"It's about the Kids": Transforming Teacher-Student Relationships through Action Research

Action research in graduate teacher education: a review of the literature 2000–2015

“…Action research draws on many theoretical frameworks and methodologies, but Reason and Bradbury argue that action research is fundamentally emancipatory and participatory. Such a perspective has been the underpinning more recently of action research, integrated into teacher education course work as a specific method to interrogate practices related to equity, student voice, and diversity in schools (Akom 2009;McIntyre 2003;Mulhearn Blasco, Falco, and Munson 2006;Rogers et al 2007;Sax and Fisher 2001;Storms 2013). Reason (2008) articulates a set of arguments that link participatory action research with critical theory associated with the Frankfurt School and Jurgen Habermas, claiming that this connection actually contributes to a new definition of action research and its purpose in schools and teacher education.…”

“…Through the careful examination of inequities that existed within their own community, students in Groenke's program focused their action research projects on further examination of the discovered inequities or strategies to elicit change. Rogers et al (2007) examined the impact of action research on 114 master'slevel students after a single course titled 'Teacher as Researcher.' Teachers reported that action research was a vehicle to establish more personal relationships with students and gave them a voice in the classroom.…”

Critical Inquiry in the Social Studies Classroom: Portraits of Critical Teacher Research

“…A major portion of their data collection involved engaging their students in dialogic interaction (Bogdan & Biklen, 1992). By including their students in the research process -by becoming more "mindful" of their students -these teachers pursued more democratic pedagogies (Rogers, Noblit, & Ferrell, 1990;Rogers et al, 2007, van Manen, 1990. For example, based on their findings, the four teachers each put forward plans to engage in culturally relevant instruction in their classrooms (Gay, 2000).…”

Preservice Teacher Development of Perspectives towards Inquiry through Classroom Research

“…Reflection is a necessary part of the classroom research process. It must occur as teachers observe, analyze, and interpret information in an effort to better understand their own practice (Rogers et al, 2007). And while reflection is often viewed as a linear process, classroom research makes use of reflection at each step in a cyclical process (Marcos et al, 2009).…”

“…And while reflection is often viewed as a linear process, classroom research makes use of reflection at each step in a cyclical process (Marcos et al, 2009). Further, formalizing one's reflection, and the processes which guide this reflection, is viewed as essential to the process of classroom research (Potter, Badiali, & Hammond, 2000;Rogers et al, 2007). In this way, understanding how to reflect on one's practice is seen as a prerequisite to engaging in classroom research.…”