M.Ed. Leadership Team research paper accepted

Dr. Roger Peckover, Suzanne Peterson, Pat Christiansen and Brenda Fischer, members of the Development Team of the Master of Education in Teaching and Learning (M.Ed.), have had their research accepted for presentation at the 2010 annual meeting of the America Research Association in Denver, Colo. The paper, titled “Teacher Development with the Spirit-in-Mind: Building A.G.A.P.E. into Professional Communities of Practice,” reports results from an ongoing case study of a structured master degree program helping teachers bring Lasallian, spirit-centered, inner life work into productive relationship with their daily teaching.

The two-year program brings teachers together for collaborative inquiry into their relationship with the spirit of agape as expressed in five dimensions of teaching practice represented by the acronym A.G.A.P.E. Teachers utilize qualitative methodological processes including sacred inquiry, hermeneutics, self-study and action research to examine their teaching life in practice. Results of the ongoing programmatic study reveal teacher insights into creating a unified life as a teacher, bringing spirit and teaching praxis into holistic relationship. Teacher challenges in the development process and implications for professional teacher development are discussed.