Full Description
Take your great idea to the next level with action research
How—and when—can we find time to conduct meaningful action research? Great ideas and thought-provoking questions can only blossom through methodical inquiry. Nancy Fichtman Dana steps in as your action-research coach and leads you on a journey through wonderings to real change in your classroom.
From framing your question to presenting your research, this guide will encourage, challenge, and ultimately lead you through the action research process. Teachers, students, and action-research coaches alike will learn how to:
• Reframe initial wonderings into pointed inquiries
• Creatively analyze both qualitative and quantitative data
• Draw action-research topics out of ordinary discussions with colleagues
• Share findings with others to help them improve as well
With real-life vignettes, self-guided worksheets, and an included DVD, Digging Deeper into Action Research is your go-to guide each time you embark on a new journey toward professional growth.
"This field guide will undoubtedly make a valuable contribution to the larger project of practitioners engaged in the work of reflecting on, studying, and interrogating their own practice in order ultimately to improve the social life of classrooms and the learning opportunities and life chances of children."
—Marilyn Cochran-Smith, Cawthorne Professor of Teacher Education
Boston College
"This is THE book to read for any educator who ever found themselves asking, 'What just happened?!?' If you like finding your own solutions to your teaching problems, this is the key to your freedom and to satisfaction in your teaching career!"
—Mary K. Culver, Associate Clinical Professor
Northern Arizona University
Contents
List of Figures
Foreword by Marilyn Cochran-Smith
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction to the Inspire to Inquire DVD
About the Author
How to Use the Inquiry Books
1. Why Do Teacher Research Anyway?
Teacher Research Defined
How to Define Your Research
Why It's Important: The 5 Es
2. Developing and Fine-Tuning Your Wondering
Wondering Defined
How to Define Your Wondering
The Wondering Litmus Test
3. Developing and Fine-Tuning Your Research Plan
Research Plan Defined
How to Define Your Research Plan
The Inquiry Plan Litmus Test
4. Analyzing Your Data
Data Analysis Defined
How to Avoid Data Analysis Paralysis
The Data Analysis Litmus Test
5. Presenting Your Research
Presentation Defined
How to Define Your Presentation
The Presentation Litmus Test
6. On Your Way: Teacher Research as a Way of Being in the World
Inquiry Stance Defined
How to Define Your Stance
Living the Life of an Inquirer
References
Index
