Exploring Teacher Inquiry Principles of Teaching Instructor Session #3

Session Outline Sharing Overview Discussion

Teacher Development Initiatives: A Historical View What do teachers know? What do teachers need to know? Defect model—improvement of skills or competencies in response to priorities and goals Change model—restructuring of programs and institutions WHERE POT IS LOCATED: Problem-solving model — resolution of situational and practical problems Growth model—facilitating continuous process of growth through inquiry, interaction and reflection (Eraut, 1987).

Focusing Questions What are some of the key qualities of teacher inquiry?   What is the purpose and impact of teacher inquiry?

THREE-PRONGED APPROACH General qualities of teacher inquiry 2. Particular features of one teacher’s inquiry 3. Teacher candidates’ inquiries

1. BRAINSTORMING features of teacher inquiry based WHAT STRUCK YOU? WHAT SURPRISED OR PUZZLED YOU?

1. General qualities of teacher inquiry Teacher candidates brainstorm qualities of teacher inquiries/investigations into their practice BASED ON: Reading one or two examples in the “In the Backyard” and/or “Educational Insights” collections Viewing one of Slyvia’s recommended Youtube videos of teachers engaged in inquiry about their practice Teacher candidates might respond to questions such as : What struck you? What surprised you? How has your understanding of teaching changed/expanded, as a result of your reading/viewing?

Some general qualities of teacher inquiry that might come up…. Practice-derived and driven? Personal? Emotion associated with problem? Links general (formal) and particular (local) knowledge? Involves reflection I’ve added questions marks above because not all teacher inquiries have all these qualities.

General features of teacher inquiry (contd.) Teachers’ use of modalities of listening, speaking, seeing and feeling to gather information about teaching? Collaborative? Critical? Uncertain or tentative? Trying to understand vs. explain?

Educational Problem-solving Academic Empirical Intuitive Historically- aware Teaching-learning situations Testing out “if-then” judgments Spontaneous thoughts-feelings Contextualizing problems If you wish, you could have students characterize their particular choice of teacher inquiry by placing it in one of the four types of educational problem-solving discussed in the Henderson text, Chapter 4.

2. IDENTIFYING particular features of one teacher’s inquiry Purposes Questions Approaches Outcomes Teacher candidates need to examine one example of teacher inquiry at close range so they begin to see the teaching-inquiry cycle in effect. They can begin to appreciate that teachers design curriculum but that is just the beginning of a cycle of action-reflection-subsequent action.

2. IDENTIFYING particular features of one teacher’s inquiry “Joining Learning to Living” Nick Sluyter p.19 Arriving at the question P. 20 Articulating the question p. 21 Identifying data sources p. 23 Noticing the difference

Thinking about Purposes and Questions Purposes Teachers Have: To control/explain teaching and learning? To understand teaching and learning and curriculum? To empower learners? Questions Teachers Ask: What? How? Why? Who?

Thinking about approaches to and outcomes of teacher inquiry Approaches: Hypothesize? Try out new practices? Talk with colleagues? Read? Outcomes: What did the teacher find out? What difference did it make, if any, to teaching and learning?

3. Teacher candidates’ own questions Brainstorming topics, questions, issues…. Source? Significance? It may not yet be time to have teacher candidates thinking about their ACTUAL inquiry projects. What I have in mind at this juncture is to get them to imagine what they might need to inquire about as teachers. Mary Leah’s framework of “curiosities, dissatisfactions…” may be helpful here. Such curiosities may relate to subject matter (e.g., have to teach ancient civilizations so I need to learn something about that myself…), to history of curriculum (e.g, who was Ralph Tyler anyway?), or different philosophies of teaching (e.g., they may want to learn more about Dewey).