A School Learning Community

Paper Summary:

This paper presents an action research study to determine how suitable the newsletter publishing process could be in facilitating a good relationship between students and teachers. The writer explains that she wanted to find out if the publication of the school newsletter would influence students' and teachers' interactions in a positive way and create a stronger relationship among them. The research question that the writer attempts to answer asks how she can change her teaching practice to facilitate a school learning community through the design, development and publication of a school newsletter.

Table of Contents:
Coming to the Question
Reconnaissance
Methodology
Learning from the Action Research Cycles
Discussion of New Understandings
New Insights into Action Research as Professional Development
Appendix: Consent Form

From the Paper:

"The learning community has existed in a variety of forms. The term community can be defined in terms of collective power, the geographical community, the relational community, the sense of community, and community building. The relational community is of particular relevance to this project. Communities are social systems that serve to meet human needs. A sense of community develops among members who have a common history, share common experiences, develop emotional closeness, and whose group membership conveys recognition of common identity and destiny."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Austin, T. & Senese, J. (2004). Self-study in school teaching: teachers' perspectives. In J. J. Loughran, M. L. Hamilton, V. K. LaBoskey and T. Russel (eds), International Handbook of Self-study of Teaching and Teacher Education Practices. Vol. 2: 1231- 1258. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic press.
• Barth, R. (1990). Improving schools from within: Teachers, parents and principals can make a difference. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
• Barth, R. (2001). Learning by heart. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
• Boyd, V. & Hord S. (1994). Principals and the new Paradigm: schools as learning communities. In New Orleans, Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association Session 13.43 (pp. 1-31). Austin, Texas: Southwest Educational Development Laboratory. (ED 373428)
• Carr, W. & Kemmis, S. (1986) Becoming Critical: Education, Knowledge and Action Research. London: Falmer Press.

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• Dissertation or Thesis # 105836 : "Small Learning Communities"

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