Teachers Doing Research

Describes the process of doing teacher action research and provides examples from teachers themselves. Textbook for pre-service and in-service teacher education courses. Includes suggested activities sections.

This popular text describes the processes of doing teacher action research. But it is much more than a dry presentation of "methods." Filled with examples of teacher action research projects, provided by teachers themselves, the book places teachers at the heart of the action research process. Teachers' own writing about their work and research questions is featured in 11 examples of teacher action research conducted in a range of settings, grade levels, and content areas. The second edition of Teachers Doing Research is fully updated and substantially reorganized and revised, including four totally new chapters and six new teacher stories. This edition: *provides more specifics on teacher action research processes and a variety of methodological options for teachers who do research in their classrooms and schools (Chapters 1-5); *includes more specifics on data collection and interpretation methods (Chapter 3); *balances a detailed introduction to technology for novice researchers with discussion of issues and questions related to technology-based teacher research (Chapter 4). Information on Web sites related to topics addressed in the chapters and teacher research stories is integrated throughout the book. A new Teachers Doing Research Web site (www.teachersdoingresearch.com) invites readers, teacher research participants, preservice candidates, and teacher educators to participate in dialogue with the authors and editors of this text, and with each other; *gives expanded attention to teacher action research with preservice teachers and to university/school collaboration (especially in Chapter 6); *examines the connections between teacher action research and the larger arena of educational research (Chapter 8); *broadens the context for teacher action research, through discussion of its influence on school reform both in the United States and internationally. International examples of urban teacher research are included (Chapter 9); and *offers new In Practice sections to engage readers in opportunities to respond to what they are reading and to try out related activities.

Action research, explored in this book, is a seven-step process for improving teaching and learning in classrooms at all levels. Through practical examples, research tools, and easy-to-follow "implementation strategies," Richard Sagor guides readers through the process from start to finish. Learn how to uncover and use the data that already exist in your classrooms and schools to answer significant questions about your individual or collective concerns and interests. Sagor covers each step in the action research process in detail: selecting a focus, clarifying theories, identifying research questions, collecting data, analyzing data, reporting results, and taking informed action. Drawing from the experience of individual teachers, faculties, and school districts, Sagor describes how action research can enhance teachers' professional standing and efficacy while helping them succeed in settings characterized by increasingly diverse student populations and an emphasis on standards-based reform. The book also demonstrates how administrators and policymakers can use action research to bolster efforts related to accreditation, teacher supervision, and job-embedded staff development. Part how-to guide, part inspirational treatise, Guiding School Improvement with Action Research provides advice, information, and encouragement to anyone interested in reinventing schools as learning communities and restructuring teaching as the true profession it was meant to be.

There are many teachers who think about doing research in their own classes and schools but who are perplexed by what appears to be involved. This book is intended for these perplexed practitioners, to provide them with an easily understandable narrative about the concrete praxis of doing research in their classrooms or in those of their teacher peers teaching next door or in the same school.

Doing Teacher Research is one volume of the authoritative 13-title TeacherSource series. The author examines the issue from three distinct perspectives: Teachers' Voices, which are authentic accounts of teacher's experiences; Frameworks, which are comprehensive discussions of theoretical issues; and Investigations, which are inquiry-based activities.

The Role of Research in Teachers' Work privileges teachers' voices and explores what teachers themselves say about systematic research, the process of becoming researchers and the establishment of collaborative relationships with their teacher research partner; as well as the impact of research on their identity as teachers and on their students, on student outcomes, and on their pedagogical practices. Unique in contemporary writing on schools, this book and its companion, My School, represent one of the only comprehensive longitudinal studies of a low socioeconomic status secondary school from the perspective of those who learn and teach within it.

Teachers of Color and Indigenous Teachers are underrepresented in public schools across the United States of America, with Black, Indigenous, and People of Color making up roughly 37% of the adult population and 50% of children, but just 19% of the teaching force. Yet research over decades has indicated their positive impact on student learning and social and emotional development, particularly for Students of Color and Indigenous Students. A first of its kind, the Handbook of Research on Teachers of Color and Indigenous Teachers addresses key issues and obstacles to ethnoracial diversity across the life course of teachers’ careers, such as recruitment and retention, professional development, and the role of minority-serving institutions. Including chapters from leading researchers and policy makers, the Handbook is designed to be an important resource to help bridge the gap between scholars, practitioners, and policy makers. In doing so, this research will serve as a launching pad for discussion and change at this critical moment in our country’s history. The volume’s goal is to drive conversations around the issue of ethnoracial teacher diversity and to provide concrete practices for policy makers and practitioners to enable them to make evidence-based decisions for supporting an ethnoracially diverse educator workforce, now and in the future.

This step-by-step guide has been designed to meet the needs of all teacher training students involved in any classroom-based research at Level 6 or M-level. It contains three sections that mirror the progression from novice researcher to practitioner researcher.