A cartoon for Inquiry As Stance Chp. 3

Saw this tonight on reddit.com - I don't have the original source but will share it if I see it.

http://i.imgur.com/L6KEl.jpg

Week Ten Discussion

Hello! This is our last week of class with official "readings." Can you believe it! After this Thursday the 28th we will focus on course presentations, and our blog responses will be discussions about these presentations and your related seminar projects. Thanks for your thoughtful posts about last week's readings. It seems that the examples of teacher research really allowed you to begin to synthesize our discussions/readings throughout the semester and consider the many uses (and potential misuses) of teacher research.

For this week, we are focusing on Teacher Research and Institutional/Policy Change. There are a couple of chapters to read in _Inquiry as Stance_ and three articles I will email to you today. In short, these readings ask questions about how teacher research might be directly connected to policy change at the institutional or even governmental levels. How can knowledge generated from teacher research, which is often related to personal contexts and not viewed as definitive, be used to create/change policy? How can teachers/teacher educators argue for such a use of knowledge from teacher research? How is teacher research a kind of social movement? How is "inquiry as stance" (Cochran-Smith and Lytle) an important metaphor for its potential to create change? And, perhaps most important, do you buy this argument? Can teacher research accomplish educational reform?

Speaking of inquiry - curiosity is right out

I found this story today about the policies for AP History at Westfield High School in the DC area.  You have to read the story to believe it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/17/AR2010101702798.html

Interesting Links

Hi, all. Here are a couple of interesting articles about a recent "manifesto" for educational reform written by Joel Klein, Michelle Rhee and others published in _The Washington Post_. I thought you might be interested in how these opinion pieces argue against the notion that lack of teacher "accountability" and competence are the problem with education today.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kevin-welner/waiting-for-accountabilit_b_760491.html?view=print

http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/ib286/

Week Nine Discussion

Hello, class. This week, October 21, we will not be meeting for our regular class. Instead, I'll be meeting with each of you individually about your seminar projects. However, go ahead and read as indicated on the syllabus and post on the blog about the readings.

This week is really about the publication of teacher research--exploring examples of teacher research studies which have been disseminated to other teachers, researchers, etc. So read some examples of your choice from the Cochran-Smith and Lytle books as well as the two published studies I'll email to you. Then, reflect on the benefits and drawbacks of the publication or dissemination of teacher research. Is this dissemination vital to solidify the importance of teacher research? Is it inconsistent with the purpose of teacher research, which is improved classroom practice? Did you learn anything from the published pieces that you think helps you as a teacher? Whom does the publication of such research benefit? Should teachers be encouraged to write and publish their research?

Discussion space for final projects

Hi, there. Use this space to freewrite about your final project idea and invite feedback from others.

Week Eight Discussion

This week's topic: Discourse Analysis. What is it? What are the various definitions of it? What are some of the ways it might be conducted or theorized? How might it dovetail with case study research or ethnography? Why might it be of particular interest to teacher researchers? I think it's particularly helpful when you quote from the texts and respond to these quotations, so I encourage you to include citations in your posts, in addition to discussing anything else of interest.

Interesting form of teacher research. . .

This isn't quite what we are discussing in class, but I wanted to mention another blog that I follow.  It's called Fed Up with Lunch, and it's written by a teacher who has decided to eat the same school lunch that the children eat every day and then write about the experience.  She photographs everything as she's eating, too.  I hope you all find it as interesting as I do!