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Full-Text Articles in Education
Editorial Introduction, Catherine F. Compton-Lilly
Editorial Introduction, Catherine F. Compton-Lilly
Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research
Networks has always been a place for sharing interesting and cutting edge work. This issue of Networks is no exception. Each of the articles presented in this issue presents a unique and intriguing look at the worlds of teaching, the questions educators are asking, and the ways teachers are making sense of their worlds. In this issue, both the voices of teachers and teacher educators tell powerful tales about their work and the lessons they have learned through teacher research.
Learning In A Reggio-Inspired Reuse Center, Lauren Lantz-Helm, Will Parnell
Learning In A Reggio-Inspired Reuse Center, Lauren Lantz-Helm, Will Parnell
Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research
What would children’s learning look like in the Child Development Center’s Re-Use Center if teachers, parents, and children could collaborate around the learning? This action research collaboration between a professor and a graduate student/teacher, examines the process the graduate student/teacher goes through as she documents the re-use center narratives of a small group of young children. A re-use center is likened to Reggio Emilia, Italy’s Remida Center as a repository for found, rescued and repurposed materials. This center finds new meanings for discarded items destined for landfills and incinerators. The findings reveal stories of language, literacy and social development as …
Two Teachers Learn From Their Students: Examining Teaching, Learning, And The Use Of Learning Centers, Barbara Dian O'Donnell, Rebecca Hitpas
Two Teachers Learn From Their Students: Examining Teaching, Learning, And The Use Of Learning Centers, Barbara Dian O'Donnell, Rebecca Hitpas
Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research
Two teachers, a kindergarten teacher and university professor, used action research to study the use of learning centers in their respective classrooms. Becky, a kindergarten teacher, collected and analyzed qualitative data in the form of interviews, work samples, anecdotal records, checklists, videotapes, and culminating performance task documents. She found that at-risk students made progress in achievement, accountability, and motivation. Inspired by Becky’s study, her university advisor/teacher redesigned a learning center assignment that proved to be more powerful in getting teacher candidates to understand, design, and use centers.
Book Review: Pink, D.H. (2009). Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Kathleen Fite
Book Review: Pink, D.H. (2009). Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Kathleen Fite
Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research
This three-part, six-chapter book has taught me, an educator, more about motivation than any other resource I have used in the past. Part One encourages us to think beyond our rewardand-punishment system to a new way of thinking about motivation. Part Two presents what he refers to as Type I, “intrinsic behavior where we have an innate need to direct our lives and how we learn; and, how this type of behavior enhances performance and satisfaction.” Part Three, referred to as the Type I Toolkit, provides a variety of resources designed to support Type I behavior. Pink makes connections to …
A Self-Study On Building Community In The Online Classroom, Derek Lee Anderson, N. Suzanne Standerford, Sandy Imdieke
A Self-Study On Building Community In The Online Classroom, Derek Lee Anderson, N. Suzanne Standerford, Sandy Imdieke
Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research
This paper portrays a year-long self-study of three teacher educators who examined their individual and collective practices in relation to teaching online. Because of its emphasis on reflection on practice, we chose a self-study method with the goal of improving our own practices (Hamilton, 1998). During the past year, we shared our course syllabi, assignments, and student work; we wrote and shared journal entries, met semi-monthly as critical friends, and revised and reanalyzed the ways we taught online. Our department’s lack of guidelines or expectations for online courses, challenges from resistant colleagues about the integrity of online courses, and pressure …
A Comprehensive Step: A Book Review Of Teachers Taking Action, Suzanne Porath
A Comprehensive Step: A Book Review Of Teachers Taking Action, Suzanne Porath
Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research
Action research, as a term, has been around for over half a century, but it has only become accepted as legitimate research within the last two decades. In education, action research both challenges and is informed by traditional scholarly research and promises to empower teachers to become active participants, and not just consumers of university-based research. Cynthia Lassonde, an assistant professor at the State University of New York College, and Susan Israel, a literacy consultant, have provided an overview of the action research process in their book Teachers Taking Action: A Comprehensive Guide to Teacher Research, a 2008 monograph of …
Editorial Introduction, Catherine F. Compton-Lilly
Editorial Introduction, Catherine F. Compton-Lilly
Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research
Welcome to the newest edition of Networks. This edition is packed with the voices of practitioners with a wealth of information to share. Each of the authors share insights related to their teaching and the lessons they learned by reflecting on their work with children.
Inspiring A Revolution: A Review Of Julio Cammarota And Michelle Fine’S Revolutionizing Education: Youth Participatory Action Research In Motion, Alison E. Leonard
Inspiring A Revolution: A Review Of Julio Cammarota And Michelle Fine’S Revolutionizing Education: Youth Participatory Action Research In Motion, Alison E. Leonard
Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research
Multigenerational, diverse voices can be heard throughout Julio Cammarota and Michelle Fine’s Revolutionizing Education: Youth Participatory Action Research in Motion, an edited collection of chapters presenting provocative, transformative participatory action research (PAR)—focusing on youth participatory action research (YPAR). Challenging conventional notions of inquiry, these YPAR projects illustrate “research conducted “with” as opposed to “on” youth,” (p. vii) surrounding issues of injustice, inequality, and struggles in the lives and education of youth and their communities, giving voice to those often silenced due to age, race, ethnicity, sexuality, economic status, gender, language, and abled/disabled identities. Although of interest and targeting action researchers …
Leading With Passion And Knowledge: The Principal As Action Researcher, Thomas G. Ryan
Leading With Passion And Knowledge: The Principal As Action Researcher, Thomas G. Ryan
Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research
Leading with Passion and Knowledge: The principal as action researcher is a book that can be placed on the same shelf as many other action research resources that are written to support, guide, and improve the practice of educators. However, this text distinguishes itself from the many books on action research by aiming to support and guide school leaders. Principals are often left to their own devices to interpret and extend texts related to education and educational research. There are few resources that lead principals through the action research process that can be critical for faculty professional development. In electing …
Independent Reading And The ‘Social Turn’: How Adolescent Reading Habits And Motivation Relate To Cultivating Social Relationships, Matthew Knoester
Independent Reading And The ‘Social Turn’: How Adolescent Reading Habits And Motivation Relate To Cultivating Social Relationships, Matthew Knoester
Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research
Research suggests that independent reading outside of school is a strong indicator of school and reading success. However, studies also suggest that student recreational reading significantly decreases in the middle school years. This article explores some of the reasons adolescent students choose to read independently or are reluctant to do so. In this teacher research study the author interviewed his former students, their parents, and their current teachers about what motivates adolescents to read or not to read. Evidence from this study suggests that independent reading is intimately connected to various social practices, despite commonly held views that describe independent …
Walking In My Students’ Shoes: An Esl Teacher Brings Theory To Life In Order To Transform Her Classroom, Mary Amanda Stewart
Walking In My Students’ Shoes: An Esl Teacher Brings Theory To Life In Order To Transform Her Classroom, Mary Amanda Stewart
Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research
Throughout my career as an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher, it has been obvious that in each setting there is a popular phrase that accurately describes the classroom: “one of these things is not like the other” – and it’s the teacher! Yes! It is I who stands alone as the native English speaker in almost every class I have ever taught. I was a teacher assistant in an elementary school, an ESL and math teacher at the middle school level, and an adult education teacher at a community college for a total of 9 years. In each …
The Tprs Puzzle: Effective Storytelling In A Lote Classroom, Lisa M. Roof, Cheryl A. Kreutter
The Tprs Puzzle: Effective Storytelling In A Lote Classroom, Lisa M. Roof, Cheryl A. Kreutter
Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research
The Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS) method promised superior results in a second language classroom. However, experiences using the method in a middle school Spanish classroom were not always positive. Classroom structure dissolved during the interactive storytelling sessions when students’ disruptive responses overshadowed the benefits of the teaching method. This paper describes an action research project designed to analyze student engagement during two different TPRS lessons. In the first lesson, the classroom teacher followed the TPRS procedures with no modifications. In the second lesson, the teacher revised the lesson procedures by (a) explicitly stating clear expectations and giving …