Teacher Leadership in a Newly Designed 21st-Century Community Learning Center: An Inquiry Approach

• In Event: Developing an Inquiry Stance Toward Instructional Leadership: Teacher Leader Action Research

Abstract

Building on the concepts of teacher leader action research described in the first two papers, this paper demonstrates the development of an inquiry stance toward instructional improvement by describing and analyzing the research of a practicing teacher leader. In order to gain insights into the form and function of space in 21st century schools, the teacher leader engaged in collaborative practitioner inquiry (action research) to study her practice leading professional development efforts and teaching during the first year in a new 21st century school building.

Practitioner inquiry, defined as systematic, intentional study by teachers of their own practice (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2009), was used by this teacher leader to gain insights into her dual roles in the new building: half-time Curriculum Coordinator responsible for the professional development of teachers and half-time Exceptional Student Education teacher responsible for designing and delivering reading intervention. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the ways engagement in practitioner inquiry enabled this teacher to lead from within her new school during a 21st century school reform effort.

P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School, located in the Southeast United States is designed to utilize open space and technology to nurture 21st century teaching and learning. Most schools in the U.S. continue to follow an outdated factory model of education, not preparing students with the skills they need to function fully in the 21st century (Darling-Hammond, 2010; Darling-Hammond & Bransford, 2005, Hutchison, 2004). These skills include creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration, research and information fluency, critical thinking, problem solving and decision making, digital citizenship, and technology operations and concepts (ISTE, 2007). One inhibitor of developing these skills in young learners is the architectural structure of most school buildings (Hutchison, 2004). According to Nair, Fielding, and Lackney (2009), 21st century schools need to be conceptualized as community learning centers that include spaces conducive to authentic investigation-based learning that is individualized, complex, engaging, and relevant.

As teachers and students transitioned to the newly designed school—where kindergarten and first grade; second and third grade; and fourth and fifth grade shared wings of the school and collaborated for teaching and learning—true differentiation of instruction became possible. However, the possibility of the new space could only be actualized through the leadership efforts of the teachers who worked within it.

Two simultaneously conducted inquiries by the teacher leader will be reconstructed using the data sources that informed her work over a seven-month period: fieldnotes, interviews, student work, journal entries, historical documents, and literature. One inquiry investigated the professional development needs of the teachers during the transition year and how they were met, while the other investigated the teaching of self-regulation to students receiving Tier 3 reading intervention to help them better navigate the autonomy afforded to all learners in the new building (Zimmerman 2002; 2000). Implications for teacher leadership, teacher research, and 21st century school reform efforts that emerged from an analysis of this teacher’s work conclude this paper.

Authors

• Rachel Wolkenhauer, University of Florida

• Ashley Pennypacker Hill, University of Florida

• Nancy Fichtman Dana, University of Florida