NancyFichtmanDa_2019_CHAPTER1TEACHERINQUIR_TheReflectiveEducator

3 CHAPTER 1 • TEACHER INQUIRY DEFINED CHAPTER 1 Teacher Inquiry Defined Teaching involves a search for meaning in the world. Teaching is a life project, a calling, a vocation that is an organizing center of all other activities. Teaching is past and future as well as present, it is background as well as foreground, it is depth as well as surface. Teaching is pain and humor, joy and anger, dreariness and epiph- any. Teaching is world building, it is architecture and design, it is purpose and moral enterprise. Teaching is a way of being in the world that breaks through the boundaries of the traditional job and in the process redefines all life and teaching itself. —William Ayers (1989, p. 130) W hether you are a beginning or veteran teacher, an administrator, or a teacher educator, when you think of teaching, learning to teach, and continuing your growth as a teacher, you cannot help but be struck by the enormous complexities, paradoxes, and tensions inherent in the simple act of teaching itself, captured so eloquently in the quote from William Ayers. With all of these complexities, paradoxes, and tensions, a teacher’s work shapes the daily life of his or her classroom. In addition to responding to the needs of the children within the classroom, a teacher is expected to implement endless changes advocated by those outside the four walls of the classroom—administrators, politicians, policymakers, and researchers. While teachers have gained insights into their educational practice from these groups, teachers’ voices have typically been absent from larger discussions about educational change and reform. Historically, teachers have not had access to tools that could have brought their knowledge to the table and raised their voices to a high-enough level to be heard in these larger conver- sations. Teacher inquiry is a vehicle that can be used by teachers to untangle some of the complexities that occur in the profession, raise teachers’ voices in discussions of educational reform, and ultimately transform assumptions about the teaching profession itself. Transforming the profession is really the capstone of the teacher inquiry experience. Let’s begin our journey into the what, why, and how of teacher inquiry with an overview of the evolution of the teacher inquiry movement and a simple definition of this very complex, rewarding, transformative, provocative, and productive process. Copyright 2019. Corwin. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except fair uses permitted under U.S. or applicable copyright law. EBSCO Publishing : eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) - printed on 1/10/2022 11:24 AM via YORK UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES AN: 2524722 ; Nancy Fichtman Dana, Diane Yendol-Hoppey.; The Reflective Educators Guide to Classroom Research : Learning to Teach and Teaching to Learn Through Practitioner Inquiry Account: s2867684.main.ehost

THE REFLECTIVE EDUCATOR’S GUIDE TO CLASSROOM RESEARCH 4 WHAT IS TEACHER INQUIRY? Understanding the history of teacher inquiry will help you recognize how today, as a current or future educator, you find yourself investigating a new paradigm of learning that can lead to educational renewal and reform. This history lesson begins by looking closely at three educational research tra- ditions: process-product research, qualitative or interpretive research, and teacher inquiry (see Table 1.1). Two paradigms have dominated educational research on schooling, teaching, and learning in the past. In the first paradigm, the underlying conception of process-product research (Shulman, 1986) portrays teaching as a primarily linear activity and depicts teachers as technicians. The teacher’s role is to implement the research findings of outside experts, almost exclusively uni- versity researchers, who are considered alien to the everyday happenings in classrooms. In this transmissive mode teachers are not expected to be prob- lem posers or problem solvers. Rather, teachers negotiate dilemmas framed by outside experts and are asked to implement with fidelity a curriculum TABLE 1.1 Competing Paradigms: The Multiple Voices of Research RESEARCH PARADIGMS PROCESS- PRODUCT QUALITATIVE OR INTERPRETIVE TEACHER INQUIRY Teacher Teacher as technician Teacher as story character Teacher as storyteller Researcher Outsider Outsider Insider Process Linear Discursive Cyclical Source of research question Researcher Researcher Teacher Type of research question Focused on control, prediction, or impact Focused on explaining a process or phenomenon Focused on providing insight into a teacher’s classroom practice in an effort to make change Example of research question Which culturally responsive instructional strategies demonstrate the most significant impact on student motivation? How do children experience culturally responsive instruction? How can I use culturally responsive instruction to accommodate ESL students at the kindergarten writing table? EBSCOhost - printed on 1/10/2022 11:24 AM via YORK UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

THE REFLECTIVE EDUCATOR’S GUIDE TO CLASSROOM RESEARCH 6 Elliot (1988) describes action research as a continual set of spirals consisting of reflection and action. Each spiral involves (1) clarifying and diagnosing a practical situation that needs to be improved or a practical problem that needs to be resolved, (2) formulating action strategies to improve the sit- uation or resolve the problem, (3) implementing the action strategies and evaluating their effectiveness, and (4) clarifying the situation, resulting in new definitions of problems or areas for improvement, and so on, to the next spiral of reflection and action. Note that in our description of this third research tradition we have used a number of terms synonymously—teacher research, action research, class- room research, practitioner inquiry, and teacher inquiry. While these terms have been used interchangeably, they do have somewhat different emphases and histories (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009). Action research, for instance, usually refers to research intended to bring about change of some kind, usu- ally with a social justice focus, whereas teacher research quite often has the goal only of examining a teacher’s classroom practice in order to improve it or to better understand what works. For the purposes of this text and to streamline our discussion of research traditions, we have grouped all of these related processes together to represent teachers’ systematic study of their own practice. Yet we use the term inquiry most often because, in our own coaching of teachers’ systematic study of their own practice, we became dis- couraged by the baggage that the word research in the term action research carried with it when the concept was first introduced to teachers. The images that the word research conjures up come mostly from the process-product paradigm and include “a controlled setting,” “an experiment with control and treatment groups,” “an objective scientist removed from the subjects of study so as not to contaminate findings,” “long hours in the library,” and “crunching numbers.” Teachers, in general, weren’t overly enthused by these images, and it took a good deal of time for us to deconstruct these images and help teachers see that those images were antithetical to what teacher/ action research was all about. So, over time, we began replacing the terms action research and teacher research with one simple word that carried much less baggage with it— inquiry —and we will continue this tradition both in this section on research traditions and throughout the remainder of this text. To help unpack some of the baggage the word research carries with it, it is important to further explore the difference between research conducted in a university setting (stemming from the process-product and interpretive par- adigms) and inquiry conducted by classroom teachers. First and foremost, in general, the purpose of research conducted by academics and classroom teachers is quite different. The general focus of university-based research is to advance a field. Professors are required to publish their work in journals read by other academics and present their work at national and interna- tional venues to their peers at other institutions as evidence of their ability to impact the field broadly. In fact, professors’ value within an institution is measured largely by their publication record and the number of times their EBSCOhost - printed on 1/10/2022 11:24 AM via YORK UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

7 CHAPTER 1 • TEACHER INQUIRY DEFINED publications are cited by others. In contrast, the purpose of engagement in inquiry by classroom teachers is to improve classroom practice. The point of doing inquiry is for implementation and change, not for academic impact (although this can happen too). The focus of university-based researchers and teacher inquirers is also differ- ent. In general, university-based researchers working in the process-product paradigm focus their efforts on control, prediction, and impact, and uni- versity-based researchers working in the interpretive paradigm focus their efforts on description, explanation, and understanding of various teaching phenomena. In contrast, teacher inquirers focus on providing insights into teaching in an effort to make change, working tirelessly to unpack all of the complexities inherent in the act of teaching to become the very best teachers they can be for every individual student. A final difference between research conducted at the university and inquiry conducted by classroom teachers into their own practice is ownership. While the research generated by university researchers is critically important to teachers, it is university researchers who make the decisions about what is important to study and how to go about studying it based on a careful and critical analysis of a broad and extensive body of literature related to the topic of study. In contrast, teacher inquirers make decisions about what is important to study and how to go about studying it based on a careful and critical analysis of what is happening at a local level in their own classrooms, schools, and districts. The work of university-based researchers informs the inquiries of teachers, but ownership of the classroom-based investigation resides with the classroom teachers themselves. To help distinguish between research produced at a university and inquiry done in classrooms and schools (summarized in Table 1.2), we often invoke the words of Lawrence Stenhouse, who noted, “The difference between a teacher researcher and the large-scale education researcher is like the differ- ence between a farmer with a huge agricultural business to maintain and the ‘careful gardener’ tending a backyard plot” (Hubbard & Power, 1999, p. 5). In agriculture the equation of invested input against gross yield is all: it does not matter if individual plants fail to thrive or die so long as the cost of saving them is greater than the cost of losing them. . . . This does not apply to the careful gardener whose labour is not costed, but a labour of love. He wants each of his plants to thrive, and he can treat each one individually. Indeed he can grow a hundred different plants in his garden and differentiate his treatment of each, pruning his roses, but not his sweet peas. Gardening rather than agriculture is the analogy for education. (Ruddock & Hopkins, 1985, p. 26) This image of the university-based researcher as a farmer with a huge agri- cultural business and the teacher inquirer as a gardener helps to encapsulate EBSCOhost - printed on 1/10/2022 11:24 AM via YORK UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

9 CHAPTER 1 • TEACHER INQUIRY DEFINED educational change. In the words of Joan Thate, one teacher researcher we have worked with, Teachers have for so long had perfunctory or no influence on school policy, on curriculum frameworks, on time use, on professional standards—or pretty much anything involving their work experience— EXCEPT in the privacy of their own classrooms. I think this is why the deadly and stifling isolation has become such an intractable mono- lith. We’re all trying to preserve the one area in which we have some choice. But I have long known—gut knowledge eventually found words—that in preserving isolation we were doomed to forever have the locus of power stay in other hands than ours. And real power could only come when we could justifiably say: we know what’s best because we have tested the possibilities and have found what works. Inquiry is exciting because it allows for the testing of ideas in real life, and begins to give us the concrete support for insisting attention be paid to what we have to say. (Thate, 2007, personal communication) If that is our goal, we now need to understand how teacher inquiry can serve as a tool for professional growth and educational reform. We believe that the best stated definitions of teacher research come from teacher inquirers them- selves. We end this section with a few definitions of inquiry from teachers we have collaborated with: Very simply put, inquiry is a way for me to continue growing as a teacher. Before I became involved in inquiry I’d gotten to the point where I’d go to an inservice and shut off my brain. Most of the teach- ers I know have been at the same place. If you have been around at all you know that most inservices are the same cheese—just repackaged. Inquiry lets me choose my own growth and gives me tools to validate or jettison my ideas. (Kreinbihl, 2007, personal communication) You know that nagging that wakes you in the early hours, then reemerges during your morning preparation time so you cannot remember if you already applied the deodorant, later on the drive to school pushing out of mind those important tasks you needed to accomplish prior to the first bell, and again as the students are enter- ing your class and sharing all the important things happening in their lives. Well, teacher inquiry is the formal stating of that nagging, devel- oping a plan of action to do something about it, putting the plan into action, collecting data, analyzing the collected works, making mean- ing of your collection, sharing your findings, then repeating the cycle with the new nagging(s) that sprouted up. (Hughes, 2007) Teacher inquiry is not something I do; it is more a part of the way I think. Inquiry involves exciting and meaningful discussions with colleagues about the passions we embrace in our profession. It has EBSCOhost - printed on 1/10/2022 11:24 AM via YORK UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

THE REFLECTIVE EDUCATOR’S GUIDE TO CLASSROOM RESEARCH 10 become the gratifying response to formalizing the questions that enter my mind as I teach. It is a learning process that keeps me passionate about teaching. (Hubbell, 2007) WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TEACHER INQUIRY AND TEACHER PROFESSIONAL GROWTH? Simply stated, teacher inquiry is defined as systematic, intentional study of one’s own professional practice (see, e.g., Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1993; Dana, Gimbert, & Silva, 1999; Hubbard & Power, 1993). Inquiring profes- sionals seek out change by reflecting on their practice. They do this by posing questions or wonderings, collecting data to gain insights into their won- derings, analyzing the data along with reading relevant literature, making changes in practice based on new understandings developed during inquiry, and sharing findings with others. Hence, whether you are a teacher candidate at the dawn of your teaching career or a veteran teacher with years of expe- rience facing new educational challenges every day, teacher inquiry becomes a powerful vehicle for learning and reform. As a teacher inquirer in charge of your own learning, you become a part of a larger struggle in education—the struggle to better understand, inform, shape, reshape, and reform standard school practice (Cochran-Smith, 1991). Teacher inquiry differs from traditional professional development for teachers, which has typically focused on the knowledge of an outside expert being shared with a group of teachers. This traditional model of professional growth, usually delivered as a part of traditional staff development, may appear as an efficient method of disseminating information but often does not result in real and meaningful change in the classroom (Yendol-Hoppey & Dana, 2010). Those dissatisfied with the traditional model of professional development suggest a need for new approaches that enhance professional growth and lead to real change. Traditional models of professional development (defined as relying on the accumulation of information from outside sources with no systematic and intentional plan for studied implementation) have not yielded widespread student learning results. Those recognizing the limita- tions of the traditional model of professional development have pressed for more impactful approaches to teacher learning. In order to help us differen- tiate approaches, Kennedy (2016) identified four different approaches that characterize the nature of teacher professional learning. The first is a didactic approach that focuses on learning a specific prescribed set of teacher actions. The second is a form of targeted assistance that focuses on helping teachers make strategic decisions by selecting among and evaluating multiple instruc- tional strategies. A third approach encourages teachers to gain insights into their instruction by investigating practice from multiple perspectives and rendering professional judgment. Finally, the fourth approach, much like a course, focuses on providing teachers the opportunity to accumulate a body EBSCOhost - printed on 1/10/2022 11:24 AM via YORK UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

THE REFLECTIVE EDUCATOR’S GUIDE TO CLASSROOM RESEARCH 12 who have published their work. There are numerous collections of teacher research, and from reading and analyzing the work of actual teacher research- ers that appear in these collections, it is clear that engagement in inquiry can have a powerful impact on the professional learning of teachers and the lives of the students in their classrooms. Some of our favorite collections of teacher research include the following: • Engaging in Educational Change: Voices of Practitioner Inquiry (Fleet, De Giola, & Patterson, 2016). This book contains real-life cases of several teachers across various classroom contexts in Australia capturing their stories of inquiry to improve their practice and ultimately outcomes for the children they teach. • Creating Equitable Classrooms Through Action Research (Caro-Bruce, Flessner, Klehr, & Zeichner, 2007). This book shares the research of 10 educators from the Madison Wisconsin Metropolitan School District, whose inquiries focused on making their school district a more equitable place for all learners. • Taking Action With Teacher Research (Meyers & Rust, 2003). This book shares the research of six teacher researchers from the Teacher Network Leadership Institute in New York, whose inquiries focused on political action. • Empowering the Voice of the Teacher Researcher: Achieving Success Through a Culture of Inquiry (Brindley & Crocco, 2009). This book shares the research of six teacher researchers from a single school in Florida, whose inquiries focus on better meeting the needs of middle school children. • Our Inquiry, Our Practice: Undertaking, Supporting, and Learning From Early Childhood Teacher Research(ers) (Perry, Henderson, & Meier, 2012). This book shares the research of six early childhood professionals, working in both primary grades and preschool, as well as reviews of some of the finer points of the inquiry process and how it is particularly suited for early childhood contexts. • Teachers Engaged in Research (Langrall, 2006; Masingila, 2006; Smith & Smith, 2006; Van Zoest, 2006). This four-volume series published by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) shares the inqui- ries of several teachers into their mathematics teaching in Grades K–2, 3–5, 6–8, and 9–12, respectively. The second set of evidence that teacher inquiry is worth doing comes from university-based researchers. There is a large body of university-based research conducted on both teacher candidates and practicing teachers engaged in the inquiry process to better understand the impact of their work. One of the most extensive studies of impact was published by Sue Nichols and Phil Cormack in the text Impactful Practitioner Inquiry: The Ripple EBSCOhost - printed on 1/10/2022 11:24 AM via YORK UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

13 CHAPTER 1 • TEACHER INQUIRY DEFINED Effect on Classrooms, Schools, and Teacher Professionalism (2017). These University of South Australia faculty began their research on the process of inquiry by developing a data base of 339 educators who had participated in inquiry projects with them in various capacities over the course of a 10-year timespan, and successfully made contact with 290 of the individuals amassed in their database. To understand inquiry impact, Nichols and Cormack col- lected data from these educators in three ways: a survey, interviews with the inquirers, and interviews with the inquirers’ colleagues. Among other impacts, teachers reported that engagement in inquiry enabled them to • view the curriculum differently, • develop new resources, • see new connections between practice and theory, • increase the diversity of learning activities offered to students, • modify existing resources to benefit student learning, • view students from a strengths-based rather than deficit perspective, • increase their use of technology to enhance learning, • incorporate more student choice into lessons, • increase range of assessment practices, and • integrate inquiry as a pedagogical approach to their own teaching of stu- dents (Nichols & Cormack, 2017, p. 14). Complementing the work of Nichols and Cormack, several studies have also reported on the influence practitioner inquiry has had on both teacher can- didate and practicing teacher learning, concluding that practitioner inquiry • enables a safe environment to pose questions (Salerno & Kibler, 2015); • promotes growth and change in teaching practice (Dresser, 2007; Ermeling, 2010; Levin & Rock, 2003; Rock & Levin, 2002) and enhances teacher identity (Taylor, 2017); • increases data literacy (Athanases, Wahleithner, & Bennett, 2012); • leads to increased efficacy and confidence (Hines & Conner-Zachocki, 2015); and • fosters teacher empowerment and transformation (Bonner, 2006; Esposito & Smith, 2006; Merino & Holmes, 2006). While we share some studies on the impact of inquiry above, it is beyond the scope of this book to review all of the empirical studies completed by aca- demics focused on teachers’ engagement in inquiry. Many additional studies are reviewed and referenced in Marilyn Cochran-Smith and Susan Lytle’s EBSCOhost - printed on 1/10/2022 11:24 AM via YORK UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

15 CHAPTER 1 • TEACHER INQUIRY DEFINED learning and maximize student potential. As teacher researchers engage in reflection, they intentionally ask questions about teaching and learn- ing, organize and collect information, focus on a specific area of inquiry, and benefit from ongoing collaboration and support of critical friends (Lassonde, Ritchie, & Fox, 2008). WHY INQUIRE? INQUIRY AS A PATHWAY TO EQUITY Up to this point in Chapter 1 we have been defining inquiry by describing the process and its history, connecting inquiry to professional growth, pro- viding evidence of inquiry’s value, and distinguishing inquiry from everyday reflective practice that is the foundation of good teaching. Yet, we have not yet addressed the most important question. As a part of defining inquiry, it is imperative for educators to ask, “Inquiry for what purpose? What do teach- ers inquire for?” One reason it is critical to pose this question is that inquiry is not a new fad. As mentioned earlier in this chapter, teachers have been researching their own practice for decades. As inquiry has evolved through the years, it has been “shaped and reshaped in relationship to the era within which it has existed” (Dana, 2016, p. 1). As a process evolves and shape-shifts “both through time and in response to the times, those who engage in the process can easily lose sight of why they are doing it in the first place” (Dana & Currin, 2017, p. 1). Hence, the “why” of inquiry is not always made explicit when the process is first taught to teacher candidates as a part of their teacher education pro- grams or to practicing teachers as a mechanism for professional development. To answer the “Why inquire?” question, we turn to the most pervasive prob- lem of practice that all educators face today—the persistent achievement gap in America’s schools. People of color and those living in poverty struggle to succeed in an educational system that inadequately supports their chances for achievement. The term achievement gap is used widely by educators to reflect the disparity that exists, as measured by standardized test scores, in academic achievement between minoritized groups, primarily African Americans, Hispanics, and American Indians, and the dominant group, primarily Whites, as well as variance in performance by students based on socioeconomic status (Clark, 2013; Darling-Hammond, 2013). While edu- cators still broadly use the term achievement gap to discuss the schooling experiences of different groups of students throughout the nation, several educational scholars have noted the need to reframe the discussion with the term opportunity gap to reflect the fact that the inequalities that exist in schools are a direct consequence of the inequalities that exist within our society, encompassing systemic disparities in health care, wealth, education, affordable housing, quality child care, school funding, teacher quality, and curricula (Boykin & Noguera, 2011; Ladson-Billings, 2007; Milner, 2010; Welner & Carter, 2013). EBSCOhost - printed on 1/10/2022 11:24 AM via YORK UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

THE REFLECTIVE EDUCATOR’S GUIDE TO CLASSROOM RESEARCH 16 Hence, understanding and correcting the inequalities that exist in schools and society is of critical importance to all educators. Engagement in inquiry can be a powerful pathway to the creation of more equitable class- rooms. In fact, distinguished scholars of the practitioner research move- ment, Marilyn Cochran-Smith and Susan Lytle, maintain that the ultimate goal of practitioner inquiry “always and in every context” is to enhance “students’ learning and life chances for participation in and contribution to a diverse and democratic society” (Cochran-Smith and Lytle, 2009, p. 146). Teachers engage in inquiry for equity to increase the learning and life chances of every student with whom they work, regardless of factors (e.g., race, socioeconomic status, gender, sexuality, and ability) that often inhibit students in an educational system that was not designed to meet their needs. Returning to one of the largest research studies undertaken on the impact of inquiry we introduced earlier in this chapter, educational researchers Sue Nichols and Phil Cormack reported, “Practitioner research was at its most powerful when it served [teachers’] ethical commitments to struggling students” (Nichols & Cormack, 2017, p. 20), reinforcing the importance of inquiry undertaken for more equitable learning and schooling experiences for all. Whereas the creation of more just and more equitable schooling experiences is the ultimate goal of engagement in the process of inquiry, not all teachers first come to inquiry with an equity focus, but rather discover this underlying problem of practice through time and several cycles of the inquiry process. For this reason, in this text as we teach about each component of the inquiry process in Chapters 2 through 8, we will both highlight many examples of inquiry related to the creation of more equitable learning experiences, but we will also share examples of the process that may not be directly related to issues of equity, but nonetheless, did serve as powerful professional learning experiences for teachers and teacher candidates at the start of their inquiry journeys. We will return to the ultimate equity goal of practitioner inquiry in Chapter 9, where we share the story of a prolific teacher researcher who came to see inquiry as a pathway to equity over time, as well as teacher candidates who are beginning their teaching careers with a passion for using inquiry to examine issues of equity. WHAT ARE SOME CONTEXTS RIPE FOR TEACHER INQUIRY? With an understanding of what teacher inquiry is and the ultimate reason for engaging in the process, let us consider the kinds of contexts that support teacher inquiry. As previously discussed, teaching is full of enormous com- plexities, paradoxes, and tensions, and hence, teaching itself invites inquiry. However, even as inquiry beckons each and every teacher, becoming a lone inquirer is difficult! For this reason, we explore four particularly ripe contexts for facilitating the development of an inquiry stance in practicing and teacher EBSCOhost - printed on 1/10/2022 11:24 AM via YORK UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

THE REFLECTIVE EDUCATOR’S GUIDE TO CLASSROOM RESEARCH 18 Student Teaching and/or Other Clinical Experiences If you are a veteran teacher, you likely reminisce about your own student teaching experience as an important feature of your preservice education. Similarly, if you are a teacher candidate, you have likely looked forward to your clinical experiences with great anticipation. According to a report prepared by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), a paradigmatic shift in teacher preparation is needed that places a greater emphasis on the clinical experience and learning within the field. The goal is to prepare teachers who are simultaneously content experts and innovators, collaborators, and problem solvers. According to the report, Clinical practice offers a lens through which to understand the prob- lems of practice that currently face the profession, stemming from factors such as demographic changes, poverty, and teacher shortages. The problematizing of these issues allows for creative thinking and innovation by the many players engaged in the clinical practice space. (AACTE, 2018, p. 8) Within the report, teacher inquiry is highlighted as an important tool for strengthening clinical practice, and an inquiry stance is an orientation believed to strengthen teacher preparation. Mounting evidence suggests that field experiences that include engagement in teacher inquiry enhance the quality of teacher preparation (see, e.g., Dana & Silva, 2001; Delane, Hooser, Richner, Wolkenhauer, Colvine, & Dana, 2017; Yendol-Hoppey & Franco, 2014). The reason that inquiry has become so much a part of qual- ity teacher preparation is quite logical. Given that the act of teaching is an enormously complex endeavor, learning to teach in any brief, simple, and step-by-step way is impossible. As a teacher candidate, you are immersed in the complexities of teaching for the first time in clinical experiences. Immersion in this complexity naturally encourages engagement in inquiry, since questions about teaching, schools, and schooling abound. As you student teach, inquiry can help you learn to identify the complexities and problems inherent in teaching and tease these complexities apart to gain insights into your work with children. Given the comprehensive nature of teaching, identifying complexities and striving to understand them is a process that lasts an entire career. Engagement in teacher inquiry as an integral component of field preparation enhances the power of the field experience. As you simultaneously learn to teach and to inquire into teach- ing, these two processes become intricately intertwined. When teaching and inquiry become synonymous, you have cultivated an inquiry stance toward teaching that will serve you, your students, and the field of educa- tion well for the duration of your career! EBSCOhost - printed on 1/10/2022 11:24 AM via YORK UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

19 CHAPTER 1 • TEACHER INQUIRY DEFINED Professional Development Schools and Other Networks Since the late 1980s, a specialized setting for student teaching and other field experiences has emerged—professional development schools (PDSs). According to Darling-Hammond (1994), PDSs aim to provide new models of teacher education and development by serving as exemplars of practice, builders of knowledge, and vehicles for communicating professional understanding among teacher educa- tors, novices, and veteran teachers. They support the learning of teacher candidates and beginning teachers by creating settings in which novices enter professional practice by working with expert practitioners, enabling veteran teachers to renew their own profes- sional development and assume new roles as mentors, university adjuncts, and teacher leaders. They allow school and university edu- cators to engage jointly in research and rethinking of practice, thus creating an opportunity for the profession to expand its knowledge base by putting research into practice—and practice into research. (Darling-Hammond, 1994, p. 1) In a PDS, then, teacher inquiry is a central part of the professional practice of all members—practicing teachers, teacher candidates, administrators, and university teacher educators. This transition to inquiry is the mechanism for reinventing schools as learning organizations. Hence, a PDS culture supports and celebrates the engagement of teachers and other PDS profes- sionals in constructing knowledge through intentional, systematic inquiry and using that knowledge to continually reform, refine, and change the practice of teaching (Dana, 2017; Dana, Smith & Yendol-Hoppey, 2011; Yendol-Hoppey & Dana, 2008). PDSs have organized themselves through a national network, the National Association of Professional Development Schools (NAPDS). The vision of this organization is to serve as an advocate for those dedicated to promot- ing the continuous development of collaborative P–12 school and higher education relationships. Specific examples illustrating how inquiry is central to the work of PDSs can be found in the Fall 2017 special themed edition of School-University Partnerships entitled “Teacher Inquiry in Professional Development Schools: How it Makes a Difference.” The work of teacher inquiry remains a vital component of the NAPDS, and teacher inquirers reg- ularly share their work at the NAPDS conference. In addition to NAPDS, a variety of other educational networks support the teacher inquiry movement. For example, the National Network for EBSCOhost - printed on 1/10/2022 11:24 AM via YORK UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

21 CHAPTER 1 • TEACHER INQUIRY DEFINED HOW DOES MY ENGAGING IN TEACHER INQUIRY HELP SHAPE THE PROFESSION OF TEACHING? Regardless of your method of inquiry, the subject of your inquiry, or the context of your inquiry, what is most important is that you do inquire! For decades, scholars of teaching and teacher education, such as Aronowitz and Giroux (1985), Greene (1986), and Zeichner (1986), have argued that “teachers are decision makers and collaborators who must reclaim their roles in the shaping of practice by taking a stand as both educators and activists” (Cochran-Smith, 1991, p. 280). These calls continue today as edu- cators engage in inquiry to change, enhance, and challenge their practices (Cochran-Smith, 2004; Cochran-Smith & Stern, 2015). Inquiry is a core tool that teachers use when making informed and systematic decisions. Through the inquiry process, teachers can support with evidence the deci- sions they make as educators and, subsequently, advocate for particular chil- dren, changes in curriculum, and/or changes in pedagogy. Inquiry ultimately emerges as action and results in change. As a teacher candidate, practicing teacher, mentor teacher, and/or doctoral student interested in problematizing your professional practice, you have committed to simultaneous renewal and reform of the teaching profession and teacher education. Teacher inquiry is the ticket to enact this reform! Cochran-Smith and Lytle (1993) claim that in any classroom where teacher inquiry is occurring, “there is a radical, but quiet kind of educational reform in process” (p. 101). Your individual engagement in teacher inquiry is a contribution to larger educational reform, a transformation of the teaching profession . . . so, let us begin the journey. CHAPTER 1 EXERCISES 1. Look at some examples of teacher research published in the collections we mentioned in this chapter or that you may find in journals such as Journal of Practitioner Research, Journal of Teacher Action Research, Voices of Practitioners, Action Research, and Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research. What are some things you notice about the process of inquiry you will explore in this book from looking at actual examples of teachers’ research? 2. Start a journal to trace your own inquiry journey as you proceed through this book. For your first entry, capture both the excitement and enthusi- asm you may be feeling for the inquiry process after reading Chapter 1, EBSCOhost - printed on 1/10/2022 11:24 AM via YORK UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use

THE REFLECTIVE EDUCATOR’S GUIDE TO CLASSROOM RESEARCH 22 as well as any apprehension or trepidation you feel about the process. Use these sentence starters as your journal prompts: • My greatest hopes for engaging in the inquiry process include . . . • My greatest fears for engaging in the inquiry process include . . . Discuss your responses with colleagues and continue to use your journal throughout the text to respond to the exercises provided in each chapter. When you actually begin your own inquiry, your journal can evolve into a way to collect data (covered in Chapter 5). DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. What role does teacher inquiry play in educational reform? 2. The authors state, “Teacher inquiry is a vehicle that can be used by teach- ers to untangle some of the complexities that occur in the profession, raise teachers’ voices in discussions of educational reform, and ultimately transform assumptions about the teaching profession itself.” What are some common assumptions the general public holds about teaching and learning that you would like to see challenged? How can your engage- ment in inquiry help to challenge these assumptions? 3. What conceptions about educational research did you hold prior to beginning this book? To articulate your prior conceptions, consider the following: • Who does educational research? • Where is educational research done? • When is educational research done? • Why is educational research done? • How is educational research done? • What do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of educational research? • Do you think that practitioners value educational research? Why or why not? • Is there anything missing from educational research as you see it? • In what ways might engagement in teacher inquiry address what is missing? 4. How does engagement in teacher inquiry differ from traditional models of professional development? 5. Which ripe contexts for teacher inquiry (PLCs, student teaching and/or other clinical experiences, PDSs, and other teacher networks, or profes- sional practice doctoral programs) are most pertinent to your current EBSCOhost - printed on 1/10/2022 11:24 AM via YORK UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES. All use subject to https://www.ebsco.com/terms-of-use