Learning is a universal experience. We have all been learners all our lives. This saturation of learning experiences makes us into refined and critical consumers. We know a lousy experience almost before it begins, and we are similarly awestruck when we encounter a transcendent one.

Too often, though, formal learning experiences fail to capture our imagination and leave us feeling disappointed at best and despairing at worst. The formal learning landscape for teachers is especially barren. Teachers are seldom thought about as learners and so relatively little attention is paid to (and relatively little investment is made in) their learning experiences. Despite this, most teachers, if asked, can recollect – often in detail – their most powerful and transformative learning experiences. 

Many researchers have tried to survey or question teachers about these experiences, and they distill the experiences into prescriptive lists of best practices. In my current research, I am not interested in drafting a better list. Rather, through my dissertation work, I am interested in crafting evocative and thick descriptions of powerful professional learning that can be used in the service of designing more imaginative and effective models of professional learning across contexts. Such models would be premised on the belief that improved teaching depends largely on helping teachers to see themselves (and to be seen by others) as learners. Finally, I hope that this current research helps elevate the voices of teachers talking about their learning and about themselves as learners.

Amplifying the voices of teachers and students has been a consistent throughline in my research to date. In two co-authored papers with my colleague Silvia Diazgranados, I examined the positive effects of participatory learning environments for students and teachers. In a co-authored book chapter with Howard Gardner, I presented case studies of artists and scientists who spoke out about the misuse or abuse of their creative work. In two co-authored case studies written for the Harvard Business School, I documented the collaborative voices of district leaders, teachers, and community members in crafting policy. In a mixed methods participatory action research (PAR) project with youth, I discussed how listening to student voice can make school nutrition policies more effective. And in a featured article in the Harvard Educational Review, I presented an ethnographic portrait of an innovative district policy that valued the autonomy, voice, and learning of adults in positions of leadership.

In my current and future work, I am committed to using rigorous methodological tools – quantitative and qualitative – to better understand how learning environments shape our identities, our motivations, and our impact on the world.