Practitioner Inquiry Series – serie

This book offers an engaging and effective approach to improving teacher and student learning. Based on the experiences of three leading educational organizations, the authors provide invaluable, research-based guidelines for incorporating inquiry into teacher's instructional practices and student work as part of the ongoing work of schools. In addition to discussing the lessons learned and questions raised by inquiry work, this volume includes specific considerations for determining who should be involved, what work should be under review, how it should be reviewed, and how such inquiry should be supported by the school.

In this long-awaited sequel to ""Inside/Outside: Teacher Research and Knowledge"", two leaders in the field of practitioner research offer a radically different view of the relationship of knowledge and practice and of the role of practitioners in educational change. In their new book, the authors put forward the notion of inquiry as stance as a challenge to the current arrangements and outcomes of schools and other educational contexts. They call for practitioner researchers in local settings across the United States and across the world to ally their work with others, as part of larger social and intellectual movements for social change and social justice.

In her new book, bestselling author Cynthia Ballenger explores the intellectual strengths of 'puzzling children' - poor, urban, immigrant, or bilingual children who do not traditionally excel in school. Ballenger challenges the assumption that these children whose families have less formal education, read fewer storybooks, and talk less with their children about school-like topics, have fewer of what we might call 'intellectual' or academically relevant experiences. This practical book offers a detailed roadmap for traversing the daily work of teaching today's diverse population, helping educators to refine their work as it unfolds in the classroom. Ballenger guides the reader as she thinks out loud about what children said, what it indicated about their thinking, and how the dialogue informed her teaching.

In this volume, teachers from urban, suburban, and rural districts join together in a teacher-inquiry group to challenge homophobia and heterosexism in schools and classrooms. To create safe learning environments for all students they address key topics, including seizing teachable moments, organizing faculty, deciding whether to come out in the classroom, using LGBTQ-inclusive texts, running a Gay-Straight Alliance, changing district policy to protect LGBTQ teachers and students, dealing with resistant students, and preparing preservice teachers to do antihomophobia work. Book Features:Examples of antihomophobia teaching across elementary, secondary, and university contexts, and discussions of the consequences of this work.Concrete discussions of how to start a teacher-inquiry group, and the challenges and rewards of engaging in teacher activism. A comprehensive annotated bibliography of texts that address homophobia and heterosexism.

A study of action research devoted to the complex issues faced by children with special needs and their teachers. It begins by providing the historical and philosophical underpinnings of action research and then presents a framework for conducting action research in special education. Additionally, it features four examples of teacher-research studies, and a ""how-to"" chapter that outlines the basic principles needed for conducting action research.

The Mission Hill School, founded by MacArthur Award winner Deborah Meier and colleagues in 1997, is a small public school that has rethought almost everything about the process of teaching and learning. Beyond richly describing and evaluating this high-achieving school, the author argues that democratic education is increasingly difficult in this era of testing and standardisation and that a school such as Mission Hill must be continually thoughtful, innovative, and courageous in counteracting systemic inequality. This in-depth examination is essential reading for anyone interested in how to better understand seemingly intractable problems related to urban public education in the United States.Book Features:An exemplary model of democratic education that shows the inner workings of a largely teacher-governed school.A rare example of an urban school implementing Dewey-influenced progressive pedagogy. In-depth descriptions of an anti-racist and culturally relevant pedagogy and curriculum. A close examination of successful practices, including shared decision making, intensive problem solving, and looking at student work.

Raising Race Questions explores the opportunities and challenges that arise when White teachers are willing to deal directly with race and the role it plays in their classrooms. Based on lessons gleaned from experienced White teachers in a variety of settings, it lays out a path for using inquiry to develop sustained, productive engagement with challenging - and common - questions about race. It suggests that guilt and conflict need not be the end point of raising race questions and offers alternative destinations: antiracist classrooms, positive racial identities, and a restoration of the wholeness that racism undermines.

How does practitioner inquiry impact education? Examining the experiences of practitioners who have participated in inquiry projects, the authors present ways in which this work has enabled educators to be positive change agents. They reveal the difference that practitioner inquiry has made in their professional practice, their understanding of student learning, their content area knowledge, and their career trajectories. Attesting to long-lasting changes in ways that these educators approach professional challenges, the authors identify the “ripple effect” of these changes through school communities and beyond. Impactful Practitioner Inquiry includes in-depth case studies as well as chapters specifically focused on the design and analysis aspects of inquiry.Book Features:An examination of how practitioner inquiry impacts professional practice, school culture, and career trajectoriesThe use of complexity and network theories to understand how practitioner inquiry is able to create its ripple effectTestimonies from educators with up to 10 years’ experience as inquirersPractices from early childhood and school settings, classroom and leadership roles, general education and specialist settings.

In this book, Raider-Roth offers an innovative approach to teacher professional development that builds on the intellectual strength and practical wisdom of practitioners. Focusing on nurturing relationships between and among participants, facilitators, subject matter, texts, and the school environment, this book helps educators create a repertoire of teaching approaches founded on sustained, deep, democratic, local, and active learning. The author demonstrates that, within the context of trustworthy relationships, teachers can better connect with all that they know about teaching, learning, and their own identities. This, in turn, enables them to act on what they know in the best interest of their students and leads to the kinds of lasting change and commitment that can move the teaching profession beyond training for a particular skill set.

Autobiography on the Spectrum challenges prevailing notions about autism by offering the viewpoint of adolescents on the spectrum through their writing, photography, poetry, art, and more. This book is a critical resource for teacher preparation and professional learning in any field that interacts with individuals with autism or other disabilities.

Drawing on frameworks of teacher research and critical literacy, this volume documents the experiences of educators in New Mexico who participate in Teaching Out Loud—an intergenerational, professional development program that focuses on the creation and implementation of imaginative, critical curriculum with historically marginalized students. This text offers a set of conceptual tools and pedagogical practices for teacher educators and researchers seeking to advance teacher learning and leadership through the use of critical study groups rather than the more scripted professional development approaches that dominate mainstream educational settings. Specifically, this book uses the voices of a diverse set of teachers to demonstrate the role of teacher inquiry in shifting curriculum and advancing equity, even when faced with formidable circumstances like a global pandemic. The authors examine how participation in Teaching Out Loud helped teachers foster social-emotional learning, foreground issues of race and identity, build and sustain community, promote self-care, and center play within and against challenging local and global contexts.Book Features:Highlights the voices of teachers representing a range of diverse perspectives and experience levels.Explains classroom practices and approaches in detail.Examines the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.Explicitly addresses critical issues like race and social justice.Focuses on the American Southwest.

This volume explores the ways in which practicing K–12 art educators can engage with students to develop democratic habits. The contributors present case studies based on action research conducted in their own classrooms as part of their master's in arts education. The text is divided into three sections that correspond to habits the author-teachers cultivated in their classroom: choice, voice, and caring for community. Each author presents real-world examples for development of not only art skills, but also ways of being and interacting that allow humans to contribute meaningfully to the world. Readers will hear from art educators who strive to teach their students ownership and empowerment through problem-solving, independence, and responsibility. This timely book shows how art education is a bastion of freedom in public education, where students and teachers can think and act collaboratively and critically.Book Features:Offers examples of transformative teaching that give students voice, choice, and opportunities to care for community.Provides theory as well as replicable models teachers can use.Addresses the difficulty of balancing student and teacher needs within the politically embattled field of education.Shares the voices of art educators in Midwest classrooms ranging from elementary to high school, rural to urban communities.Contributors: Elizabeth Bloomberg, Jeffery Rufus Byrd, Ashley Cardamone, Kathryn Christensen, Michelle Cox, Jodi Fenton, Samantha Goss, Maddison Maddock, Wendy Miller, Sandra Nyberg, Lauren Roush, Elizabeth Sutton, and Heather Walker.