Publication Date
1-1-2007
Abstract
This article describes findings from a classroom-based action research project conducted by two in-school teachers, a literacy coach and a 4'h grade teacher, implementing a new integrated literacy and social studies curriculum and the changes they made in curricular practices and beliefs over a three-year period of time. A university professor also served as an out-of-school researcher assisting with analyzing data, describing findings, and discussing implications. The project was based on the model of teacher as researcher asking two focused inquiry questions: 1) what can be learned about teaching by taking a reflective practitioner perspective as a way to think about our own teaching? and 2) what can be learned about curriculum and curriculum development from collaboratively implementing an integrated literacy and social studies curriculum in a 47 grade classroom? Research methods were grounded in principles of naturalistic inquiry and data collection and data analysis were driven by the methodology of grounded theory. Three stories of curricular change were constructed from the data. These stories illustrate how study reflected on and changed their practices about curriculum and curriculum development over time. Findings and implications indicate thinking more broadly and more deeply about curriculum and curriculum development.
Recommended Citation
Bintz, W. P., & Dillard, J. (2007). Teachers as Reflective Practitioners: Examining Teacher Stories of Curricular Change in a 4th Grade Classroom. Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts, 47 (3). Retrieved from https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/reading_horizons/vol47/iss3/4
