Week 20 - Teacher Inquiry

As a teacher I have always realised the importance of being informed on best practice and what current research suggests to improve our practice as professionals.
ERO recommends teachers “explore relevant research literature that can challenge their thinking and offer new teaching possibilities" (2011). Morell & Carroll (2010) say that "Educational research is not just a way to come up with new ideas about teaching and learning, but most often it is a way to convince us that the ideas we already have are worth exploring - that they are worth buying into" (p. 2). 
This is important to consider that we are not just implementing new ideas for the sake of it but are considering what is worth exploring and what will challenge our thinking. As a teacher I want to be informed with current practice but also not teach the same year to year but improve how I teach and engage with my students.

There are three reasons to engage in educational research according to The Education and Training Consortium (2013, July 29) they are to explore issues, to write policy or improve practice. In the coming weeks I hope to engage with educational research to improve my practice as a teacher.

Teacher inquiry is a great tool to reflect on what is happening in my classroom and how I am affecting this.
In the next part of my teaching journey I want to focus on the area of writing. In the class notes from Mindlab week 20 it gives to questions to consider when beginning your inquiry:

• What do you immediately identify as some of the greatest areas of need for your students?
• What is one thing you can do differently in the classroom/in your practice today that could address that need?

These are important to consider and why I have chosen writing as an area to inquire into. I have found in this area students lack engagement and confidence in their writing ability and often consider quantity as the deciding factor of what makes a good writer. I would like to engage into an inquiry where I consider how I teach this curriculum area, how I plan my learning activities to engage students, how I am working on their understanding of writing and hooking them into their learning. When I choose this area I also considered what I was questioning about my practice, issues I have in the classroom, how I would like to develop and considered the Manaiakalani initiative and how I can integrate this so that I am not doing two lots of inquiry this year.

Caro-Bruce, Flessner, Klehr & Zeichner (2007) suggest these questions that might help when deciding on an inquiry topic:

• What would I like to improve?
• What am I perplexed by?
• What am I really curious about?
• What do I think would really make a difference?
• What is something I would like to change?
• What would happen to my students’ learning if I did _______?
• How can I implement _________?
• How can I improve _______?

These are questions I would like to consider when delving deeper in my inquiry into students engagement and agency, and developing 21st Century skills in the learners in my classroom.

Being a teacher in Aotearoa New Zealand I also need to consider how I consider principles of Kaupapa Maori.

Looking at the principles I feel that the following will be important to integrate into my inquiry:

• Tino Rangatiratanga - the self-determination principle - as students have the right to have control over their own lives and cultural well-being
• Taonga tuku iho - the cultural aspirations principle being Māori  is normal and tikanga and language should be a part of the classroom and considered when planning.
• Ako  - the culturally preferred pedagogy principle
• Whānau - the extended family structure principle the importance of whanau to students learning and well-being
• Kaupapa - the collective philosophy principle

Looking at these principles should not be token or an add on but integral. In the blog post by Katoa Ltd they state that

"In a Kaupapa Māori Research paradigm research is undertaken by Māori, for Māori, with Māori. An important aspect of Kaupapa Māori Research is that it seeks to understand and represent Māori, as Māori"

This is something important to consider when looking into the research for my inquiry.

To inquire well into my practice I need to:

• Engage in literature on my chosen topic and evaluate it in regards to how it improves my practice and challenges my thinking.
• Identify ideas from the literature to implement into my practice.
• Incorporate Kaupapa Māori concepts into my research and planning
• Use research to inform my practice and provide evidence for decisions made during the inquiry process.

I hope as I think more deeply about my inquiry to begin to develop answers to the above questions and consider how Kaupapa Māori will look.

References

Caro-Bruce, C., Flessner, R., Klehr, M. & Zeichner, K. (2007). Creating Equitable Classrooms Through Action Research. Thousand Oaks: Corwin.

Creswell, J. (2011). Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research. London: Pearson. Chapter 1, Retrieved from: http://ptgmedia.pearsoncmg.com/images/9780131367395/downloads/Creswell_C01.pdf

Kaupapa Māori Research [Web log post]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.katoa.net.nz/kaupapa-maori

Morrell, D. & Carroll J. B. (2010). Conducting Educational Research: A Primer for Teachers and Administrators. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. Retrieved from: https://www.sensepublishers.com/media/187-conducting-educational-research.pdf

The Education and Training Consortium (2013). What is Educational Research [video]. Retrieved from  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ucLcy_3jZo