequently and accurately strengthens qualitative research. Journal writing was a constant feature of this research project, as I maintained teaching and writing journals. Entries in my teaching journal were written at the end of the day, and were approximately half a page long, which motivated me to write regularly and frequently as I wasn’t demanding more of myself at the end of a full day teaching.

In writing my teaching journal I was conscious of writing richly and vividly. Geertz’s (1973, cited Jenks 2002, p.172) concept of ‘thick description’ guided my written expression in this journal as I sought to write with rich detail, paying attention to the emotional as well as the descriptive. I wrote my journal knowing that I was aiming to write a vivid and complex portrayal later, hence I wanted rich anecdotal material on which to draw. I made reference to methods (teaching/researching), beliefs, theories, and feelings (Richardson, 1994). The emotionality of this work was evident in my entries, as I often began with explaining how I was feeling at the end of my day. Dunlop (1999) explained her writing choices. She wrote about what ‘moved’ her (p.15). I let what moved me during my teaching days become the focus of my journal entries.

In order to capture a broad and vivid picture of my experience I strove to collect multiple forms of data. I collected artifacts that were visual, sentimental, but that were authentically generated through the natural course of teaching. I waited for them to compile themselves on my desk, rather than actively seeking them out. These items were later used to help with emotional recall as I reflected on and rewrote the first year of teaching. These artifacts were generated naturally from living this experience, and were taken with me into my university context in 2003,

Other data collected included: student feedback on my practice that were collected as part of my annual reflection on practice (ARP) that White School requires of all staff; written reflections by colleagues (also as part of my ARP); what I call ‘notice board mementoes’ such as photos, thank-you cards, cut out motivational quotations and cartoons from newspapers, my colourful hand coloured timetable, chocolate cake recipes and christmas cards from students.

Two unplanned sources of data that became valuable in later stages included the teaching diary that I used for daily and weekly planning and the tremendous volume of email that I sent and received during 2000. The email correspondence was one of the key data sources that vividly revealed to me the inextricably fused worlds of the professional and personal in beginning teaching. I realised that within minutes I had sent messages to my principal and mother, written from the same context, but with very different voices and concerns.

All these items helped me create a ‘memory box’ of data (Clandinin & Connelly, 1994, p.420) that would enable me to vividly recall my first year at various points in this project. Clandinin & Connelly (1994) explain that throughout life we often collect a variety of materials which stand to represent our lives, such as photos or more personal items such as old ticket stubs. These items acted as props which aided me in the process of emotional recall (Ellis & Bochner, 2000) which I used in Stage 3 to write stories of my beginning teaching experience. This technique is explained in a following section.

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