Inquiry and Agency: How Teacher Research Shaped the Agentive Practices of Teachers

• In Event: 52.080 - Teacher Research and Identity Work: Making Room for the Voices of Teachers

Abstract

Objective:
This paper investigates how teacher research shapes the agentive practices of high school teachers.

Theoretical Framework:
This presentation draws on theories of identity and agency to make sense of how teacher researchers practice agency in ways that impact learning and instruction in their classroom. To practice agency means to propose, apply and analyze the attainment of a goal. Such practices happen within systems of collective action that are culturally and historically situated (Wertsch & Rupert, 1993). Specifically, agency occurs when people are able to “imagine and create new ways of being” within a new or old context (Holland et al., 1998, p. 5). Creating new ways of being is a way for teachers to manage their behavior so that they can become a part of a particular context (i.e., school) or shape that context to fit their needs (i.e., change curriculum).
Holland et al. (1998) argue that agency manifests itself in two ways. One is through improvisation and the other is through self-directed symbolization. Improvisation occurs when a person crafts a response in a time and space defined by others’ standpoints in activity” (Holland et al., 1998, p.). Self-directed agency provides insight into how teachers intentionally change their behavior in order to position themselves in new ways. For example, a teacher intentionally implements the goal of integrating Paideia Seminar techniques to promote discussion in her classroom over one semester. A sense of agency, then, plays an important role the construction of teacher identities (Johnston, 2004). I argue that teacher research can foster teachers’ identity work and agentive practices through validation of teaching practices and collaboration.
Methods:
This paper analyzes qualitative data collected from a teacher research group at an urban high school in the southeast. The group met monthly for three hours at the school over one semester. Data was collected from four participants, two math teachers and two English teachers and included the following: (1) observations/field-notes from monthly meetings with teachers; (2) activity/research artifacts; (3) surveys; and (4) semi-structured interviews with teachers. For analysis, I used grounded theory method (Corbin & Strauss, 2007) and discourse analysis (Gee, 2011) to examine how teacher research shaped the agentive practices of teachers.

Findings:
Two major themes emerged from analysis: (a) systematic research impacted how one teacher implemented new standards in a high school math classroom (high-stakes); (b) collaboration between two teacher researchers impacted how both teachers approached school policy about contacting parents in an urban high school.

Significance:
It is important for teachers to engage in agentive practices so that they are able to make changes within their school system that fulfill the learning needs of students and personal teaching beliefs. Practicing agency, however, these teacher researchers found, is not an easy task because it requires educators to leverage conflicting demands of the institution (e.g., high-stakes exams) with demands of the students (e.g., desire to study real-world lessons). Thus, teachers would benefit from support (i.e., teacher research) that addresses how to foster agentive practices within an institution.

Authors

• Amy Vetter, University of North Carolina - Greensboro

• Kim Burke, Eastern Randolph High School