ERIC Number: EJ1231547
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2017
Pages: 23
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0032-0684
EISSN: N/A
Disrupting Professional Learning Structures in Schools by Inviting Teachers to Design Their Own Learning: An Elementary Principal Conducts Practitioner Action Research
Ryan, Michael G.
Planning and Changing, v48 n1-2 p43-65 2017
With this practitioner action research study, I describe what happened when I, serving as an elementary school principal, disrupted the typical faculty meeting schedule with a structure called Design Your Own Learning. Here teachers were responsible for planning and carrying out professional learning based upon their own inquiry into their daily practices with students. For this study inquiry was defined as the many professional interactions within a school that promote processing and questioning of student and school needs, professional knowledge and understanding, as well as practices that open a dialogue about ways to address and learn from each. With this paper I investigated the question, "What happens when I (the building principal) implement an inquiry based professional learning structure (Design Your Own Learning) in my school?" I found that when given the time, space, and responsibility, teachers direct their own learning by engaging with questions that are meaningful to their practice. Additionally, I learned that it is possible to disrupt routine school structures and re-imagine the use of faculty meeting time in a public school.
Descriptors: Principals, Action Research, Teacher Administrator Relationship, Meetings, Administrator Attitudes, Faculty Development, Inquiry, Time Management, Learning Processes, Independent Study, Teacher Responsibility, Professional Autonomy, Educational Practices, Primary Education, Elementary Schools, Reflection
Department of Educational Administration and Foundations. College of Education, Illinois State University, Campus Box 5900, Normal, IL 61790-5900. Tel: 309-438-2399; Fax: 309-438-8683; Web site: http://education.illinoisstate.edu/planning/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education; Early Childhood Education; Primary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A