Teacher Inquiry in Literacy Workshops

Book excerpt: The challenges and rewards of early childhood education come alive in this collection of narratives by a community of nascent teacher-researchers who share their investigations of enacting literacy workshops in Reggio-inspired classrooms. Teacher educator Judith T. Lysaker and her classroom teacher colleagues observed and documented their students' talk, actions, ideas, and play in order to develop insights into young children's literacy learning, improve their own instruction, and move the voices of children to the center of the curriculum. In classrooms infused with the child-centered approach practiced by the educators of Reggio Emilia, Italy, these teachers sought to make connections between the curricular construct of reading and writing workshops and their Reggio-inspired beliefs. Their narratives highlight issues of content, especially new understandings they developed about the importance of relationships, as well as issues of process, the ways in which they developed their ideas through the practice of teacher research. Each narrative chapter is followed by a "Research Conversation" that illustrates the ways in which teacher research becomes personally relevant classroom practice that connects teachers to children and children to their own growing knowledge. As these teachers pursue their individual research questions, they model the rich potential of teacher research: teacher empowerment, student empowerment, and supportive instruction that sees and encourages the possibilities in every child.