Fugitive Learning through a Teacher Inquiry Group: Urban Educators Humanizing their Classrooms & Themselves

2020 ◽  
Vol 103 (3) ◽  
pp. 157-175
Author(s):  
Oscar Navarro
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Inquiry ◽  
Inquiry Group ◽  
Urban Educators

Collaborative Teacher Inquiry for Inclusive Education

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Schlessinger ◽  
Celia Oyler
Keyword(s):  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teacher Inquiry ◽  
School Structures ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Inquiry Group ◽  
Teacher Beliefs And Practices ◽  
Inquiry Approach ◽  
Problem Solvers

Taking an inquiry approach for professional learning in support of inclusive education is both pragmatic and powerful, although it has certainly not been the norm throughout much of teacher education in North America. Much research in inclusive education has focused on teacher beliefs and practices, school structures, and service delivery models, and such foci often position teachers as technicians, implementing outside experts’ ideas about “best practices,” thus marginalizing educators as mere consumers of research and methods, rather than developers, designers, and architects of inclusive practices. To foster full participation and membership of all learners in their classrooms, teachers often engage in trial and error, puzzle solving, and creativity, to build productive and participatory communities of learning. Although consciousness, criticality, and questioning are the foundation of an inclusive stance, awareness alone does not necessarily generate practices of critical inclusivity. The work of moving recursively from framings (ideological and affective) to specific, embodied practices requires continuous action and reflection, which is well supported by practitioner inquiry. The practice of inquiry requires that teachers engage in persistent, reflective work; take risks; and use failures as points of departure for new learning and teaching approaches. The content of the inquiry, when focused on capacity and inclusivity, has the potential to work against the dominant discourses that marginalize and exclude particular students and populations, whereas the process of inquiry can position teachers as creative, intellectual problem-solvers, thus working against the dominant discourse of teachers as technicians. Inquiry for inclusivity is most often taken up as a collaborative practice, supporting educators to make their problem-solving public, gaining both friendly critique and affirmation. The collaborative inquiry group can also serve as a space for ideological and affective clarification, as striving to design teaching and learning for inclusion involves challenging many of the norms of schooling, including individualism; meritocracy; competition; and sorting, leveling, and ranking students.

scholarly journals "‘Cause It Has to Happen": Exploring Teachers’ Resistance to LGBT Literature and Issues in a Teacher Inquiry Group

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 285-302
Author(s):  
Lynne Wiltse ◽  
Theresa Boyko
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Teacher Inquiry ◽  
Comfort Zone ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Teacher Resistance ◽  
Justice Research ◽  
Inquiry Group ◽  
Social Justice Research ◽  
Pedagogy Of Discomfort

This paper explores teachers’ resistance to LGBT literature and issues by examining how a group of teachers, as part of a social justice research project, responded to an article that examined reasons why teachers who hold anti-homophobic views still resist teaching LGBT texts and topics in their classrooms. Boler and Zembylas’s (2002) notion of a "pedagogy of discomfort" provides a framework for understanding reluctance to move out of one’s comfort zone. The story of how one of the research participants pushed the boundaries of possibility by undertaking subsequent professional development initiatives at her school offers an alternative to teacher resistance.

Teacher inquiry of using assessments and recommendations in teaching early reading

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 ◽  
pp. 9-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Nordström ◽  
Ulrika B. Andersson ◽  
Linda Fälth ◽  
Stefan Gustafson
Keyword(s):  
Early Reading ◽  
Teacher Inquiry

Challenges of Urban Educators in Implementing State Standards for Students with Disabilities

2021 ◽  
pp. 001312452110045
Author(s):  
Elizabeth D. Cramer ◽  
Rosalia F. Gallo ◽  
Catherine Salum ◽  
Lorena R. Munoz ◽  
Cynthia Pellegrini Lafont ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Students With Disabilities ◽  
Special Educators ◽  
State Standards ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Struggling Learners ◽  
Effective Implementation ◽  
Lack Of Information ◽  
Diverse Backgrounds ◽  
Information Research ◽  
Urban Educators

A lack of information, research, and teacher training exists on the effective implementation of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) or other state standards for struggling learners. The pace and standardization of the curriculum are often at odds with the unique learning needs of students from diverse backgrounds. Researchers in one large urban school district conducted a series of focus groups with special educators to identify their perceptions of these standards and the training needs associated with effective implementation of the standards. The results revealed a pressing need for professional development to facilitate effective implementation of the standards for struggling learners in urban settings. Implications for teacher preparation and urban education are discussed.

Using Text via Dialectical Journals to Nurture Liminal Spaces in Teacher Education

2021 ◽  
pp. 154134462110581
Author(s):  
Stephanie L. Dodman ◽  
Nancy Holincheck ◽  
Rebecca Brusseau
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Transformational Learning ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Teacher Inquiry ◽  
Graduate Course ◽  
Practicing Teachers ◽  
Self Reflection ◽  
Liminal Spaces ◽  
Reflective Development

This article shares the findings of a study examining the use of dialectical journals as liminal spaces for the development of critical reflection in practicing teachers. In an online graduate course on critical teacher inquiry designed to foster teachers as antiracist multicultural educators, teachers engaged in dialogue with themselves as they responded to self-selected text segments in assigned readings throughout the course. Using Mezirow’s theory of transformation and specifically the typology of critical reflection of assumptions and critical self-reflection of assumptions, we analyzed the online dialectical journals of 23 teachers to better understand how their engagement with key texts both represented and influenced their reflective development and engagement in transformational learning. We conclude the journals to be powerful liminal spaces for teachers to engage in reframing of their assumptions.

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