Action Research for Teachers : Traveling the Yellow Brick Road by Wendy C., Holly, Mary Louise, Arhar, Joanne M. Kasten - used book

"Action Research for Teachers: Traveling the Yellow Brick Road," Second Edition, provides a solid framework for problem solving in collaborative contexts. The authors of this book detail how action research is a powerful method for documenting, developing, and evaluating the curriculum. Using the analogy of the Wizard of Oz and its characters, this text is expressly written for literacy teachers and identifies all of the elements that make action research a valuable self-assessment tool for teachers. Features include: Seven Sections. Each section is complete with excerpts from "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" (Baum, 1900) to set the tone of the chapter, introductions, and summaries. Exploring the Forest. This is a workshop of explorations and exercises that will enable the reader to develop tools for carrying out an action research project, including how to keep a research journal and collect artifacts for a mini-portfolio. Stepping Stones. These features present tips to help readers gain insights into action research processes, such as getting organized and knowing what documents and artifacts to save. Four Case Studies. Five teachers share their action research studies and progress throughout the book, showing readers how to use action research in real classroom situations. Travelers' Notes and Stories. Fellow scholars provide notes and stories of their projects: how they analyzed their data, told their research stories, and organized and displayed their data, teaching readers how to further implement and organize an action research project.