New Book Written by College of Education Faculty Members

Diane Yendol-Silva

Nancy Fichtman Dana

Nancy Fichtman Dana and Diane Yendol-Silva of the College of Education have written a new book entitled, The Reflective Educator’s Guide to Classroom Research:  Learning to Teach and Teaching to Learn Through Practitioner Inquiry. Published by Corwin Press in March 2003, the book has a forward written by noted author and educator Ann Lieberman. The text was written in recognition that teaching and learning are inherently complex endeavors, fraught with many issues, problems, and tensions for teachers to face each day in the classroom. Teacher inquiry is a powerful way for teachers to gain insights into these daily issues, tensions, and problems and to engage in educational reform and change.  Teacher inquiry is defined as systematic study, by teachers, into their own practice.  Inquiry has become the gold standard for how the most highly qualified, committed, and passionate educators construct local knowledge about teaching, learning, content, curriculum, classroom practice, professional growth, and social justice. The text simultaneously takes both prospective and veteran educators through the process of inquiry step by step, from beginning to end, answering critical questions on developing the research plan, collecting the data, analyzing the data, writing the results, and publishing the results.  Readers of the text will experience the inquiry journey including:

• Questioning teaching, learning, and school reform
• Sharing questions, insights, and processes with other educators
• Researching through interviews, journals, and surveys
• Analyzing data and developing a writing-up of the results
• Communicating findings to the educational community