After 29 years in education I am still amazed by everything I don’t know. I have always been a voracious reader, and looked for opportunities to learn and apply new things. When I entered my doctoral program my world shifted and I began to see how educational research never reaches the teaching profession. In teacher training programs we are exposed to a small slice of what’s out there, and what you see depends on where you live, where you attend school, and the master teachers you are exposed to.

Once we finish school, our learning as educators is influenced by the professional development initiatives of the school where we teach, or the occasional opportunities to attend a conference; although due to cost and time out of the classroom that is rarely an option. In my current role as a Teacher on Special Assignment I have been given the gift of being able to share what I learned in my three years of research with classroom teachers, many of whom may not have attended any outside learning since they finished their credential. I can take my love of learning, my voracious appetite to consume and synthesize research, and then introduce teachers to ideas and theories they may have never heard of.

 I know that in the past four years I have learned so much about what educational researchers and learning theorists have uncovered in the past two decades, now almost three, since I entered the classroom. I also uncovered ideas that have been debunked that used to guide our instructional practices. My goal in this series of articles is to share a brief overview of the ideas and practices that have been identified as helping students learn.

At the end of the day the goal of most educational research is to optimize the teaching and learning experience to maximize student achievement. This aligns with what most teachers and people who work in education want, which is to do the best they can for their students and help them realize their full potential. However, the research is often written in a way that is difficult to digest and then transferred to the classroom, so it sits untouched, never fulfilling its true purpose, which is to help teachers be more effective in designing learning experiences for students. This is where I come in. I love reading and digesting research and then trying to apply those ideas to the classroom, or PLC discussions. I am a conduit for knowledge and a catalyst for inspiring change in the classroom. So invite you to join me on this learning journey, and take what you need to move forward in your career as an educator.

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