(SLIDE 1: Lesson Improvement and School Reform through Action Research in Canada.

Date: 9th November, 201313:00-17:30

Place: Mejiro Campus at JWU, Tokyo)

Konnichi wa. My husband, Bill, and I are positively delighted to be in your beautiful country. I want to thank the organizers of the conference from the Department of Education and Research and Development Center for Teacher Education at Japan Women’s University (JWU) and particularly, Prof. Shizuo Yoshizaki, for giving me this opportunity to talk with you today about Lesson Improvement and School Reform through Action Research in Canada. My last trip to Japan Women’s University was in March of 2004 when I had the pleasure of working with colleagues from this University as well as other universities in Japan on the development of action research approaches to professional development.

How many of you were at my lecture here in 2004? Well, plenty has happened in my part of the world in the intervening years!

Here is the world.

(SLIDE 2: MAP OF WORLD)

Here is my part of the world- Canada is second only to Russia in land area but has a much smaller population, 35.1 million compared to Japan’s 127.4 million.

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(SLIDE 3: MAP OF CANADA)

Here is my province, Ontario.

(SLIDE 4: MAP OF ONTARIO)

And here is where I live: I will point to my town, Paris, in southern Ontario, one hour west of Toronto.

First I start with:

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A. Framing the lecture: Background and context

At the start of the lecture I want to be clear that I am thinking of action research as a methodology: a methodology created by Jack Whitehead that is based on the field activities related to answering questions of the kind, “How do I improve what I am doing?’

For the sake of clarity, I want to share how we do this living action research. By living I mean conducting action research as we try to live according to our values.

(SLIDE 5: A LIVING-THEORY ACTION RESEARCH METHODOLOGY)

1. Say what you want to improve.2. Produce an action-plan on how you are going to improve it.3. Act on your plan and gather the data you need to judge the

effectiveness of your actions.4. Judge your effectiveness (Evaluation).5. Modify what you want to improve, modify your plan and

modify your actions in response to your evaluations.6. Produce a description and explanation for your own

professional learning and test the validity of your explanation with others.

The research methods used include action-reflection cycles in which practitioners express concerns based on the values they use to give meaning and purpose to their lives. They produce and choose an action plan and act on it. They gather data to enable them to evaluate the influence of their actions, evaluate their effectiveness and modify their concerns, plans and actions in the light of their evaluations. They produce a validated, evidence-based explanation of their educational influences in learning. The method of validation involves between 3-8 peers in which questions derived from the ideas of Habermas (1976, pp. 2-3) are put to the researcher to strengthen the comprehensibility, evidence, awareness of sociocultural and sociohistorical influences and authenticity of the explanation. The method for clarifying and communicating embodied expressions, of the meanings of energy-flowing values as explanatory principles, is one of ‘empathetic resonance’ in which digital video data is used in the clarification of the

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meanings of embodied values in the course of their emergence through practice. I will demonstrate this process later.

This process is about action, not theorizing but doing.

I just want to take a few minutes in this framing of the lecture to situate self-study within your culture that values the collective.

(SLIDE 5: SELF-STUDY WITH OTHERS

1. Improving self while belonging to the collective2. Relational at the heart of collaboration3. Trust )

While studying myself may appear to be narcissistic or self-serving, in the context of improving how I teach and care for others, it is intended to improve myself, others and the systems in which I live and work. If you analyze my work over a lifetime, you will observe that I consistently act in concert with others and/or support and encourage others. One of my basic values is the importance of the relational dynamics – everything stems from that. While we all act individually, we need the collective to improve the world in which we live. It is the nature of my influence that trust must first be established before I can support my students to bring forth their stories and improve their practice. This kind of action research cannot be conducted in isolation because claims to know require the validation of others using the criteria set down by Habermas as I just described them.

I have found it important to focus on two kinds of knowledge in action research. The first kind of knowledge I call ‘propositional knowledge’. The second kind of knowledge I call ‘embodied knowledge’.

(SLIDE 6: PROPOSITIONAL AND EMBODIED KNOWLEDGE

Propositional Knowledge - This is the knowledge we communicate through our language in the frameworks of statements that constitute our traditional academic theories of education.

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Embodied Knowledge – This is the knowledge in what we do as professional educators. It is the knowledge we express in action that enables us to do what we do.)

So far in my talk I have used ‘propositional knowledge’ to explain how you could do action research. I used this kind of knowledge in that slide that shows an action-reflection cycle in the 6 points on the list. This is how much ‘training’ is done using guidelines and manuals. While this is helpful in learning to do action research, it is not enough. Individuals learn how to repeat the words about action research without being able to do action research.

Doing action research requires an understanding of ‘embodied knowledge’. That is the knowledge that enables you to do what you do in your professional practice. This may be a new methodology for some of you. Like much new learning, it is often difficult in the beginning. I want to show you what I mean by asking you to do something that I think will be difficult for you. You might find it embarrassing. It is, however, important. I want you to talk to each other! Onegai shimas?

(SLIDE 7: LEARNING TO DO ACTION RESEARCH

I am asking you:

1. To talk to your neighbour for two minutes each about something you want to improve in your sphere of education. I will then ask you to:

2. Explain to your neighbour for two minutes how you might improve what you are doing in your professional practice.)

If you want to develop an action research approach to education, with your students and colleagues, you will need to talk with them about what they are going to do to improve their own learning about education.

I don’t have time today to continue in this process but I am hoping that you will begin to comprehend the form of the action research that I have been supporting. Research of this kind brings about a transformation in the lives of individuals and groups.

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I am very excited to be inviting you into my world and into the collaborative work of myself and my colleagues, all action researchers - Liz Campbell and Cathy Griffin, Ontario classroom teachers, Lori Barkans, system curriculum leader and Jack Whitehead, professor at Liverpool Hope University and myself. Now I move to:

B. Lesson Improvement and School Reform Through Action Research

This talk today continues the knowledge sharing that has happened over many years, particularly with my friend, professor Kazuko Sawamoto, and with the other professors, led by Shizuo Yoshizaki, professor at Japan Women’s University, who visited classrooms in 2010 in my school district to add to their research project “Improvement and Development of Educational Methods for Primary, Secondary and Higher Education in Japan”.

In this lecture I will focus on five significant aspects of the evidential base of action research:

1) Evidence of practitioner-researchers creating their own living educational theories as explanations for their educational influences in learning in research inquiries of the kind, ‘How do I improve what I am doing?’

2) Evidence of multi-media as an effective strategy in teaching, learning and research: a data collection tool and method for collaborative learning.

3) Evidence of democratic evaluation for students and teachers in a culture of inquiry.

4) Evidence of primary and secondary students as action researchers and co-researchers

5) Evidence of action research as self-directed professional learning (Kounai-ken) across systems

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Let me begin with the first aspect of the evidential base of action research.

Let me begin with

1. The first aspect of the evidential base of action research

(SLIDE 8: Practitioner-researchers creating their own living educational theories as explanations for their educational influences in learning in research inquiries of the kind, ‘How do I improve what I am doing?

PASSION IN PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

http://schools.gedsb.net/ar/passion/ )

First, a little about researching my own practice. In 1995, after working with advisors like Jean McNiff, Jack Whitehead and Tom Russell, I supported teachers and principals in my district to conduct action research. After a year of supporting teachers to conduct action research, it dawned on me that I should be doing what I was asking them to do-research my own practice. So I started my own PhD research with Jack Whitehead at Bath University, U.K. with the question, ‘How can I improve my practice as a superintendent of schools and create my own living theory?’ Over the next six years, I described and explained the life of a senior executive trying to do a better job in an Ontario school district of 30,000 elementary and secondary students.

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Let me give one example of my learning. One of my roles as a superintendent was to supervise the principals in my area of the district. As such, I met with them as a group of 25 each month with an agenda co-constructed with them and chaired by one of the principals. I intended to create a culture of inquiry that supported communal learning based on democratic principles, what you call Ba – what I understand to refer to the communicative space for co-developing a new understanding. Ba is co-constructed by the participants in the communicate space with an understanding that it is for engaging in organic dialogues and co-constructing a new understanding (or kizuki) of the targeted issue with others.

When I analyzed the transcripts of the taped meetings (with their permission), I found that I was a living contradiction as I talked too much of the time and what I wanted was for them to share their embodied knowledge and learn from each other! So I learned to stop talking so that others would!

Over the years 1995-2007, I supported the research of teachers and administrators in my school district and published eight volumes of action research projects in Passion In Professional Practice available on my website at:http://schools.gedsb.net/ar/passion/ or Google ‘passion in professional practice’.

A significant aspect of my influence that emerged in my doctoral and post-doctoral research is inherent in the relational way in which I interact with others. This influence has been evident in the three Brock University masters cohort groups that I have taught and supervised. One of the students, Liz Campbell, clearly articulates that my having loved her into learning enabled her to complete her masters research (Campbell, 2010). Both Liz Campbell and Cathy Griffin, whom I will introduce today, within their master’s degree programmes which I supervised, acknowledge my educational influence as including ‘being loved into learning’. I have accepted the validity of this response from them and included, within my own explanation of my educational influence, my embodied expressions of contributing to the creation of a ‘culture of inquiry’.

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(SLIDE 10: LIVING THEORY ACTION RESEARCH: CRITICAL MASS

http://www.spanglefish.com/actionresearchcanada/http://www.actionresearch.net/writings/mastermod.shtmlhttp://www.ejolts.net )

On my website are many of the action research projects that my Masters students, including the ones that I highlight today, have created: http://www.spanglefish.com/actionresearchcanada/

Many more living-theory masters units and dissertations and the living theory doctoral theses are available from Jack Whitehead’s site:

http://www.actionresearch.net/writings/mastermod.shtml

and

http://www.actionresearch.net/living/living.shtml

In addition, many self-study ‘I’ inquiries that engage with issues of social transformation and the values that carry hope for the future of humanity have been published in the many electronic sites such as Educational Journal of Living Theories http://www.ejolts.net, as well as in the academy.

I move now to the second aspect of the evidential base of action research.

(SLIDE 11: 2) Multi-media: effective strategy in teaching, learning and research: a data collection tool and method for collaborative learning

i) 'How are we creating cultures of inquiry with self-studies that transcend constraints of poverty on empathetic learning? Jacqueline Delong, Elizabeth Campbell & Jack Whitehead, with Cathy Griffin. http://www.actionresearch.net/writings/aera13/jdlcjwaera13cgopt.pdf)

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ii) 'Action research transcends constraints of poverty in elementary, high school and post-graduate settings' Elizabeth Campbell, Jacqueline Delong & Cathy Griffin, with Jack Whitehead. (http://www.actionresearch.net/writings/aera13/lcjdcgaera13jwopt.pdf)

With the availability and expertise that you have with using digital media in classrooms, it seems a short step to using it in research accounts to demonstrate what students and teachers learn. Adding videoclips with explanations in propositional research can capture the relational values that we recognize as essential to learning. They can be an effective tool to add to your field work which is at the forefront in critical evaluation in classrooms, called, I believe, ‘Kounai-ken (Japanese In-Service Teacher Training System within school) as described in a paper by Tadashi Asada (Waseda University). Kounai-ken is an excellent InSeT program, which is based on teaching practice in a learning community for teachers where reflection is encouraged. I believe that this collective learning process, where evaluators visit classrooms and offer their expertise so that teachers can learn from the criticism offered by the visitors, greatly benefits the teachers’ pedagogy. (Asada, 1994).

In communicating the meanings of our embodied, energy-flowing values in our explanations of educational influences in learning to live as meaningful and worthwhile lives as possible, my colleagues and I have found it necessary to develop methods of visual narrative and empathetic resonance.

Visual narratives are the stories told by practitioner-researchers that include their descriptions and explanations of their educational influences in learning. If you are given a video-clip without context, it is likely the interpretations will differ widely. A visual narrative that includes the video-data as evidence in relation to a knowledge-claim, allows you to judge the validity of the researcher’s assertions.

In classrooms, whether at the elementary, high school or graduate settings, multi-media is an invaluable tool for teaching, learning and evaluation. In addition to the evidence later in this lecture of its use as an evaluation tool, it is also part of our research. In this paper presented at the 2013 American Educational Research Association conference in

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San Francisco, you see multi-media integrated into the text as we learn explicate our learning in a collaborative way. This premier research organization accepts this integration of multi-media.

Let me scroll down the second paper to demonstrate the integration of this kind of technology in research. By going to my website or Jack Whitehead’s, you can see teachers getting masters and doctoral degree from these kinds of inquiries. This excerpt is from the second paper:

“We are using the following two video-clips to see if we can share with you the embodied expressions of the meanings of the energy-flowing values that we individually use and collectively agree contribute to the explanatory principles we use in our explanations of educational influence. The research technique we use is grounded in our use of digital technology with empathetic resonance. How we do this is that we download the clip from youtube using download helper. We then play the clip in quicktime so that we can move the cursor backwards and forwards along the clip and pause the clip at the moments of greatest resonance. We share with each other these timings of greatest resonance and share with each other the meanings we are giving to this resonance in terms of energy-flowing values. For example if you move the cursor around .06 seconds of Clip 1 below, I (bottom image) open the conversation with a greeting that expresses my pleasure in a flow of life-affirming energy that evokes the expression of our own (from left to right, Cathy Griffin, Jack Whitehead and Liz Campbell). When we include flows of life-affirming energy with values that carry hope for the future of humanity, these are the kind of expressions we are meaning by our embodied expressions of energy-flowing values.

(SLIDE 12: EMPATHETIC RESONANCE TO SHOW LIFE-AFFIRMING ENERGY)

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Clip 1 - 0:6 seconds into the 12:22 minute clip from the 09/12/12 at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRs3O_2Kmeo&feature=youtu.be

The clip above shows that we are unmistakably different; yet at the same time we are affirming that we are pooling our expressions of life-affirming energy in a way that shows that we recognize shared meanings of such embodied expressions.  You will see the use of visual narratives and empathetic resonance integrated into the data analysis of difference sections below especially in relation to a culture of inquiry.

These regular Sunday morning conference calls which we record using the program Call Recorder are then uploaded to YouTube for later review and analysis”.

From 7:41 on Liz says: Having these kinds of dialogues and having it on video where I can go back and watch it again and again and again, is what helps me to build trust in myself and therefore enables me to trust others…We teach in communities and we’re always in fear of the judgment of others and so when we build a community like this, it’s not just valuable, it’s a necessary piece to be able to move forward in making the world a better place.

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Elizabeth Campbell shares her learning experiences in working with a grade 12 philosophy class as she created a culture of inquiry and employed multi-media to assist in the individual’s understanding of their values:

“ ‘Notes from the Heart’ is one of the first videos a group of students made. The video is a compilation of favourite song lyrics. The exciting part of this project unfolded as students discussed how their choice of lyrics reflected their values and helped them to realize and articulate their values. Making the video and posting it on Youtube was a significant step for all enabling them to make their values public and hold themselves accountable to their values. Like many living theory action research projects it continued to provide opportunity for reflection. As a class we watched the video several times and as we viewed the video, students became more comfortable with seeing themselves on camera and more aware and critical of the content. They were learning how to be critical friends and they were learning to appreciate the power of video to express what often lies hidden in the written or spoken word”.

(SLIDE 13: VOICES OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS)

2:09 minutes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flBnLq1bOvw )

SCRIPT: I’ve been worrying that we live our lives in the confines of fear.

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Next, the third aspect of the evidential base of action research

(SLIDE 14: Democratic Evaluation For Students And Teachers in a Culture of Inquiry

JACKIE’S DEMOCRATIC EVALUATION)

One transformative learning into the nature and improvement of my life as a superintendent and later as university professor was that quality relationships can be deepened and strengthened through a willingness to let others into my world and let down the walls of protection to expose my vulnerabilities. As I mentioned earlier, sustained trust is at the heart of my educational relationships and essential to the creating of a culture of inquiry where human flourishing can thrive.

As part of trust building, it has been my practice, as superintendent and as professor to videotape my practice and to ask for evaluation to elicit critical feedback on how I might improve. In 2010, I asked the masters cohort group of 19 to provide an evaluation of my teaching. I sat in the middle of the circle with the video camera on me and they provided me with some very concrete suggestions for improvement.

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It was a difficult process to experience but I had spent time preparing myself as much as I could. Being able to absorb the suggestions afterward by reviewing the videotape of the event was essential to retaining all of the information and making significant changes in my practice. I was modelling a process that I hoped might be adopted in their own way by the members of the group.

With all of these clips, I feel the pleasure of being in this culture of inquiry in a community of shared learning and while there is some tension associated with the process of democratic evaluation, nonetheless, I love these individuals and they have articulated that they feel that love coming from me. I want to improve my learning as well as theirs. I trust that they will be respectful in the articulation of their concerns.

In response to this modelling, Cathy says:

“Watching you invite our criticism of your practice with the intention of improving your own practice was a transformative experience for me.  This was the first step towards me realizing that vulnerability is strength and pretending to be perfect is a weakness.  …Taking part in your democratic evaluation and then watching you publicly make changes to your practice and continue to ask for feedback has had more impact on the way I live my life (and teach) than any other professional or personal development to date.  (Griffin, C., email, August 16, 2013)

As a result of modelling this process of evaluation, Cathy Griffin shared her experience in asking her grade 6-7, age 11-12, students to give her concrete information on how she could teach them better. Next I move to

(SLIDE 15: CATHY’S DEMOCRATIC EVALUATION

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http://youtu.be/nbuQHRhqEOE )

6:14-6:28 SCRIPT: Cathy: Having more time to think about your answer, would that make you more comfortable?Student: It probably would help.

Liz Campbell is using the same process with her grade 12 philosophy class. She says:

“I begin by briefly sharing my learning experience with my students as one possible way of identifying embodied knowledge and creating a self-directed learning journey. I invite students to experiment with non-traditional ways of researching, representing, and knowing in order to create a more authentic learning experience. I demonstrate trust and respect for my students when I provide them with opportunities to direct their own learning. Students then begin their own inquiries to identify their values and unveil their embodied knowledge.

Transitioning from the use of published lyrics (the words of others) another group of students created a project around the concept of vulnerability that encouraged participants to express their inner voices. This project: “Out on a Limb”, like “Notes from the Heart” revealed many important ideas to all of us and the recurring theme of fear of judgement resonated with many and became a powerful catalyst for further, deeper, and collaborative reflection”.

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Here is one of the clips:

(SLIDE 17: HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT ACTION RESEARCH)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmJVN2r6iBQ Out on a Limb Part

1:51-2:06 SCRIPT: Expressing emotions – I’m not very good at that because of fear of being rejected is always in the back of your noggin.

Next I move to

4. The fourth aspect of the evidential base of action research

In a March 4th, 2013 TVOntario interview, Michael Fullan, professor Emertius, OISE/UT said: “More than 90% of children when they enter the school system in kindergarten, are highly engaged, excited about education; by the time they get to grade 9 it’s at 37%. We have to change the nature of the educational experience to have students as partners in the learning, to be purposeful, to pursue the critical thinking. The problem lies in Professional Development. You will not get depth knowledge by going to workshops. Professional learning is part of the day to day job, what you learn together because it has to be shared for it to be powerful”. http://ww3.tvo.org/video/188858/teaching-towards-future

Here, I will provide a window into my world: it is a different approach to learning. You will have to decide how suitable this practice is for your students. In this section you will hear the voices of students as young as 11

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years old conducting action research and taking responsibility for their learning in order to become better students. Cathy Griffin, the teacher, says, “You might not believe that students in Grade 6 and 7 would be able to articulate questions of such deep and profound moral quality.”

I give you this exemplary example of students as co-researchers, as partners in learning. Cathy’s writes about supporting students as co-researchers in her elementary classroom:

“I also claim that modelling the action-research process through inviting criticism of my own teaching practice and acting on feedback received is an effective way to lead into student-directed action research projects. Indicators of my success are their actual questions which asked in the form, “How can I improve my learning?” and my acknowledgement of the importance of their questions and their voices which I include in their words in report cards.

Second, without an explanation of the process we went through together and the struggle I had to honour my students’ voices, the reader might not believe that students in Grade 6 and 7 would be able to articulate questions of such deep and profound moral quality. I certainly doubted that we would arrive at these questions.

In the following video, four of my students read their personal research questions. Rather than getting ideas from books, we worked individually and in groups to develop action plans based on what the students already knew. You will hear each student explain the barriers they experienced and action they are taking”.

(SLIDE 6: Primary and secondary students as action researchers and co-researchers

(PRIMARY STUDENT-DIRECTED ACTION RESEARCH

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http://youtu.be/rz2sSUeZlno )

1:05-1:45 SCRIPT: I’m having trouble with giving and receiving feedback, and problems with stress. My barriers are how to give feedback without feeling mean, negative self-talk and whenever I feel I’m a bad person whenever I don’t do well or whenever I did my best or think I’m right and I’m wrong. The action I’m taking is working in small groups to mark our own work and then give it to the teacher and also we are asking for feedback from other people than the teacher.

Let’s watch one of the 11-year old students: Show clip.

And here is Liz Campbell talking about co-researching with her grade 12, age 17, philosophy class:

“I begin by briefly sharing my learning experience with my students as one possible way of identifying embodied knowledge and creating a self-directed learning journey. I invite students to experiment with non-traditional ways of researching, representing, and knowing in order to create a more authentic learning experience. I demonstrate trust and respect for my students when I provide them with opportunities to direct their own learning. Students then begin their own inquiries to identify their values and unveil their embodied knowledge.

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A group of students created a project around the concept of vulnerability that encouraged participants to express their inner voices. This project revealed many important ideas to all of us and the recurring theme of fear of judgement resonated with many and became a powerful catalyst for further, deeper, and collaborative reflection”.

Here is one of the clips:

(SLIDE 7: HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT ACTION RESEARCH)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmJVN2r6iBQ Out on a Limb Part 1

1:51-2:06 SCRIPT: Expressing emotions – I’m not very good at that because of fear of being rejected is always in the back of your noggin.

What if we connected these children to your children through SKYPE or other on-line communication systems and let them be our cultural ambassadors to create better learning systems?

And last5. The fifth aspect of the evidential base of action research

(SLIDE 10: Action research as sustained, self-directed professional learning across systems

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http://youtu.be/92w1aR8Wn_o )1:10-2:03 SCRIPT: All that goes right back to what Jackie said. What are your values? What are the relationships that you establish in your school? Are you true to those values in your relationships? Can people count on you? Do you say to them, “This matters to me,”? If you can’t say this matters to me then it won’t matter to them. So you have to be prepared to jump in and say I’m going to learn with you. I’m going to research with you. You don’t need to be the expert but you’ve got to be willing to say we’re going to learn together about how to make this happen in our school. And I care about our kids and I care about you and about this process that we’re going to follow to get there.

I include in this part references to the sustained influence of action research in my former school district and in Liz and Cathy’s school districts. I include in this part, references to the sustained influence of action research on my former school district; to Liz’s broadened influence as her former students convey to her the ways in which they are continuing their self-directed learning in post-secondary education; to Cathy’s influence on her colleagues in their action research project for the Ontario Ministry of Education and on her system through action research networks.

As I continue my action-reflection cycles, it is my intention to attempt to track the nature of my influence in enabling the sustainability of action

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research to learning environments over time, from within the classroom, across a school system and through my master of education students to their students. I am most moved by evidence of improved teaching and learning in classrooms and schools. I begin when Lori Barkans was one of the first group of 5 action researchers in my school district in 1996 and follow my influence on her from supporting her as she progressed in her career positions to teaching her in the masters cohort in Brantford in 2011 and recently she, as a senior administrator in the school district, and I as a senior, senior administrator, presented to a university class of student teachers on the subject of leadership. In this dialogue, it is clear that Lori is a committed action researcher.                                    In this clip on November 28, 2012, we hear Lori talk about the nature of my influence in the school system and we see her passion for improving schools and learning.

I transcribed this section to capture the actual words but note how much more information is available from seeing Lori’s facial expressions and from moving the cursor along to see her life-affirming energy and passion.In terms of analysis, in this dialogue, it seems clear that Lori, as a senior leader in the school district continues to be an action researcher

“You know I’m here because of what Jackie taught me, not only about myself but about what I do. And, in fact, I had a moment like that last week where we saw a TED video and they were talking about what makes people successful and one of the things listed was ‘passion’ ..”

She talks about living according to your values as a leader, about hearing teacher’s voices, about working collaboratively on inquiry, about the importance of trust and care and passion: “that discovery, that reflective practice, that process of trying something: is it working? is it not? how do we know? what are we going to do if it isn’t and where are we going to go next because the journey is continuous and constant and, man, if you haven’t got the passion for that, then it’s a tough row.”

Show clip. I hope that you can see and hear that the action research process continues to be part of her practice as a system leader.

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Second, I will draw on the work of Liz and Cathy in their influence beyond their classrooms in their school district to provide evidence of their expanding influence on systems.

(SLIDE 12: ACTION RESEARCH: INFLUENCING SYSTEMS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqIsET8z0_M Sabrrea, Brianne, Becki and Liz )

The audio on the clip is difficult to hear. Show clip. Liz speaks in her own words from the AERA 2013 paper that we co-wrote:

“This clip includes an example of my influence and also examples of the sustainability of living theories and communities of inquiry. Three graduate students who individually contacted me over the December holidays with a desire to reconnect accept an invitation to lunch at my home. All three give their permission to videotape our dialogue and to upload the footage into the public domain.

I begin the discussion by stating my claim that our philosophy class was a loving community of inquiry where students learn how to unveil their embodied knowledge and I invite them to comment on this or anything else they feel is significant. Brianne begins (at 3:46) by commenting on how refreshing and inspiring the alternative environment was for her and the importance of being trusted to direct her own learning. Sabreea comments on how she is still applying the learning that she experienced (at

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5:00). In addition to completely changing her program of study to something she is passionate about (media arts) instead of a program that her parents wanted her to complete (business), she talks about how she is far more confident and now goes out on her own. Becki, still feeling a little uncomfortable recalls her risk taking in the class and Sabreea reminds Becki of how influential her risk taking was (at 8:00) on her and other students”.

With four teacher co-researchers at her elementary school, Cathy shared their action research experience of learning together to improve student learning to senior leaders across her school district. This project was funded by the Ontario Ministry of Education. She shares with these superintendents how she asks her students for their help in improving her teaching.

(SLIDE 13: ACTION RESEARCH: INFLUENCING SYSTEMS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1idqwlZSq0o&list=PLj7Kbzs74R-vOt_9VHXE-rz68b2Oj0PNU)

13:03-13:23 SCRIPT: These are my intentions in teaching you. I want you to enjoy Math; I want you to persevere with problem-solving; I want you to learn Math. What am I doing to help you do that. What are the barriers?

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In the presentation, senior administrators heard the teachers’ voices as they described their self-directed professional learning.

(SLIDE 14: TEACHERS SHARE THEIR LEARNING IN A CULTURE OF INQUIRY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1idqwlZSq0o&list=PLj7Kbzs74R-vOt_9VHXE-rz68b2Oj0PNU)

5:32-5:59 SCRIPT: That’s the coolest thing about this: watching other people’s way. I can take from that and incorporate some of that into my practice. We never have opportunity for that.That’s what’s written everywhere about most effective teaching practices is to have this time, this co-teaching, co-planning..It has to be done with a group with whom you feel comfortable and that’s what I love about us.

Cathy is now engaged in inviting teachers and administrators across her school system to join a community of inquiry by creating the Bluewater Action Research Network. This network will meets regularly with like-minded colleagues to conduct action research in a supportive environment as part of their self-directed professional development.

In Ontario, a partnership of universities, school districts and teacher unions has just completed a three-year collaborative action research project led by the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, funded by the Ontario Ministry of Education and involving 6 universities and 50

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teams of elementary schools has just published Teachers Learning Together: Lessons from Collaborative Action Research in Practice (Elementary Teachers of Ontario, 2013). The text outlines the work of the universities to support the teachers as they conducted action research. To date I am unaware of any publication of the actual teachers’ research.

Finally,Part C: Conclusions and Reflections

(SLIDE 15: WILL YOU JOIN ME IN ACTION RESEARCH?)

What I have described and explained today is very much at the forefront of change in lesson improvement and school reform through action research. I do not intend to infer that this activity is happening on all fronts in Ontario Education, nor is it without its challenges. It is exemplary work by these teachers: they are STARS!!! It is my vision of what lesson improvement can be. A longer version of this lecture is available at http://www.spanglefish.com/actionresearchcanada/

One of the challenges of this action research process is that each researcher must find his/her own way, be methodologically inventive (Dadds & Hart, 2001). I have shared how my colleagues and I have done it: it can inform what you want to do but cannot be replicated.

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I believe that I have shared the importance of the leader in modeling, encouraging and supporting the action research process in a relational dynamic. This process requires time, trust and courage: it has enabled me and others to flourish in cultures of inquiry. The teachers and students that I have highlighted in this address are speaking in their own voices and conducting and publishing their own action research: they are, in every way, exemplary. I think that you can see in the visual data the massive potential of technology to improve teaching and learning as well as the power of its integration into academic research. I hope that you can see that living theory action research is no short-lived idea-it has longevity, sustainability and critical mass.

This is an invitation: If any of these ideas resonate with you and you would like to take the next step, I invite you to collaborate with me and my colleagues. I look forward to further dialogue in the following symposium with Prof. Shizuo YOSHIZAKI（of Japan Women’s University), Prof. Masaharu KAGE  (Keio University )　 　 　 　 　 　 　   Prof. Takashi IKUTA  (Niigata University)Prof. Kazuko SAWAMOTO  (Japan Women’s University)

Arigato.

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