Changing Practice and the Reseach
Change, as we know, is a process not an event. It is also individual, for each of us responds to and man-ages change uniquely. Adding a new practice to our teaching repertoire certainly qualifies as an event involving change and it can vary widely. It can range from using a new strategy with the students that we know well, to implementing for the first time, an approach to teaching mathematics. Researchers have found that as we make changes —evolving from neophytes into experienced users of a practice—our experiences are both alike and different.
To accommodate our individual preferences and learning styles, we can use an individual action plan. The action-planning tools that follow are adapted from and based on the work of The Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM) Project by Hord, Rutherford, Huling-Austin and Hall, (1987), the Research and Development Center for Teacher Education, The University of Texas at Austin.
ACTION-PLAN
PREPARING TO IMPLEMENT AN INQUIRY CHART INVESTIGATION
(Action Plan Chart ... Figure 1)
MAKING INDIVIDUAL ACTION PLANS
Because we are different, we can expect to choose a different sequence of actions for professional development. For example, a fourth grade teacher who has attended a workshop in the Teacher Center now wishes to start making an investigation with a class using the Inquiry Chart, (see For You From Teacher Center in this issue for more information about the Inquiry Chart). As this teacher prepares to implement, the teacher selects the particular steps. In Figure 1 see a list of actions that a teacher might decide to take.
For each stage of acquiring a new practice, there are key actions that an individual teacher might choose. Some of us, visual learners, may always prefer to see—a class or a video—before going further. Others may prefer to sit down and have a conversation about the new practice, and still others may prefer the Internet or reading an article. Figure 2 lists both the stages we may pass through in becoming proficient in a new practice as well as constellation of possible professional development actions.
In Figure 3, there is a blank chart that can be used as an individual, action-planning tool.
