Conducting action research in the classroom is a significant way for teachers to assess their own teaching with regard to student learning. Designed for teachers, especially reading teachers, Action Research for Teachers: Traveling the Yellow Brick Road uses the analogy of action research as a journey for self-discovery in evaluating how effective they are as classroom teachers. The text provides a clear and thorough set of exercises and directives for determining a research plan, organizing the research, developing evaluation tools, collecting, displayng and evaluating data.

Table of Contents

SECTION I THE SCHOLAR'S JOURNEY 1. Somewhere Over the Rainbow A Time for Transformation If Ever a Time There Was Action Research Defined: Doing It Differently New Worlds - New Challenges - New Minds Human Understanding and Community Challenges to Educators Calling All Wizards Visions of a Profession of Wizards 2. Learning: Creating New Possibilities for Action Professional Learning, Scholarship, and Community Action Research and Educational Promise Exploring the Forest: Developing Tools for the Journey SECTION II DEFINING AND PUTTING ACTION RESEARCH IN CONTEXT 3. The Bigger Picture: Paradigms, Theories, and Research Action Research in the Context of Research 4. Three Orientations to Knowledge and Methods of Research Orientation Methods of Research Images of Teacher Learning: Three Ways to Consider the Relationship Between Knowledge and Practice Characteristics of Action Research Research Methods 5. From a Meandering Path to the Yellow Brick Road: A Brief History of Action Research Against the Tides: Trail Blazers Today: AR as Critical Reflection SECTION III EXPLORING RESEARCHER SELVES AND THE PROFESSION 6. Journey of the Self: There's No Place Like Home Ways to Exolore Our Teaching Selves 7. The Development Journey: Self and Action Research A Developmental Continuum: Learning to Love the Journey Three Domains of Development SECTION IV DEVELOPING AN INQUIRING MIND Case Studies Helping Jen Learn English as a Second Language The Literature Circle's Study The S.T.A.R. Club Study The Democratic Classroom Study 8. From Curiosity to Research Questions How Do Questions Evolve? Lenses for Inquiry: Zooming In, Zooming Out 9. Exploring and Problematizing Our Practice What Do I Already Know? Problematizing the Story of Chuck A Scaffold for Problematizing What Do Others Know? Students and Colleagues as Resources Reviewing the Literature to Problematize What Do I Expect to Find? SECTION V DESIGNING AND PLANNING AN ACTION RESEARCH STUDY 10. From Research Questions to Planning a Study What Is Design? Designing a Quick Practice Study 11. Elements of Design: Planning and Documenting the Action What Will I Try Out in Order to Improve My Practice? The Action Plan How Will I Document the Process? Observing Interviewing Examining Documents and Artifacts 12. Elements of Design: Verification, Interpretation, and Portrayal How Will I Verify That My Judgements Are Trustworthy, Credible, and Respectful? How Will I Interpret the Data? How Will I Portray What I Have Learned and Make It Public? How Will These Actions Make Life Better? What Will I Do Next? What Ethical Considerations Need to Be Made? SECTION VI ANALYZING AND INTERPRETING DATA 13. Exploring and Theorizing the Stories Ongoing Interpretation Analysis Synthesis Theorizing and Making Assertions Verification Oral Inquiries: Making Interpretations and Assertions in Community 14. Taking Action - What Will I Do Next? And How Will It Make Life Better? Transformation The Tension Between Democracy and Control in Educational Change SECTION VII WRITING AND SHARING THE RESEARCH STORY 15. Writing as a Research Process Writing Down, Writing Up, and Writing About 16. Narrative Writing Narrative Defined: A General Term, a Process, and a Product Writer Perspectives Portraits, Portraiture, and Vignettes 17. Report Formats General Questions and Information About Writing and Sharing Foundational Questions to Consider Questions Related to Sections of the Report 18. Building Learning Communities: Sharing Our Research Structures for Action Research Communities Ways of Sharing With the Larger Community Developing Our Knowledge Base Through Transforming Ourselves as Learners Lessons from Oz Riddles, Paradoxes, and Contradictions Lessons from Home, Heart, Mind, and Courage The Riddles of Oz Exploring the Forest: Constructing Lessons from Oz in a Portfolio The Researcher's Story of the Journey Glossary Travelers' Notes and Stories A Problematizing the Honor Roll in Your School Travelers' Notes and Stories B Increasing Social Interaction Between Students with Multiple Handicaps and Their Typical Peers Travelers' Notes and Stories C Organizing and Visually Displaying Data Travelers' Notes and Stories D Analyzing Student Writing and Mathematical Data Travelers' Notes and Stories E Creating a Democratic Classroom: An Action Research Study Travelers' Notes and Stories F Cyber-Portfolios: Motivating Our Students to Speak More