What is the

Teacher Inquiry Project?

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Inquiry Teacher inquiry is defined as systematic, intentional study of one‚Äôs own professional practice (see, for example, Dana, Gimbert, & Silva, 1999; Hubbard & Power, 1993; Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1993). Inquiring professionals seek out change by reflecting on their practice.  They do this by posing questions or ‚wonderings, collecting data to gain insights into their wonderings, analyzing the data along with reading relevant literature, making changes in practice based on new understandings developed during inquiry, and sharing findings with others. Hence, whether you are a prospective teacher at the dawn of your teaching career, or a veteran teacher with years of experience facing new educational challenges every day, teacher inquiry becomes a powerful vehicle for learning and reform.  Given today's political context where much of the decision making and discussion is occurring outside the walls of the classroom (Darling-Hammond, 1997), the time seems ripe to create a movement of teacher voices armed with the tools of inquiry and committed to educational change. Working as a team, you and your partner will identify an inquiry question, develop an approach or method for studying that question, carry out the data collection process, analyze the data collected, and draw conclusions/implications from your research. The inquiry project must be analyzed through the DDL Lenses of Democracy, Diversity, and Literacy as well as discuss implications for student learning.   Steps for assignment: What is your inquiry question? Why is this an important/interesting question to you? Who will be the participants in your inquiry? How will you collect data? How does this project connect to student learning? How will you analyze the data? How will you use the DDL lenses to look at your data? Present your findings. What are your conclusions? Develop a poster to share your inquiry with the class during a poster session.

Examples of Handout: Brandy Maria Nicole Rubric Checklist for Handout and Poster Purpose Statement Research Questions Data Collection- includes multiple types Analysis Process- includes clear, specific description of how you came to your findings Findings/Results- clearly stated with evidence provided Conclusions- What are your new understanding? Implications/So What?- Includes analysis through each of the DDL themes and indicates specific ties to your practice.