The Cycle of Inquiry

Well, my original plan was to respond to each of the three main ideas Friedman presents, so I figure I'll touch on the last one today, since we start the new chapter on Monday.

I think this one is interesting because it happens to be the place that Cindy started us on the first day of the institute. The "Cycle of Inquiry" gives us a very useful structure to follow, and I think that now that I have actually done some teacher research, I understand how it works a little bit better than I did before.

It's been a loooong time since Cindy first posted this list, so here it is as a reminder. This is basically the same as the cycle that we see in Appendix C of the chapter:

1. What do I want to know? We get fascinated in or curious about a piece of our teaching. That's asking questions.

2. How will I find out? We start collecting data about that piece of our teaching. That's, um, data collection.

3. How do I make sense of what I've found? Looking at the data with a critical lens can help us to identify patterns and connections that we didn't seen before. That's data analysis.

4. How do I share what I've learned? Now that I understand that piece of my teaching better, how do I share what I've learned? That's reporting or sharing your findings.

5. Now you have new questions. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

The key, I think, is that a teacher researcher goes beyond what a reflective teacher does, and in this chapter I feel that I may have found some examples of how teacher research builds on and adds important elements to reflective teaching.

First, reflective teachers talk formally and informally and listen to each other; teacher researchers engage in constructivist listening and/or structured dialogue sessions with guidelines, procedures, and specific questions to examine. This makes the process more efficient, productive, and useful for each individual teacher.

Second, reflective teachers look at the way their lessons go and make changes/adaptations as they are needed. Teacher researchers gather data systematically and analyze it through the inquiry process with a critical eye (and with the help of other t-rs whenever possible) to identify their own biases, blind spots, and assumptions--to see into and even "through" the data to find out what's working or not working and why. They then use an equally systematic approach to finding potential solutions, gathering more data, and continuing the cycle of inquiry.

Third, reflective teachers share "best practices" with colleagues when they can; teacher researchers consistently share the results of their research in public forums, (books, professional journals, blogs, conventions, writing projects, etc.) joining a t-r community of researchers who help and support one another. Researchers look for consistently reliable practices and share them.

I don't know if anyone else cares about this dichotomy, but I had a hard time seeing the difference between reflective teaching and t-r at first, so maybe this is more for me than for anyone else--but hey everyone, let's call it "sharing results" and call it good.

Anyway, enough from me, I'm looking forward to hearing from Steph about "Practical Practice," hopefully it delivers on its promise!