This document provides an overview of teacher research, including its definition, importance, process, and goals. It defines teacher research as intentional, systematic, public, voluntary, ethical, and contextual inquiry conducted by teachers. The goals of teacher research are to give teachers agency, resist top-down reforms, and improve student learning through a collaborative process of asking questions, studying the classroom, analyzing data, and implementing changes. The document provides guidance on finding research questions, situating work in context, collecting and analyzing data, and going public with findings.

1. WHAT IS TEACHER
RESEARCH?
Eastern Michigan Writing Project
Teacher Research Group

2. Teacher Research is….
“[an] educational movement, research genre,
political and policy critique, challenge to
university culture, and lifelong stance on
teaching, learning, schooling and educational
leadership.”
(Cochran-Smith and Lytle, Inquiry as Stance)

3. Why is TR so important right
now?
According to
Our classrooms are under siege. We feel the
well-known flames. And, as teachers, we’re afraid our
teacher students will become the casualties. We’re
researchers bombarded by national educational policies,
Elizabeth state assessment mandates, regional
Chiseri- curriculum demands, and community
Strater and competition about competencies and for
Bonnie resources….We need to make our voices
Sunstein…. speak through the fire and invite the noisy
public to listen.
See their
book What
Works: A When we speak as teachers informed by our own
Practical research, we can control the fires and inform
Guide for the noisy public about what works in our
Teacher
Research classroom. …systematic inquiry is both a form
and a method for teacher resistance and
teacher agency.

4. So, what is TR really?
Inquiry that is
Here’s how
one of my  Intentional: teachers purposely take on the role
favorite of teacher researcher
teacher  Systematic: teachers do more than reflect;
researchers they gather data with a purposeful, planned
(Marian approach
Mohr)  Public: TRs are open about what they’re doing:
describes with other faculty, with students, with parents,
it… with administrators
See her co-  Voluntary: TRs take on this role because they
authored want to, not because it’s been mandated
book  Ethical: TRs are careful to implement change
Teacher in a way that benefits all students
Research for  Contextual: TRs situate any research in the
Better unique context of their particular classroom,
Schools school, district

5. Belief Structures Underlying TR
Traditional or “Big
R” Research has
• Emphasis on real questions: What
a very different
set of beliefs: do you really wonder about your
*That there is
•
students’ learning or your teaching?
one truth awaiting
discovery
• Celebration of context: What are the
•*Tthat
control/experimen conditions in your own classroom?
tal groups that
strip away context
are the best way • Belief in collaboration: How can you
to uncover that
truth learn with/from the students in your
-*that the only
research that
classroom?
really counts is
that which is
generalizable to
• Emphasis on praxis: How can your
the rest of the
world
critical reflection lead to ethical change?

6. Getting Started with TR
 Begin with a question: a true
wondering
 Situate the question within a larger
context
 Study your classroom
 Analyze your data and thematize
across your findings
 Make change and go public!

7. Finding a Question
One way to start is to observe your classroom
for a week or two. Take notes on what you’re
observing and begin to note the questions you
have. Pick one question that stands out to you
in some way.
Chiseri-Strater and Sunstein suggest you might
want to phrase your question as
• “I wonder what happens when….” or
• “I wonder why…” or
• “How does…”

8. Finding your question (part 2)
A research Take some time to really think about your
journal is a question, taking notes in a research journal
mandatory
as you go:
tool for
teacher • Why am I interested in this question?
researchers.
Use it • What do I think I know already about the
regularly to question?
record your
• What have my experiences shown me?
thoughts
about your • How does the question fit into larger
research
project.
questions I have about teaching?

9. Situating the question in a larger
context
Consider:
- The larger conversation in the field: what
others have said about your topic. This will
lead you to read some journals, books,
blogs about your question.
- The circumstances of your own
classroom: Who are your students? Who
are you as their teacher?
- What are the ethical considerations in your
research? Take some time to write in your
journal about these questions.

10. Studying your classroom
Some great
books can
Collect data on your question:
offer tips on
how to - Observation notes
collect and
analyze - Interviews (individual and
data:
group; formal and informal)
Chiseri-Strater
and
Sunstein’sWha - Surveys/Questionnaires
t Works: A
Practical Guide
to Teacher - Student work
Resarch
Hubbard and
Power’s The
Art of
Classroom
Inquiry

11. Analyzing your data
More great  Read, re-read, re-read your data, as you
books on search for
collecting - Recurring themes
and
analyzing - Examples that support the themes
data: (specific observational moments, quotes
from students, lines from their writing,
Mohr’s
Teacher survey results)
Researchers - Moments of disagreement
at Work
Power’s  Triangulate your data: look to see how
Taking Note
your interviews, classroom observations,
surveys, and student work connect or
disconnect.

12. Making Change and Going
Public
What does it mean to go public?
For some Finding a way to implement and share your findings:
tips on how • Making changes in your own classroom
to write for • Helping others understand what you’ve found
publication,
• Creating a “study of cases” with many teachers’ voices
see Lounn
Reid’s
“Writing for  Possible genres: Expand your horizons and think outside the
box! Ask yourself who you could benefit most from the
Publication: research you’ve conducted.
Ideas and • Journal article
Advice” in • Curriculum guide
the April • Professional development workshop
2008 English • Parent guide
Journal • Presentation at a conference, school board meeting,
parent night

13. For more information on Teacher
Research…
 Join the EMWP Teacher Research
group!
 Contact Cathy Fleischer
(cathy.fleischer@emich.edu) for
more information or questions