The Teacher Researcher as Research Stance

1. The Teacher Researcher as Research Stance Kimberly Tweedale Kathryn Weller March 25, 2013

2. Emig’s Inquiry Paradigm • “To qualify as an inquiry paradigm, an endeavor must be informed…by” • a governing gaze • an acknowledged set of assumptions • a coherent theory or theories • an allegiance to an intellectual tradition • an adequate methodology including a consonant mode of logic • (Emig 65) • Keep these in mind while we discuss the other readings. How does teacher research qualify as an inquiry paradigm?

3. Definitions of Teacher Research(er) • Nickoson’s obvious definition: “Teacher research is the study of a writing class conducted by one who teaches it with the ultimate purpose of improving classroom practice.”

4. Definitions of Teacher Research(er) • Lankshear & Knobel: “Classroom practitioners at any level…who are involved individually or collaboratively in self-motivated and self-generated systematic and informed inquiry undertaken with a view to enhancing their vocation as professional educators” (9, qtd in Nickoson)

5. Definitions of Teacher Research(er) • Ray: “ ‘Systematic and intentional inquiry carried out by teachers,’ where systematic implies methodical data gathering, analyzing, and reporting; intentional means planned rather than spontaneous activity; and inquiry implies a questioning, reflective stance toward teaching and learning” (173)

6. Definitions of Teacher Research(er) • After reading these pieces, how would you define this stance? • In what ways can you see yourself embodying this stance?

7. What roles can students play in the work of the teacher researcher? • Ray: “Students are not merely subjects whom the teacher-researcher instructs and assesses; they are co-researchers, sources of knowledge whose insights help focus and provide new directions for the study.” (175-176)

8. What roles can students play in the work of the teacher researcher? • Nickoson: “Students are, in fact, active participants rather than distanced subjects…I strive to enact some form of sustained, systematic, collaborative research with my students.”

9. What roles can students play in the work of the teacher researcher? • Why is it important to collaborate with our students? • What strategies can we use to make this possible?

10. How does the teacher researcher effect change? • Ray: “The revolutionary nature of teacher research has to do with its emphasis on change from the inside out—from the classroom to the administration, rather than the other way around, as in most educational institutions.” (173)

11. How does the teacher researcher effect change? • Nickoson: “To be sure, teacher research is a recursive, collaborative, and explicitly change-based scholarly endeavor.”

12. How does the teacher researcher effect change? • How do we see the idea of “change from the inside out”? • What kinds of changes are we hoping to create? • How are hoping to create that change?

13. Examples of Teacher Research • Jody Shipka’s “Multimodal Task-Based Framework for Composing” (2005)

14. Examples of Teacher Research Marc L. Hill’s “Wounded Healers: Forming Community Through Storytelling” (2009)

15. Examples of Teacher Research • What methodological choices did Shipka and Hill make as teacher researchers? • Which choices are the most effective?

16. Examples of Teacher Research • Considering the choices made by Shipka and Hill, what would you do similarly or differently? • How can we apply these decisions/ideas to our own projects?

17. Activity • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl6xVqoHHdQ • You have identified the following research question to guide your observations:   • What resources do students use within the classroom in order to participate meaningfully in student-led discussions? • Please take field notes or observations. • What preliminary codes might these notes suggest?