Memo 3: Teacher Researcher Methodology

When defining teacher researcher methodology, it is necessary to supplement the definition of “what” the methodology is with “why” the methodology exists to begin with. Teaching is an occupation constantly in flux as it evolves based on continuous research that elucidates on the minutia of how students of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities learn. Therefore the definitions of what researcher methodology is and why research is to be conducted must likewise adapt.

    Teacher researcher methodology is not unlike ecological research examining animals in their wild habitats. The subjects of the study must be identified, questions about the subjects must be posed, previously recorded data must be gathered, necessary equipment for recording new data must be ordered, and the subjects’ behaviors in their natural habitats must be recorded. The research we conduct on our students, colleagues, and selves takes places in our habitats (where human subjects’ “interactions in their physical and sociocultural [millieu]”) is similar to the research of an ecologist (Steffe and Thompson, 2000). It is research conducted by teachers in their own context (habitats) with the aim of better understanding their practices (Xeri, 2018).

All in-the-field research typically shares a similar pattern of building upon the research of forebears. Teaching is, in general, not reinventing the wheel. All teachers have once been students, and their own instruction has the indelible mark of those that instructed them. In a similar fashion, previously established theories work to inspire, guide, support, or inform the next generation of researchers in their own inquiries (Baumann and Duffy, 2001). Teachers must synthesize existing findings and practices with their own research to supplement and improve their instruction (Baumann and Duffy, 2001). This is integral to why one must research.

The initial answer to the question of why a teacher must conduct research is simple: to get better at teaching. Research aids teachers in our “learning, understanding, and the growth of ourselves and our students” (Alexakos, 2015). It promotes an intentional and systematic change within the classroom (Xeri, 2018). Additionally, it functions to “awaken learners’ own questions and use these as the driving force for learning” (Falk and Blumereich, 2005).

Adapting to current research on best practice and how students learn is essential to being an effective teacher. Learning from those who have come before us and learning from those whom we directly serve are at the core of teacher research methodology. Teachers must stay ahead of the evolutionary curve of education by keeping pace with current research and, more importantly, keeping pace with the needs of their student populations.