Common Core implementation begins with asking the right questions!
While the Common Core couldn't be clearer about what to teach, they never quite tackle how to teach. That's what makes Inquiring into the Common Core such an essential resource. It offers teachers an inquiry-based professional development model for achieving greater understanding of the standards themselves, then determining best ways to realize desired outcomes. Posing questions to stimulate action and higher-level insight, teachers and students engage in a parallel process in service of the very same Common Core goals. The book is their guide, providing
- Tools to systematically study teaching effectiveness while adapting to new standards
- Classroom-ready, student inquiry techniques and strategies to apply within Common Core's framework
- Real life inquiry-implementation examples from a high-need, high-poverty school
Nancy Fichtman Dana is currently Professor of Education in the School of Teaching and Learning at the University of Florida, Gainesville. She began her career in education as an elementary school teacher in Hannibal Central Schools, New York. Since earning her Ph.D. from Florida State University in 1991, she has been a passionate advocate for teacher inquiry and has worked with numerous schools and districts across the nation to develop programs of inquiry as well as conducted extensive research on the process. Honored by Corwin Press as a "One Million Dollar Author" in 2011, Dana has published eight books for Corwin including the best-selling text, The Reflective Educator′s Guide to Classroom Research (2009), in its second edition and used extensively in teacher education programs throughout the nation. Other books include The Reflective Educator′s Guide to Mentoring (2007), The Reflective Educator′s Guide to Professional Development: Coaching Inquiry-Oriented Learning Communities (2008), Leading With Passion and Knowledge: The Principal as Action Researcher (2009), The Power of Teacher Networks (2009),
Powerful Professional Development: Building Expertise Within the Four Walls of Your School (2010),
Inquiry: A Districtwide Approach to Staff and Student Learning (2011), and Digging Deeper into Action Research: A Teacher Inquirer′s Field Guide (Forthcoming).
In addition to her books with Corwin, she has also published over 50 articles in professional journals and books focused on teacher and principal professional development and practitioner inquiry. Dana has received many honors including the Association of Teacher Educator′s Distinguished Research in Teacher Education Award and the National Staff Development Council (NSDC) Book of the Year Award.
Jamey Burns is currently a District Coordinator for the Lastinger Center for Learning in the College of Education at the University of Florida, Gainesville. In her role of district coordinator, she develops and implements differentiated professional development for teachers, coaches and principals, and facilitates teacher inquiry leaders throughout the district. She works intensively with Title I schools across the district and recently developed a professional learning community of principals and coaches that are systematically studying their implementation of the common core state standards. She has also coordinated an alternative Educator Preparation Institute through the University of Florida where she trained alternatively certified teachers in high need schools. Before working with the Lastinger Center, she was an inclusion teacher in both second and third grades and worked in a reading clinic helping students with dyslexia, ADHD and Autism.
Rachel Wolkenhauer currently serves as Teacher in Residence for the Lastinger Center for Learning in the College of Education at the University of Florida, Gainesville. She began her career as a third and fourth grade teacher and became an avid teacher researcher. In her role as Teacher in Residence for the Lastinger Center, she develops and facilitates inquiry-oriented professional development for pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, and school administrators. Her work emphasizes practitioner inquiry as a mechanism for teacher leadership and as a pedagogical approach that encourages highly engaged teaching and learning.
