PDK Training Module

Investigating Your Practice

(a) Present the concept of investigative practice. You may wish to use or adapt Introduction to Investigation, a PowerPoint presentation that provides an introduction to the elements and process of teacher research.

(b) Provide an outline of the PDK teacher research process. The research tools and resources are organized in four sections:
- Assessment Activities (needs assessment, descriptive narrative, forming questions, reflection and analysis)
- Data Collection (teaching log, class products, reflection and analysis)
- Action Plan (action plan, action plan chart, sample action plan)
- Reporting Framework (sample report, lesson plan, case study)

(c) Discuss how this specific training group will implement inquiry projects. Completion of classroom research may or may not be required of the participants. Describe what ongoing support you will provide and how communication will occur. You may wish to provide participants with a schedule, or develop this collaboratively during this session.

(d) Using the LCD projector, demonstrate how to create a folder. Each folder will contain all the tools and resources described above. The navigation path is Investigating Practice > My Classroom > Create a New Folder.

(e) Have participants create personal project folders. Invite them to begin brainstorming questions to investigate in their own classrooms. These questions can be recorded in the Forming Questions section of the project folder. Suggest that participants begin with several General Questions and then try to develop one or more Investigation Questions.


Facilitator Resources
Investigating Teacher Practice Through Practitioner Inquiry (requires PDK login)
Adult Literacy Practitioners as Researchers
Finding Out For Myself
Project-Based Learning (requires PDK login)