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Cathy Fleischer

Eastern Michigan University

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SOEL Webinar—Session 1

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Dr. Cathy Fleischer, Eastern Michigan University

What is Teacher Research?

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Teacher Research is…

“[an] educational movement, research genre, political and policy critique, challenge to university culture, and lifelong stance on teaching, learning, schooling and educational leadership.”

(Cochran-Smith and Lytle)

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Why is it so important right now?

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Our classrooms are under siege. We feel the flames. And, as teachers, we’re afraid our students will become the casualties. We’re bombarded by national educational policies, state assessment mandates, regional curriculum demands, and community competition about competencies and for resources….We need to make our voices speak through the fire and invite the noisy public to listen.

 When we speak as teachers informed by our own research, we can control the fires and inform the noisy public about what works in our classroom. …systematic inquiry is both a form and a method for teacher resistance and teacher agency.

--Chiseri-Strater and Sunstein

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So, what is it really?

Teacher research is inquiry that is

• Intentional: a focus on real questions asked by real teachers
• Systematic: beyond occasional reflection to a planned and executed study
• Public: administrators, other teachers, parents and students are aware of what you’re doing
• Voluntary: not required by administrators or others
• Ethical: no withholding of good teaching practices (i.e., experimental and control groups), making change immediately if warranted
• Contextual: celebrating the context that is your individual classroom and not trying to generalize to the whole world

-- MacLean and Mohr

Belief structures underlying TR

“Big R” research believes in:

• one truth awaiting discovery
• control/experimental groups; stripping away context
• generalizable to the rest of the world

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Teacher research believes in:

• an emphasis on real questions
• a celebration of context
• collaboration
• praxis

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How to get started with TR

Step 1: Begin with a question, �a true wondering

Quick Write:

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1. What are the questions that keep you up at night? What is it that you truly wonder about your students, their learning, and your teaching?

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2. Think about these questions through the lens of SOEL’s Big Learnings; the K-3 Literacy Essentials; or the larger umbrella of your study group.

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Step 1: Begin with a question, �a true wondering

• Right now: Look over your quick write and pick one question or wondering. You might want to phrase it as
• “I wonder what happens when….” or
• “I wonder why…” or
• “How does…”

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• Over the next week: Reflect on that wondering:
• What do I already know (or think I know)about that question?
• What do I still need to find out?
• How would researching this question help me improve my teaching and my students’ learning?

Step 2: Situate that question �within a larger context

- The larger conversation in the field:

What have others said about your topic? → creating a personal syllabus

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- Your own experiences as a teacher:

What have you noticed? What have your students taught you?

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- The circumstances of your own classroom/school:

Who are your students? Who are you as their teacher?

What are the ethical considerations in your research?

How to get started with TR

Step 3: Plan and conduct your study

Planning:

• Ask yourself: where and how will you pursue this question
• Create: a planning map to keep yourself on track

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*****Caution*****

You are a teacher first and a teacher researcher second. So, find a way to do this that fits well into your busy schedule. Don’t think too big!

Creating a planning map

• Question and subquestions
• Context for the question
• Related research
• Your own context
• How will you study this question?
• Data sources
• Permissions
• Timeline
• Plan for dissemination

Step 3: Plan and conduct your study

Collecting data on your question:

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Teacher Research Tools

- Field notes/Observational journals

- Surveys/Questionnaires

- Interviews

- Artifact analysis

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How to get Started with TR

Step 4: Analyzing by finding themes

• Reading, re-reading, re-reading your data, searching for
• Recurring themes
• Examples that support the themes
• Moments of disagreement

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How to get Started with TR

Step 5: Make Change and Go Public

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What does it mean to go public?

Finding a way to implement and share your findings:

• Making changes in your own classroom
• Helping others understand what you’ve found
• Creating a “study of cases”

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Possible genres:

• Journal article
• Curriculum guide
• Professional development workshop
• Parent guide
• Presentation at a conference, school board meeting, parent night

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Goals for next time:

1. Finalize your question/sub-questions
• No “yes/no” questions
• No questions to which you already know the answer
• Use one of these stems:
• “I wonder what happens when….” or
• “I wonder why…” or
• “How does…”
2. Situate your question in a larger context
• What are your experiences surrounding this question?
• What is the context of your classroom?
• What outside sources do you want to put on your “personal syllabus”?
4. Get started: with some reading, some thinking, some journaling

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When/how should we meet next?

Webinar?

Dates/time?