Memo #3

Teacher research can provide a solution to improve teaching and learning in any classroom. Teacher research involves reflection, “Closely akin to constructivism, reflexivity involves ‘a conscious use of reflection to examine one’s own personal biases, views, and motivations to develop self-awareness in interaction with others’” (Xerri, 2018, p.2). Teacher research usually is conducted once an educator recognizes a problem within the classroom. The educator can then write a research question to help guide his/ her study and to discover a solution to this problem.  As Xerri states in “Two Methodological Challenges for Teacher-researchers: Reflexivity and Trustworthiness,” “Teacher research is recognized as an important means of achieving professional development, and of improving learning and teaching. It is defined as research conducted by teachers in their own context with the aim of better understanding their practices” (Xerri, 2018, p.2). Although the goal is to better understand one’s practice, this cannot be achieved without the required skills needed to engage in teacher research. Educators should first understand the basic methodology and procedures regarding teacher research, and this can be obtained through educational literature, professional development, or colleague collaboration.

As teachers begin navigating their way through a research study, it is important that they read “theoretical and applied educational literature, including other teacher-research reports” (Baumann & Duffy, 2001, p. 3). It can be beneficial for teachers to work with a colleague. “Using primarily practical, efficient, qualitative methods recommended by other teacher researchers, with perhaps a quantitative tool added in, the researcher initiates a study” (Baumann & Duffy, 2001, p. 3).

Once educators have begun the research process, it is vital that they engage in authentic inquiry in order to avoid skewing the data results; “In the case of teachers doing research in their classrooms, authentic inquiry means that the positioning of the teacher as the researcher and their students as the participants does not privilege the teachers’ views, interests, and interpretations over their students’. The participants are not treated as “subjects” but as co-researchers, and multiple voices (polyphonia) and perspectives (polysemia) are included in the research and its interpretations” (Alexakos, 2015, p.5). The goal is to improve practice, but sometimes teachers find it challenging to position themselves in a way that enables this outcome, “The investigator may struggle to balance the dual role of teacher and researcher or feel uneasy with the innovations that are explored” (Baumann & Duffy, 2001, p. 3). Therefore, educators must become mindful of their role to ensure that both teachers and students are benefiting from the research.

 

Teacher research is a unique way for educators to examine their own practices without simply taking the advice of outside researchers, “At every point when interacting with students in a teaching experiment, the students’ and teacher’s actions are codependent” (Steffe & Thompson, 2000, p.35). This is beneficial for the research because it eliminates the separation between research and teaching.

Authentic teacher research can allow educators to examine the issues within one’s classroom and enable the teacher to best resolve these issues without damaging the climate of the classroom. “Teacher Research empowers teachers to make a positive difference in terms of classroom practice; it enables us to provide relevant information about teaching and learning in actual classrooms. Most importantly, by engaging in reflective practice, the Teacher Researcher improves the lives of students by always seeking to discover better, more effective ways of implementing teaching/learning” (MacLean and Mohr, 1999, p.1).