Why do action research?
…Here are 5 benefits of doing action research in the classroom 1. Action research powers professional growth Action research is a powerful form of teacher-driven professional development. In Action Research…
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How to get started with action research
…an Action research project, as captured in the table below: Plain Language Action Research Lingo What I will study Abstract and Research Question(s) Practice to be improved Rationale (and Literature…
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Action research
…get started with action research Unpacking a great action research project What does it look like in action? Action Research Case Studies Every year, educators around Vermont undertake action…
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Unpacking a great action research project
…consider doing action research because it: Powers professional growth Makes change manageable Promotes collaboration Produces shareable knowledge Drives systemic change We’ve also described how to get started with action research….
Read moreOur Research Agenda
…is out there, and to prioritize what needs to be done. The result of this effort is a new research agenda, which can help both teachers doing action research and…
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#vted Reads: with Alex Shevrin Venet
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…Trauma-Informed Education. How does it work in classrooms? How can you, as an educator, use your own coping strategies to dismantle inequity at your school? Will action research help? And…
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Top 10 ways to spend a snow day
…is a program with action research at its heart — action research being performed daily, and with the help of visiting educators and students. And field trips! (Hey come visit…
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#vted Reads: The Successful Middle School
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…out. It also does it in terms of grounding the work much more solidly in research. And particularly in research by, with, for, and about more diverse populations. Jeanie: Thank…
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What’s your inquiry question?
…a foundation for the educator and students to build ongoing research. Learning Lab VT is a program with action research at its heart — action research being performed daily, and…
Read more3 ways to use Google Forms to streamline your workflow
…Multiple teachers can input data and easily report out. 3. Action Research Action research has been a consistent vehicle for educators to engage in meaningful inquiry about a problem or…
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Implementing 1:1 norms and digital citizenship
How do student behaviors change? Debi Serafino, a math teacher at Brattleboro Area Middle School, presents the results of her semester-long action research project examining the effects of implementing 1:1…
Read moreStoring digital badges for portfolios
…I see it working: If over the course of the semester, I, as a learner, earn a Teacher Action Research badge from an Action Research Course created with BadgeOS, and…
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Teaching students how to set personal exploration goals
Goal-setting as a process This presentation, delivered by Harwood Union High School teacher Lissa Fox at the 2016 Middle Grades Conference, describes an Action Research project that looked at the…
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Challenging Simplified Notions of Health Equity in the Middle Grades
…bit of the purpose and background behind my action research project: a health equity unit that I designed and used for the first time this year. And in that I’m…
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“The Culture Code”, with Bill Rich
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…reminds me of another anecdote from the book. About the military and after-action reviews. This idea that after an action of some sort, you sit down and you really look…
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Culturally Responsive Instruction and Assessment
…four themes from the research literature on Culturally Responsive Pedagogies to look more closely at instruction and assessment: Be transparent and intentional about culture. Take an appreciative stance. Provide mirrors…
Read moreInnovative VT educators in the news
…joins 72 other educators in being recognized as a statewide leader supporting a student-centered vision for middle school. Shelburne educator’s action research published in Middle Grades Review Social studies educator…
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Can sustained silent reading help reluctant readers?
…turned out that her so-called “reluctant readers” weren’t all that reluctant after all. This is a story about student choice, student engagement, and how action research can impact student outcomes….
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#vted Reads: Community Schools Blueprint with Kathleen Kesson
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…that’s what my Rowland fellowship was built around, students interest building, especially in school library and research opportunities for kids to really dig in research and move into actually doing…
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#vted Reads about Equity & Cultural Responsiveness in the Middle Grades
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…action. And really, it’s five calls to action. The first is the need to equitize the middle grades framework. And by that, we mean to demonstrate the ways that critical…
Read moreWhat We’re Reading: 1:1 edition
…structure for my journey, I joined a cross-curricular group of my colleagues who were focusing on action research in their classrooms. Questions permeate good action research — mine was: “What…
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#vted Reads: We Got This, with Kathleen Brinegar
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…students that I’m missing, as well as individuals. He asks you to think about practices that you’re going to implement and try. 2. Listening deeply in action research I love…
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Unlocking family communication in math class
…the Friday emails. Her action research suggests a moderate shift based on parent survey responses. Lizzie did see some interesting exchanges however: A lot of students think ahead to their…
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All about service learning
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…their own community and then doing research about those needs. Then coming up with an action plan of how they can improve a condition and make a real difference in…
Read moreR is for REAL Reflection
…part of a massive action research project that leverages student reflection to increase engagement. The REAL team refer to engagement in two senses, both of which are supported by reflection:…
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How does professional development affect technology integration?
…action research project, examining what role professional development plays in increasing the amount of time technology is integrated into the classroom in a 1:1 environment. Mary Colvin, Jen Little and…
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Toward a student-directed classroom
…students learn self-direction and self-efficacy. An action research plan was born. This fall, she launched that plan, helping to build her students self-direct and efficacy through modeling and through releasing…
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#vted Reads: Reaching and Teaching Students in Poverty
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…thinking to direct action. Our students need us, and we all know they’re worth it. So let’s roll up our sleeves and figure it out. Let’s chat. Jeanie: I am…
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Why PD in a pandemic?
…And one of the greatest resources that I had at my disposal to do this was action–research oriented professional development. Two such opportunities that I found invaluable in the transition…
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Introducing our updated Identity Toolkit
…slides used in a conference presentation. On fostering brave spaces An Action Research project focused on a grade 7-8 unit, with a research question of “How do we foster brave…
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#vted Reads about PBIS
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…really interesting area of research called field sensitivity, right? The research says that there are two broad types of learners. You could be a field-sensitive learner, and that learner needs…
Read moreAbout Our Learning Lab
…Each year, a different group of educators spends the year conducting action research on personalization while hosting a rotating cast of visitors. Each member of the Learning Lab signs up…
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8 year-end reflection tools and activities
…And this could be a powerful end of the school year meeting and experience that cultivates action research and reflective practices. 5. Blogposts To organize your thinking and to summarize…
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4 tales of outdoor education in Vermont
…walls. To explore connections to our curriculum, and what possibilities for taking action and learning exist out in the world. There is no singular process for place-based education, but we…
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Increasing student engagement in PLPs at Williston Central
…accepted this challenge and over the course of the year, conducted action research on what might actually work. The three of them presented the results of that research to a…
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Lessons learned from a community conversation on race
…and the institution of slavery, my first reaction was that we needed to take immediate action to get the name changed. But when I brought my obsessively assembled historical research…
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SEL and mindfulness with the Learning Lab
…do to meet the social emotional needs of their students and colleagues this year? And more than that: Are you interested in getting support pursuing a yearlong action research project…
Read morePersonalized Learning Plans (PLPs)
…Student leadership groups from five schools joined together to explore how to make PLPs work for them. Student-led conferences and engagement in PLPs Teacher Katie Bryant’s action research reveals the…
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Ottauquechee’s Diversity Detectives in:
…kid’s classroom library, I just thought “I could do that with a very small segment of the library,” and then use it as a research project. The diversity audit, it…
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How to use Google Keep for video note-taking
…societies fail. Students were to engage in multi-media rich research to prepare for the seminar. All agreed to provide structure and to scaffold skills necessary to be active listeners and…
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PLPs and literacy
Incorporating student choice into reading This screencast, from Crossett Brook Middle School, in Waterbury, Vermont, describes an action research project based on the premise that students would benefit if day-to-day…
Read moreMiddle Grades Institute Reflections
…either leading them or doing them. We need to celebrate with each other. Teaching, planning, action research plans, this all takes critical focus and brain power. The antidote to that…
Read more3 ways to use Flipgrid for reflection
…introduction and sharing of one’s action research question prior to the start of the class. Just like students, adult learners want to know who’s in their class and what they’ve…
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How mobile devices can enhance field trips
…School, embarked on his own action research to answer the question “Does using iPads outdoors help students retain the information learned in class and foster more engagement with the project/activity?”…
Read moreBeyond the audience of one
…action. Taking my father’s example, I drew up a petition, and out on the playground asked who would like to sign our request to be allowed to wear pants to…
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#VTED Reads: Care Work with Dr. Winnie Looby
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…a few years ago, I did some research around culturally responsive research, like how you might be a researcher, academic who wants to do research in a community, that community…
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Student-led conferences
…VT And what do educators think of student-led conferences? Katie Bryant, Lamoille Union Middle School Bryant’s action research project on gauging family opinions of student-led conferences…
Read moreWhat makes for good goal-setting in a PLP?
…can: Pursue goal by engaging in action steps Capture evidence of growth on blog or PLP Reflect on progress and refine action steps What makes for good goal-setting in a…
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How to do a library diversity audit
7 tips for educators Create a place where all students lives are seen and valued. Ottauquechee students with new books purchased based on their research. High interest! Expand the idea…
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#vted Reads: Personalized Learning in the Middle Grades, with Penny Bishop
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…I’m going to start with a softball. What book is on your bedside table right now? Penny: Well, there are probably 12 actually, and there’s a bit of toppling action…
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Flood Brook’s Classroom Library Audit
…all you clutter-busters: this gave us an excuse to clean neglected crannies of our classrooms). Students then worked in groups to research the authors we found. What does the cover…
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On equity in the middle school movement
…“the ability to recognize and analyze systems of inequality and the commitment to take action against these systems.” Paulo Freire popularized critical consciousness 50 years ago. It is a key…
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What CVU students want you to know about education
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…Vermont where the students successfully lobbied the administration and school board to fly the Black Lives Matter flag on campus. It was an action the school’s student-led Racial Action Committee…
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#vted Reads: Flight of the Puffin
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…action at the time. Jeanie: You may not know I’m in a doctoral program, and I’ve been doing a lot of research about whiteness, and education and equity and anti-racism….
Read moreDigital citizenship in the real world
…to enroll in the Global Studies Capstone class. The class asks students to spend three-quarters of the year researching and taking action on a global challenge. I was fortunate to…
Read moreStudent voice as a social justice issue
…through governance partnerships in the classroom, Dr Nelson conducted a three-cycle action research model, working with three teachers and their year 7 and 8 students at a New Zealand intermediate…
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Student-led conferences and engagement in PLPs
A middle school case study Katie Bryant, an English teacher at Lamoille Union Middle School, presents the results of her semester-long action research project examining the relationship between student-led conferences…
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Using digital tools to change student goal-setting and reflection
Measuring how students approach goal-setting in the 5th and 6th grades Educators at Wallingford Elementary School and Shrewsbury Mountain School, in central Vermont, undertook an action research project measuring…
Read moreA community-based interdisciplinary unit
A tech-rich case study from rural Vermont The team from Hazen Union Middle School, in Hardwick, Vermont, conducted an action research project over the fall semester of 2015, centered around…
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3 visualization exercises for proficiency-based learning
…image to see resources Anthony anticipated using to help her reach her goal. What research says about visualization and goal completion Jonathan Fields in his article The Truth about Visualization…
Read moreBuild personal connections in teacher advisory
…expectations to our mission goals.” Test your changes with action research The PAML teachers’ driving question was this: “Does this new advisory structure provide students opportunities to act responsibly, not…
Read moreDigital badges as evidence of flexible pathways
…since 2014, with work on issuing a micro-credential for educators who complete action research with us, a multi-school Dorothy Canfield Fisher book club, a high school ecology unit at Peoples…
Read morePhys ed 2.0: More learning, less suffering
…engagement Kelly Spreen and Lauren Goracy from Shelburne conducted action research on their personalized projects and found that student engagement appeared to increase. I interviewed a dozen students from Crossett…
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