Tutorial 12: Your New Identity
Tutorial 12: Activities
Activity A: Perceptions of Others
Requesting Feedback
In your action research, you initiated a change. How did others view what you did? Did they understand your motivations? Did they see the change as something that the group did or something that you did? Find one or two trusted friends and ask for honest feedback. Invite them to tell you when they might have been annoyed by your enthusiasm for change, or if you appeared too controlling, or did not provide enough direction. Try to encourage critique and listen carefully (taking notes can help keep you focused on what they are saying). You want to hear how they see you. The more that you encourage them to think through what happened and the role you played, the more you will hear about how they see you.
Activity B: Patterns of Interactions
What do you contribute to groups? How do you offer help?
Before the next meeting of the people in your group, be reflective about the role you play. What do you do you want to happen during the meeting? What do you plan to offer to others? Do you actively listen to others or do you talk and then drift off? Reflect on what your strategy had been. Try being more fully present and reflective on the type of help you can provide in this group setting. If you were to serve the group, what would be the most helpful thing you could offer? Take a few minutes after the meeting and reflect on the role you played. How do you see your position in this group? How do you think they see you? What is your style of giving help? What type of help are you likely to contributed and why? Has your strategies for giving help shifted during your action research?
Activity C: Action Research Interactions
What communities have you joined?
What communities are important to you? The company you keep, shapes who you are and are becoming. Have you joined an action research community? Have you presented at a conference? You can't be a member of a club without some level of interaction. Research is a social, communicative act. Researchers talk to each other. They are interested in the work that others do. With whom do you identify?
