Making Learning Public:
Participatory Action Research Seminar
for Teacher Leadership*
It is through each other and each other’s works, that we lead beyond the confines of our own time, place,
culture, self and are expanded imaginatively, spiritually – exponentially. This is important about us: that we
have selves, that we are active in the pursuit of meaning and value, that in that pursuit we are each uniquely
situated, yet understandable to each other. The recognition of that self in other is for me, the cornerstone of
educating, and is what distinguishes educating from training and schooling.
-- Pat Carini
Overview: Classroom teachers, museum educators, and community educators will participate in group
inquiry processes that can be used in academic disciplines, arts and museum experiences, community
life, and other areas of formal and informal learning. The descriptive methods involved in inquiry
highlight the capacities and uniqueness of each student -- while engaging educators in research, close
study, and constructed conversation about their own and their students’ work.
Participants will share and develop common resources for cross disciplinary, K-12 practice, in
deliberately cross-educational and cross-geographic settings. They will share findings and model
critical analysis, reflective practice, and collaborative learning. Participants will experience, participate
in, and have the opportunity to lead in their home setting, descriptive inquiry processes (see schedule
below) designed to build community and actively engage around common issues.
This 6-session series runs from October – January and will meet approximately every other Tuesday
evening from 6:00 – 8:30. It will include regular online collaboration and the creation of a final project
for public learning, upon which participants will receive a $100 stipend. CPDUs are available.
Seminar Facilitators: The series will be facilitated by Joan Bradbury, Shanti Elliott, and Tina Nolan,
from the Teachers’ Inquiry Project. The Teachers’ Inquiry Project (TIP) is devoted to active,
impassioned learning and considering teachers as leaders and stewards of democratic life. TIP is a
resource for teachers in their growth as practitioners of democracy and as they guide young people
toward becoming thoughtful and engaged participants in our city, our country, and the world.
Meetings will be select Tuesday evenings October-January at Francis Parker School
October 29: Introduction to Descriptive Inquiry: Recollection process on leadership.
November 5: Looking at learning in different settings: Museum Object Observation and Descriptive
Review of Children’s Work.
November 19: Community building in the classroom, school, and community: Peer-to-peer
mentoring/coaching and group activities.
December 3: Close Reading of a Text: excerpt from Ella Flagg Young’s “Isolation in Schools.”
Close read of a work of art.
December 17: Review of practice and focus on documentation and assessment design.
January 14: Creating resources and documentation to sustain the work. Final presentations.
To sign up please contact us at info@teachersinquiryproject.org.
*THANK YOU TO FRANCIS PARKER SCHOOL FOR GENEROUS SPONSORSHIP OF
THIS SEMINAR!*