LibGuides: Teacher Inquiry Framework: Mindsets and Skills of Teacher Inquiry

Key Mindsets of Teacher Inquiry

These are the four Teacher Beliefs and Mindsets most aligned with teacher inquiry, with a description of how they relate to teacher inquiry:

Collaboration: Teachers must seek outside perspectives in order to inform their practice. This allows them to learn from others and avoid reinventing the wheel, and helps them combat their own biases. Teacher inquiry must be done in collaboration with students, colleagues, and families/community members. Teachers must also engage with the wider field of education through researching evidence-based strategies and participating in the scholarly conversation. There is much to be learned from researchers, scholars, and other teachers!
Continuous Improvement: Good teachers engage in a process of continuous improvement; teacher inquiry is a systematic way of studying your own practice and intentionally finding ways to improve.
Intentionality: Teacher inquiry must be conducted through a mindset of culturally responsive and inclusive teaching. Teachers must be aware of their biases, and must examine data through an asset-based lens. They must value the ideas and contributions of students, families, and communities. When conducted with the right mindsets, teacher inquiry can be a powerful tool for better understanding and attending to the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students. (Athanases, Wahleithner, & Bennett, 2012)
Personal Responsibility: Good teachers focus on their locus of control, and enact change in their classroom and beyond. "Teachers need also to be part of a culture that supports teacher agency and decision-making in the context of their practice, especially if they develop deep knowledge of their students and their needs. Teacher inquiry can support this effort by enabling teachers to generate practice-based evidence, derived in the context of teachers’ real classrooms." (Athanases, Wahleithner, & Bennett, 2012)

Athanases, S. Z., Wahleithner, J. M., & Bennett, L. H. (2012). Learning to Attend to Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Learners through Teacher Inquiry in Teacher Education. Teachers College Record, 114(7), 1-50. https://doi-org.library.relay.edu/10.1177/016146811211400703

Key Skills of Teacher Inquiry

The following skills must be present throughout the process of teacher inquiry:

Reflection: "Reflection is a systematic, rigorous, disciplined way of thinking, with its roots in scientific inquiry;" through teacher inquiry, teachers learn that process of reflection. "The process of reflection...requires the teacher to confront the complexity of students and their learning, of themselves and their teaching, their subject matter, and the contexts in which all these operate." (Rodgers, 2002)
Data Literacy: The process of teacher inquiry ensures that teachers are using data to inform their instruction: rigorously examining evidence can help teachers confront their biases. At the same time, however, teachers must realize the limitations of data; this can be combated by a critical examination of data and by using multiple sources of data (both qualitative and quantitative). "A data-literate educator can generate data-based questions, select and evaluate data to answer questions, and develop inferences and explanations based on interpretations of data. The range of forms of data also reflects the Teacher Inquiry data collection toolkit." (Athanases, Wahleithner, & Bennett, 2012)
Information Literacy: Teachers must also engage with the wider field of education through researching evidence-based strategies and participating in the scholarly conversation. There is much to be learned from researchers, scholars, and other teachers! Through teacher inquiry, teachers learn to find, use, and evaluate information.

Rodgers, C. (2002). Defining Reflection: Another Look at John Dewey and Reflective Thinking. Teachers College Record, 104(4), 842-866. https://doi-org.library.relay.edu/10.1111/1467-9620.00181