Longitudinal Action Research: Crafting a Visual Thinking Professional Development Community

• In Event: Teachers and Teacher Educators Using Action Research to Inform Practice

Abstract

Cognizant of the documented weaknesses in many professional development initiatives, and mindful of the necessity of engaging teachers in continuous "learning in community" through inquiry, collaboration, and critical conversation about practice (Wenger, 1998), 2 faculty members and a doctoral student worked to design and implement a PD model through which we introduced Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) to a group of high school teachers (ELL, Social Sciences, and Art) in one of the lowest performing schools in our district (4th largest in the nation). This school is 95% Haitian-American. We were asked to bring this PD by the administration to help in raising student achievement. Drawing on the tools of collaborative action research and interactive self-study (LaBoskey, 2004), our poster presentation illustrates what occurred in our action research, self-study community when we introduced VTS to these educators. We examined our collaborative relationship, seeking to identify the characteristics of this structure to reveal the dynamic variables that would sustain our purpose of improved teaching and learning. Multiple data sources for the study included on-going dialogue between the researchers and participants, through email and F2F meetings, telephone, and Skype communication; anecdotal notes and minutes from meetings with administrators and teachers; journals; individual, collective, and community reflections; visual artifacts, and audio- and video-recordings. Each researcher was responsible for collecting data in the field related to individual and collaborative actions, observations, and reflections on the VTS training sessions, and on-going negotiations with school partners. Visual artifacts were used throughout the study to represent both data sources as well as findings, and as a primary means of engaging in data analysis. We used art materials to represent our understanding of our relationship, and the impact of the collaboration on the research community. We think that our study holds some lessons about the transcending of disciplinary and institutional boundaries that often exist between higher education and public school settings.

Authors

• Jill B. Farrell, Barry University

• Carter Winkle, Barry University

• Mark L. Rosenkrantz, Miami-Dade County Public Schools