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Full-Text Articles in Education
Guest Editor's Introduction: Teacher Research On Classroom Discourse In Northern Canadian Communities, Judith C. Lapadat
Guest Editor's Introduction: Teacher Research On Classroom Discourse In Northern Canadian Communities, Judith C. Lapadat
Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research
This special issue brings together a series of articles written by practitioners in a number of northern communities in British Columbia, all of whom are affiliated with UNBC's graduate program in Curriculum and Instruction. The region they are writing about is large, rugged, and sparsely populated. Prince George, centrally located and the site of the main UNBC campus, has a population of 75,000. There are seven other small cities in the 10,000-20,000 range, and the remainder of the population resides in small towns and villages.
Focusing On Reflection With Early Childhood Practitioners, Anne Lindsay, Ruth Mason
Focusing On Reflection With Early Childhood Practitioners, Anne Lindsay, Ruth Mason
Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research
The purpose of this paper is to describe an action research project in our university childcare centre that focused on the nature of the reflective process. The project originated with the childcare centre director's concern for providing more professional development for her staff. In discussion with the vice-chair of the centre, who was at the time a researcher in early childhood at the university (and also the first author of this paper), ideas emerged that were then discussed with the staff. A graduate student at the university, also an educational practitioner (and the second author of this paper), expressed interest …
Using Math Journals In A Grade 3/4 Classroom, Karen Scales
Using Math Journals In A Grade 3/4 Classroom, Karen Scales
Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research
The purpose of this study was to examine how the use of math journals could facilitate modifications in instructional practice. The specific research questions were: Are math journals an effective diagnostic tool? Do they provide information not already provided through traditional assignments? How can they be used in assessment?
Revoicing Reflections, Ward Pycock
Revoicing Reflections, Ward Pycock
Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research
Serendipitously, I stumbled onto revoicing in an article written by O'Connor and Michaels (1996). I often use a speech sequence called the initiate-respond-evaluate (IRE) pattern without being aware of doing it. Many teachers will recognize it -- you pose a question, nominate a student to respond and when they give you the answer you say "What an excellent answer." I've come to realize, through reflection, the restrictions of this speech sequence. In spite of the fact I might even have had a hot topic in class enthusiastically generated by students, I knew that classroom discourse failed to flourish at times. …
A Teacher Librarian's Initiation Of Literature Circles In An Elementary School: A Refleection On The Process, Anne V. Lyle
A Teacher Librarian's Initiation Of Literature Circles In An Elementary School: A Refleection On The Process, Anne V. Lyle
Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research
Literature Circles, often called Literature Response Groups, Book Clubs and occasionally Transactional Literature Discussions, are an approach to reading instruction in which students read, write and talk about poetry, short stories and whole books. (Lyle, 1999). Through discourse students actively construct meaning by responding to a text and then by reflecting on their responses. This approach, according to Pitman (1997), "allows children to apply their natural socializing tendencies in a productive manner, making learning meaningful and hopefully internalized for additional future learning" (p. 4).
Student-Generated Discussion In The Senior Secondary English Classroom, A.W. Lehmann
Student-Generated Discussion In The Senior Secondary English Classroom, A.W. Lehmann
Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research
The purpose of this research study was to devise and test a method of encouraging, and subsequently managing, student-generated discussion of English literature within a senior secondary classroom. The students would provide not only the discussion itself, but also a "client's-eye" evaluation of the process. Accordingly, students were engaged in part of the initial clarification of the study's purposes and procedures, produced the bulk of the discussion which constituted the content for the method being examined, and provided a post-discussion evaluation which could be compared to earlier comments. A simple qualitative analysis of written comments provided by the students and …
Differential Discourse Patterns In Mainstream Versus First Nations Students In An Adult Basic Education Classroom, Nancy L. Ross
Differential Discourse Patterns In Mainstream Versus First Nations Students In An Adult Basic Education Classroom, Nancy L. Ross
Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research
The purpose of this study was to record and transcribe a lesson conducted in the Initiation-Response-Evaluation (IRE) style, in order to examine the patterns of interaction between teacher and students, focusing on ways in which the teacher differentiates between First Nations and non-First Nations students, and on ways in which their discourse differs. I chose to use one of my own classes, and to examine my own interactions, in order to discover my role in these student-teacher interactions. What differences can be seen in the quantity and quality of student utterances between First Nations and mainstream students? How do I, …
The Curtain Rises: Teachers Unveil Their Processes Of Transformation In Doing Classroom Inquiry, Denise Fischer, Maria Mercado, Vicki Morgan, Lori Robb, Jacquelyn Sheehan-Carr
The Curtain Rises: Teachers Unveil Their Processes Of Transformation In Doing Classroom Inquiry, Denise Fischer, Maria Mercado, Vicki Morgan, Lori Robb, Jacquelyn Sheehan-Carr
Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research
This paper is the joint reflection of a group of teachers on their transformative process of engaging in a systematic inquiry in their own classrooms. While sharing and reconstructing their experiences, they found that most of them went from detachment and resistance, when they were introduced to the idea of teacher-research, to engagement in a community of inquirers, and to uncovering the unforeseen benefits of doing teacher-inquiry.
"Anything Worthwhile Takes Time": Eight Schools Discuss Impacts And Impressions Of Doing Action Research, Janet Benton, Jean Wasco
"Anything Worthwhile Takes Time": Eight Schools Discuss Impacts And Impressions Of Doing Action Research, Janet Benton, Jean Wasco
Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research
During the 1997-1998 school year, eight elementary, middle, and high schools connected with each other and a local university to conduct classroom-based action research, and our goal in these reflections is to examine what the teachers involved in the studies thought about the research process and the possible effects of action research on their students' classroom performances.
Exploring Reading Identity: Urban Parents Defining Themselves As Readers, Catherine Compton-Lilly
Exploring Reading Identity: Urban Parents Defining Themselves As Readers, Catherine Compton-Lilly
Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research
As part of a teacher-research study I interviewed ten of my urban first grade students and their parents about reading. One parent, Ms. Webster, referred to people who read a lot as "bookworms" and "bookish people" who "don't have no fun." She explained, "All they do is sit in the house and read books all day long or sit outside and read books. . .
Education As Apprenticeship For Social Action: Composition Instruction, Critical Consciousness, And Engaged Pedagogy, David Alan Sapp
Education As Apprenticeship For Social Action: Composition Instruction, Critical Consciousness, And Engaged Pedagogy, David Alan Sapp
Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research
As a professional teacher of writing, I see language as one of many locations in which political struggles exist, and the classroom as a site from which my students and I can actively examine culture, developing strategies of language-use that can facilitate social change. Critical and feminist pedagogies are two closely-related ways of teaching from which we can examine socially-created power structures so that society can move towards new ways of thinking and towards a new consciousness. The state of critical consciousness that results from these pedagogies becomes realized when students, studying as apprentices for social action, begin to speak …
Pictures, Dreams, And The Reflexive Educational Reformer, Mark Campbell Williams
Pictures, Dreams, And The Reflexive Educational Reformer, Mark Campbell Williams
Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research
What do pictures, dreams and reflection have to do with educational reform? In this paper I reflect heuristically on a five year study investigating a major teaching reform of a university business computing course. I conducted action research on a raft of teaching innovations designed to introduce communication, discourse, and reflection on broad social and organisational implications of computing rather than merely hardware and software techniques. The main theme was to see if discourse could ameliorate a dominant technicism in the teaching-learning process and curriculum. After three years, I realised that, in my own technicist drive to achieve "success" and …
Editorial Introduction, Gordon Wells
Editorial Introduction, Gordon Wells
Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research
Once again, this issue features articles by groups of educators who are collaborating to investigate and improve their practice and, in the process, to extend and develop their understanding of the principles underpinning their work. As the increasing number of links to such groups on the Links page attests, collaborative action research is on the increase, as is the number of educators who are experiencing the positive impact it has on their lives.
Book Review: Henry L. Tischler (Ed.) (2000) Debating Points: Race And Ethnic Relations., Young M. Kim
Book Review: Henry L. Tischler (Ed.) (2000) Debating Points: Race And Ethnic Relations., Young M. Kim
Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research
Today's college students seem to care little about many important social issues on the public agenda. Their interest in such issues often appears to be at best minimal and sporadic, and consequently they are more likely to form and express superficial opinions on those matters. One exceptional case is the issue of race. The issue of race matters deeply to students, and most of them know where they stand on it.