“Stories from the field”

“Stories from the field,” was an event organized by Mary Ann Chacko and co-sponsored by Esteem with the Curriculum and Teaching Department at Teachers College, Columbia University, on September 26, 2013.

As Chacko explains, she wanted to bring doctoral students together upon hearing the personal stories of her fellow doctoral candidates as they engaged in the process of collecting data “in the field.” New researchers, she says, are often unprepared for the ways in which they become personally involved in the research process, particularly when that research involves working with and coming to know people who question your assumptions about the transformative possiblities of your research.

In an effort to learn more about the process of research, and to engage in this learning with a broader audience, Chacko brought together four doctoral candidates currently engaged in dissertation research. In the video clips below you will hear from Joanne Marciano, who describes what it is like to work with youth as co-researchers, Terrenda White, who shares her experiences interacting with teachers and principals in New York City charter schools, Maria Jose Bermeo, who describes her experiences with educators and students in Ecuador, and Dino Sossi, who discusses the unexpected logistical and practical challenges of research and offers advice to those who might be thinking about pursuing their own research one day.

Esteem is sharing these video clips in order to promote further conversations about all aspects of the research process and we encourage you to leave any questions and/or comments you have as you watch the video on Vialogues.com (click on the pictures to watch the videos). For more information on each presenter, please click here.