Learning Communities in Educational Partnerships shows how theory and practice come into lived interplay in social spaces where theory informs practice and practice turns into theory. Drawing on their own experiences of becoming a learning community, the authors introduce the ideas underpinning self-study action research. Through a series of first-hand practitioner accounts, the chapters describe and explain how to engage in processes of inquiry and establish learning communities, how to make space for professional conversations and how to develop living theories from within daily practice. The book shows how meaningful change can take place, both in educational improvements and also in more transformative professional learning, when educators are encouraged to draw on their own personal educational values and share their idea

* A “how to� book with a difference, which aims to ease the stress of the research projects which are required in teacher education courses, in professional development initiatives and in school self-evaluation. * Each chapter will take the reader through the practical aspects of doing a research project * Written in an accessible manner by experienced classroom teachers working in tandem with academic researchers. * Offers tried and tested suggestions and examples * Focuses on how engaging in action research can be a positive experience and can lead to greater teacher autonomy and agency.

Introduction to Critical Reflection and Action for Teacher Researchers provides crucial direction for educators looking to improve their teaching and maximise learning. While many students can grasp the basic elements of researching their practice and can write about practitioner research, some need guidance and assistance to reflect meaningfully on their teaching practice so as to articulate their educational values. This book provides this guidance. By exploring how to engage in an authentic, practical and personalised framework, the book encourages critical reflection and action on educational practice. Moving through the process of reflecting on practice, engaging in critical thinking and planning and taking action, it helps the reader to subsequently generate educational theory from their own personal learning. Examples from the authors' experiences illustrate the issues raised in each section, with 'Pause and Reflect' activities, guidelines for conducting a research project and annotated further reading available for every chapter. Introduction to Critical Reflection and Action for Teacher Researchers is based on the idea that reflection is in itself a deliberate action and something we must live - it is key to understanding our practice and is a core component of action research. This book is a valuable guide for teachers, trainee teachers and researchers interested in reflecting on and enhancing their teaching practice.

* A “how to� book with a difference, which aims to ease the stress of the research projects which are required in teacher education courses, in professional development initiatives and in school self-evaluation. * Each chapter will take the reader through the practical aspects of doing a research project * Written in an accessible manner by experienced classroom teachers working in tandem with academic researchers. * Offers tried and tested suggestions and examples * Focuses on how engaging in action research can be a positive experience and can lead to greater teacher autonomy and agency.

Introduction to Critical Reflection and Action for Teacher Researchers provides crucial direction for educators looking to improve their teaching and maximise learning. While many students can grasp the basic elements of researching their practice and can write about practitioner research, some need guidance and assistance to reflect meaningfully on their teaching practice so as to articulate their educational values. This book provides this guidance. By exploring how to engage in an authentic, practical and personalised framework, the book encourages critical reflection and action on educational practice. Moving through the process of reflecting on practice, engaging in critical thinking and planning and taking action, it helps the reader to subsequently generate educational theory from their own personal learning. Examples from the authors' experiences illustrate the issues raised in each section, with 'Pause and Reflect' activities, guidelines for conducting a research project and annotated further reading available for every chapter. Introduction to Critical Reflection and Action for Teacher Researchers is based on the idea that reflection is in itself a deliberate action and something we must live - it is key to understanding our practice and is a core component of action research. This book is a valuable guide for teachers, trainee teachers and researchers interested in reflecting on and enhancing their teaching practice.

This accessible text will show students and class teachers how they can enable their pupils to become critical thinkers through the medium of picturebooks. By introducing children to the notion of making-meaning together through thinking and discussion, Roche focuses on carefully chosen picturebooks as a stimulus for discussion, and shows how they can constitute an accessible, multimodal resource for adding to literacy skills, while at the same time developing in pupils a far wider range of literary understanding.

By allowing time for thinking about and digesting the pictures as well as the text, and then engaging pupils in classroom discussion, this book highlights a powerful means of developing children s oral language ability, critical thinking, and visual literacy, while also acting as a rich resource for developing children s literary understanding. Throughout, Roche provides rich data and examples from real classroom practice.

This book also provides an overview of recent international research on doing interactive read alouds, on what critical literacy means, on what critical thinking means and on picturebooks themselves.

Lecturers on teacher education courses for early years or primary levels, classroom teachers, pre-service education students, and all those interested in promoting critical engagement and dialogue about literature will find this an engaging and very insightful text."

Offering updated references, questions for reflection, the latest case studies, and current advice relating to data protection and storage, this second edition of Enhancing Practice through Classroom Research provides an accessible introduction to understanding and improving teaching and learning through a process of reflection, research, and action. Divided into five parts, this self-study action research approach emphasises the positive aspects of enhancing practice and reflects how this can lead to higher levels of teacher autonomy and agency. With the addition of a chapter dedicated to the links between action research and well-being, this book provides a step-by-step guide to beginning your own research and covers topics such as: Identifying an area of professional concern or interest Exploration of educational values Developing a better understanding of practice Thinking critically about educational practices Finding a research methodology Drawing on the authors' new experiences of working with second level, third level, and postgraduate educators, as well as their work designing postgraduate programmes in the field of critical reflection and self-study action research, this friendly guide provides a straightforward approach to classroom research. It is the perfect resource for all student and practising teachers looking for support in classroom research, as well as those wanting to pursue effective professional development or further studies in an area of interest.

Offering updated references, questions for reflection, the latest case studies, and current advice relating to data protection and storage, this second edition of Enhancing Practice through Classroom Research provides an accessible introduction to understanding and improving teaching and learning through a process of reflection, research, and action. Divided into five parts, this self-study action research approach emphasises the positive aspects of enhancing practice and reflects how this can lead to higher levels of teacher autonomy and agency. With the addition of a chapter dedicated to the links between action research and well-being, this book provides a step-by-step guide to beginning your own research and covers topics such as: Identifying an area of professional concern or interest Exploration of educational values Developing a better understanding of practice Thinking critically about educational practices Finding a research methodology Drawing on the authors' new experiences of working with second level, third level, and postgraduate educators, as well as their work designing postgraduate programmes in the field of critical reflection and self-study action research, this friendly guide provides a straightforward approach to classroom research. It is the perfect resource for all student and practising teachers looking for support in classroom research, as well as those wanting to pursue effective professional development or further studies in an area of interest.

This accessible text will show students and class teachers how they can enable their pupils to become critical thinkers through the medium of picturebooks. By introducing children to the notion of making-meaning together through thinking and discussion, Roche focuses on carefully chosen picturebooks as a stimulus for discussion, and shows how they can constitute an accessible, multimodal resource for adding to literacy skills, while at the same time developing in pupils a far wider range of literary understanding.

By allowing time for thinking about and digesting the pictures as well as the text, and then engaging pupils in classroom discussion, this book highlights a powerful means of developing children s oral language ability, critical thinking, and visual literacy, while also acting as a rich resource for developing children s literary understanding. Throughout, Roche provides rich data and examples from real classroom practice.

This book also provides an overview of recent international research on doing interactive read alouds, on what critical literacy means, on what critical thinking means and on picturebooks themselves.

Lecturers on teacher education courses for early years or primary levels, classroom teachers, pre-service education students, and all those interested in promoting critical engagement and dialogue about literature will find this an engaging and very insightful text."

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

Learning Communities in Educational Partnerships shows how theory and practice come into lived interplay in social spaces where theory informs practice and practice turns into theory. Drawing on their own experiences of becoming a learning community, the authors introduce the ideas underpinning self-study action research. Through a series of first-hand practitioner accounts, the chapters describe and explain how to engage in processes of inquiry and establish learning communities, how to make space for professional conversations and how to develop living theories from within daily practice. The book shows how meaningful change can take place, both in educational improvements and also in more transformative professional learning, when educators are encouraged to draw on their own personal educational values and share their idea