An Invitation to Inquiry
(Wisconsin State Reading Association Journal, Fall 2003, Vol. 44, No. 4)
A veteran English teacher shared with me her story of how she set out to do action research in her classroom. She was interested in finding and using new ways to make classroom discussions about literature more student-centered. To begin her inquiry, she decided to videotape herself teaching and leading discussion. When the lesson ended, she thought the class had gone well. When she later watched the videotape, however, she was astonished to see how much talking she had done during the twenty-minute segment. At one point in the tape she saw that she had actually wrapped her arms around herself to keep from talking while a student talked. The videotape helped her focus her classroom research: finding ways for the teacher to talk less so that students will talk more. Clearly, student-centered discussions are more complex than this simple formula, but my teacher friend had to begin to change by first knowing her practice. Schon (1983) calls this problem setting, a process by which “we define the decision to be made, the ends to be achieved, the means which may be chosen” (p.40). In other words, professional practice is seen as an intellectual process of articulating and exploring problems identified by teachers themselves.
I offer this story as a way of inviting classroom teachers to consider the ease and the power of classroom action research. Some districts throughout the state offer professional development opportunities through action research. And, as many of you know, WSRA offers annual Pat Bricker Memorial Awards for classroom research. This classroom research may be traditional research, or it may be action research. Action research generally follows five concepts: the context of our research, the history of our research question, the data/inquiry process we will use, the understanding we gained from the process, and the sense of new directions our research has revealed. In other words, we articulate our research question and understand it in terms of our own classroom and our own practice. We design a process through which we can learn more about our question. We gather data to help us understand our learning through evidence and truth. Then we reflect on what we have learned and what other questions emerge from this new knowledge we have discovered
The constructivist nature of action research, in which a process is utilized to help learners (the classroom teacher) construct their own meaning (about their practice), appeals to many classroom teachers. And many teachers see and value the connection between their own constructivist learning and how they facilitate their students’ learning. Cochran-Smith and Lytle (1992) have observed that when teachers redefine their own relationships to knowledge about teaching and learning, they reconstruct their classrooms and engage their students in authentic ways of learning and knowing. A view of learning emerges as constructivist, meaning-centered, and social. In other words, once teachers experience the empowerment of authentic inquiry into their own practice and knowledge base, they are likely to encourage their students to learn in similar ways.
The significance of constructivist learning is deepened when we say this learning is social. Two dimensions of meaning are possible here. As we conduct our classroom research, we confer with a colleague or a collaborative group on the research and the process. The power of study groups for teacher learning and growth is well-documented in studies such as those done by Duckworth (1997) and Birchak et.al.(1998) and should not be overlooked by any teacher setting out to do action research.
Another, less apparent dimension of the social nature of learning is the reward of sharing our knowledge with colleagues and professional community. WSRA offers two venues for sharing research. A roundtable discussion, held at the annual convention, is an opportunity for researchers to share their research with colleagues. The roundtable sectional is intended for Pat Bricker Memorial Award Recipients as well as anyone interested in classroom research. The informal atmosphere of classroom teachers gathering to learn from each other is reassuring and at the same time inspiring and energizing.
A second way to share research is to write a brief, informal summary for the readers of WSRA Journal. The “writing part” of classroom research is crucial for a thorough understanding of what we actually learned through our research. Two Wisconsin classroom teachers and Pat Bricker Memorial Award recipients have written pieces about their research, which are included in the following pages. Each is distinct in style and format yet both are informative and reflective. As Wilcox (2002) suggests, “writing for publication made me a better thinker, and better thinking made me a better teacher” (p.viii). She has collected her ideas and suggestions for teachers who want to write in her book, Thinking and Writing for Publication: A Guide for Teachers. (see review this issue). So enjoy and be inspired by the teacher-research accounts that follow.
For information concerning the Pat Bricker Memorial Award, visit the WSRA website. Applications for the award can be downloaded at http://www.wsra.org.
Birchak, B., Connor, C., Crawford, K., Kahn, L., Kaser, S., & Short, K. (1998). Teacher study groups: Building community through dialogue and reflection. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.
Cochran-Smith, M. & Lytle, S. (1992). Communities for teacher research: Fringe or forefront. American Journal of Education 100 (3).
Cochran-Smith, M. & Lytle, S. (1993). Inside-outside: Teacher research and knowledge. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Duckworth, E. (1997). Teacher to teacher: Learning from each other. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Schon, D. (1983). From technical rationality to reflection in action. In D. Schon. The reflective practitioner. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Wilcox, B. (2001). Thinking and writing for publication: A guide for teachers. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.