Week 24 - Planning your Teacher Inquiry Project

Linking your Literature Review to your Teacher Inquiry Project

Teacher Inquiry

Adopting the stance of teacher-researcher formalises these evaluative and reflective processes. As Wilson (2013) explains:

"Researching our practice presents the opportunity to problem-solve more intelligently, through drawing on existing research findings and by using rigorous methods to collect evidence which helps clarify our thinking. Experiences of participating in an informed way, and acting freshly, offer the teacher for whom teaching has become a routine a sense of freedom, of meaning, of worthiness and consequently increased self-esteem." (Wilson, 2013, p.5)

Concept of teacher as researcher

The concept of the teacher as researcher has long been discussed in academic literature. Schon (1983) developed the concept of the reflective practitioner, while Stenhouse popularised the idea of teachers acting as researchers, believing that ‘educational knowledge exists in, and is verified or falsified in, its performance’ (Stenhouse, 1984, p.110).

Lytle and Cochran-Smith (1992) built upon and extended Schon’s (1983) theory of the reflective practitioner to suggest that teachers also learn and create new knowledge by assuming an inquiry stance within their practice. Teachers conduct inquiry projects into their practice to create knowledge that is applicable and relevant to their teaching context.

The importance of teacher research/inquiry

There are two main themes that dominate discussions of why teacher research is important. The first relates to the importance of teacher-created knowledge for improvement in teaching and learning, and in particular student outcomes. The second centres on the idea of teacher professionalism.

Two models of Teacher Inquiry

Teacher inquiry is when teachers inquire into their own practice and use evidence to make decisions about ways to change that practice for the benefit of the student. 

Teaching as Inquiry

In Teaching as Inquiry educators investigate the impact of their decisions and practice on students. The Teaching as Inquiry cycle has three iterative stages shown in Figure 1. 

Figure 1: The process of teaching as inquiry (Ministry of Education, 2009)

The Spiral of Inquiry

We have decided to use the Spiral of Inquiry model, because this is the model that we are using as school through Interlead.

On TKI The Spiral of Inquiry is described as “a fresh rethink on the structure of teaching as inquiry.” (Ministry of Education, 2015). It emphasises involvement of learners, their families and communities and developing learner agency. It states that engaging in inquiry is a process of developing collective professional agency either within a school or across a cluster of schools. The approach is described in Timperley, Kaser & Halbert (2014). Figure 2 shows the stages of spiral of inquiry.

Figure 2: Spiral of inquiry (Ministry of Education, 2015)

"What’s going on for our learners?" and "How do we know?" are key questions that the spiral of inquiry addresses. By observing students (scanning) and finding an area to change (focusing), teachers can use intuition to consider the reasons for the current situation (developing a hunch), then refer to research (learning) to help determine changes needed (taking action). Checking is done during and after any changes have been made: "Have we made enough of a difference?" (Ministry of Education, 2005).

Second assessment (Teacher Inquiry project plan)

Steps and stages for developing my inquiry project

Topic area

How might students' use of blogs improve writing skills?

• How the literature on your topic supports your area of focus

-As outlined in the Literature Review, much research has been conducted looking at blogging and its impact on writing, in terms of engagement and in general improvement of finer points of writing (grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc.).

• Why your topic is particularly relevant to your school setting

-with our current focus on Manaiakalani outreach and the implementation of 1-1 devices and blogging to help improve writing and foster the links between home and school, this inquiry is very timely and relevant to our school.

• How your topic will support your community

-Our community is in the first stages of implementing the Manaiakalani model, initially in two classrooms throughout our school, with a future focus to having the whole school using and following the model outlined through Manaiakalani.

Defining our communities

Our Communities include:

* Students: My students specifically in Room 1, Year 7 & 8. Chosen because they are the students I am teaching and monitoring on a day to day basis.

* Teachers (Nick and Rosey, but Angela as well- although she is not part of the Mindlab group). Chosen because we are in the syndicate together (following similar plans) and can collaborate in syndicate meetings.

*Whanau- Y7 & 8 family (parents and caregivers). They care deeply and are involved in their children’s learning.

What is the context for the communities?

To bring the community onboard and involve them in what the learners are doing.

References

Aitken, G. (n.d.).The inquiring teacher: Clarifying the concept of teaching effectiveness.

Retrieved from http://www.educationalleaders.govt.nz/content/download/4823/38977/file/background-paper-the-inquiring-teacher.pdf

Aitken, G. & Sinnema, C. (2008). Effective Pedagogy in Social Sciences: Tikanga ā Iwi: BES. Wellington: Ministry of Education.

Barker, L., Pistrang, N., & Elliott, R. (2016). Research Methods in Clinical Psychology An Introduction for Students and Practitioners. West Sussex, UK: John Wiley & Sons.

Lytle, S. & Cochran-Smith, M. (1992). Teacher Research as a Way of Knowing. Harvard Educational Review, 62, 447-474.

Ministry of Education. (2009). Teachers as learners: Improving outcomes for Māori and Pasifika students through inquiry.

Retrieved from http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Curriculum-stories/Case-studies/Teachers-as-learners-Inquiry

Peters, T. & Irish, J. (n.d.). Introduction to Survey Research Methods. Retrieved from http://hms.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/assets/...

Ministry of Education. (2015). Before You Start.

Retrieved from http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Teaching-as-inquiry/Before-you-start

Schon, D. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner: How professionals think in action. New York: Basic Books.

Stenhouse, L. (1975). An introduction to curriculum research and development. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Publishers.

Stenhouse, L. (1984). Artistry and Teaching: the Teachers as Focus of Research and Development. In D. Hopkins and M. Wideen (Eds.), Alternative Perspectives on School Improvement (pp. 67-76). Lewes and Philadelphia: Falmer Press.

Wilson, E. (2013). School-based Research: A guide for education students. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.