Living the Questions - Softcover

Miller Power, Brenda; Shagoury, Ruth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1571108467 ISBN 13: 9781571108463

Publisher: Routledge, 2012

Synopsis

Teacher research is an extension of good teaching, observing students closely, analyzing their needs, and adjusting the curriculum to fit the needs of all. In this completely updated second edition of their definitive work, Ruth Shagoury and Brenda Miller Power present a framework for teacher research along with an extensive collection of narratives from teachers engaged in the process of designing and carrying out research projects to inform their instruction.

This edition includes a greater variety of short contributions from a wide range of teacher-researchers -- novices and veterans from all backgrounds and parts of the country -- who speak to the growing diversity in today's classrooms. Threaded throughout the chapters and narratives is a discussion of the emergence of digital tools and their effect on both teaching and the research process, along with an expanded number of research designs.

The book has three primary components: 1.Chapters written by the authors explaining key elements of the research process: finding questions, designing projects, data collection and analysis, and more 2.Research activities that enable readers to try out the featured strategies and techniques 3.Teacher-researcher essays in which teachers share details of completed projects and discuss the impact they have had in their classrooms.

Living the Questions, Second Edition: A Guide for Teacher-Researchers will take you step-by-step through the process of designing, implementing, and publishing your research. Along the way, it will introduce you to dozens of kindred spirits who are finding new passion for teaching by "living the questions" every day in their classrooms. You will be reminded of why you became a teacher yourself.

About this title

About the Author

Ruth Shagoury (formerly Ruth Shagoury Hubbard) can't imagine anything more fascinating than exploring the minds of children and adolescents as they grow as readers, writers, and language users. Though she teaches new and veteran teachers at Lewis & Clark College (Portland, Oregon), her passion for working with children keeps her connected to classrooms.

As part of her ongoing research, she works as a coresearcher with classroom teachers, spending time each week in public school classrooms. Ruth is committed to helping teachers share their teacher-research with wider audiences to help change the field. She is coauthor with Brenda Power of several books on the topic, including Living the Questions.

She has worked in Andie Cunningham's diverse kindergarten class, investigating English language acquisition, both oral and written. She is coauthor with Andie of the book Starting with Comprehension: Reading Strategies with the Youngest Learners.

For the past 2 years, she has worked in Katie Doherty's middle school classroom in an immigrant community in Portland, Oregon exploring reading and writing workshops with diverse learners. At Lewis & Clark College, Ruth coordinates the Language and Literacy program (with co-director Andie Cunningham), working with preservice elementary and secondary teachers as well as experienced teachers who are working to become reading specialists.

She has published numerous books as well as articles in journals such as Language Arts, Reading Teacher, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, Voices from the Middle, Young Children and Anthropology and Education Quarterly. She is a regular contributor to the website Choice Literacy. Besides her work in classrooms and on campus, Ruth is currently committed to helping keep new teachers teaching.

With colleagues at Lewis & Clark College, she initiated a program for beginning teachers based on conversations and support. Her other local work includes serving on the steering committee for Portland Area Rethinking Schools, and collaborating with Headstart teachers as they investigate student-based approaches to early literacy. She is also a Courage to Teach facilitator, leading workshops and retreats based on teacher renewal.

Brenda Power was born in Wayne, Michigan, the daughter of a teacher and engineer. She received her bachelor and master's degrees from Michigan State University, and her doctorate from the University of New Hampshire, where she worked with Donald Graves, Donald Murray, and Thomas Newkirk.

She taught for many years at the University of Maine, leading professional development efforts in local schools, and authored or co-authored a dozen books. Brenda's passion has always been helping teachers bring their work to larger audiences: first, as the founding editor with (Ruth Shagoury) of the Teacher Research journal, and then as an editor at Stenhouse Publishers.

She founded Choice Literacy in 2006 as a multimedia resource for K-12 literacy professional development. Brenda edits a weekly newsletter for literacy leaders, The Big Fresh, with over 50,000 subscribers worldwide.

"I still love teaching and writing, though most of my teaching now involves coaching individual writers," writes Brenda. "The technology remains a challenge for me - I definitely think I was shortchanged in the engineering end of my family gene pool!"

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1571108467
• ISBN 13: 9781571108463
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 302