Improving Teaching 101: Teacher Action Research
Over the past two decades living and working in Oakland, I became well acquainted with Dr. Anna Richert. This professor of education at Mills College has built a powerful network of teachers engaged in systematically reflecting on their teaching practice. I have served as a member of the advisory board for the Mills Teacher Scholars for several years. I wrote about their work last May in this post. As we look for ways to improve our classrooms for our students, teacher research ought to be very high on the list. I asked Anna to share some of her expertise in this interview.
Anthony: What is teacher action research?
Dr. Richert:
Different people have different ideas about what constitutes teacher action research. Common to all is the idea of teachers studying their practice--typically their students' learning and their own teaching--in a systematic way. Whereas all good teachers reflect on their practice to make sense of their work, those who engage in teacher research do this reflection in a deep and intentional manner. Three core practices that are part of the research
