ACADEMIC RESEARCH
I believe that modeling inquiry and being passionate about research is an important aspect of the classroom.
Eventually I plan on taking a Masters of Education in curricular design and international education, so it important for me to stay current in actively doing research.
Recently I have been published in the professional blog at the Calgary Connect School and aim to contribute to the academic research at future schools.
​Researchers and authors that inspire my academic work:
Paulo Friere- discourse on development and education.
Gregory Cajete- work on indigenous perspectives in curricular design
Edward Said- His writing on orientalism and othering cultural minorities.
Jim Cummins- Academic perspectives on bilingual education and positive cultural identity formation in the classroom.
Supervised by Dr. Jim Cummins (University of Toronto) and Dr. Rahat Naqvi (University of Calgary)
Bilingual Education and Metacognitive Language Acquisition
This forthcoming research will branch off from a pilot project that took place in 2012. This research is being conducted at the Spanish bilingual school, Canyon Meadows in Calgary, AB.
​
By utilizing predetermined bilingual text in the classroom this study will identify various ways that students acquire metalinguistic language skills.
Maikala Harris will be involved in both filming, transcribing, and analyzing data collection.
Final Development Studies Research Report
Alpha House Client Satisfaction Survey
September-December 2011 participated in a group research project with Alpha House Calgary to determine housing client satisfaction.
This research was structured within a qualitative and quantitative methodological approach. Research results were presented in a final published report and were shared with Alpha House staff to determine needs within the housing community.
Mexican Migrant Workers in Calgary
Supervised by Dr. Denise Brown Associate Professor (University of Calgary)
This independent qualitative based study identified economic, political, and educational differences between Mexican legal and illegal working migrants in Calgary, AB.
By identifying restrictive policies within the Canadian immigration system this project proposed recommended changes to cease further marginalization of Mexican sojourners to Canada.
Results were presented at two masters conferences as well as discussed with the Mexican Ambassador to Canada.
​
​Maikala Harris
B.A / B.Ed