Action research transcends constraints of poverty in elementary ...

3. OUR CONTEXTSLiz Campbell: After almost two decades of high school classroomteaching experience, I accepted a lead teacher position at the board officeat which time I also completed a Masters of Education and immediatelythereafter requested a return to the classroom. I teach at a mid-size (660students) rural high school in an affluent community. I am alsocompleting a PhD in Educational Sustainability at Nipissing University inNorth Bay. I am passionate about inclusive, holistic education andbelieve that fostering a loving community of inquiry challenges theconstraints of poverty for all learners. In the classroom we co-create aspace for alternative knowing, researching, and representing and as coresearcherswe embark on a journey of discovery through living theoryaction research projects. This is my first endeavour into the world ofwriting for publication and I am honoured to be working with suchpassionate and loving researchers. This collaborative effort is evidence ofthe hope for humanity and provides a model for what otherwise might beconsidered elusive or unattainable. In our attempts to make explicit howliving theory action research can transcend the constraints ofimpoverished learning, I lived the experience. It is the sustainability ofliving theory action research that inspires me to continue researching andwriting with the hope of contributing to a shift in education that addressesour spiritual crisis.Jackie Delong: At the time of conducting this research and writing thispaper, I have been teaching for Brock University, St Catharines, Ontario,Canada as an adjunct professor and working as educational consultantcurrently preparing for a November conference in Tokyo at JapanWomen’s University. In a school district career over 33 years, I held avariety of school district positions from teacher to superintendent andsupported teachers and administrators to conduct action research on theirpractice in order to improve teaching and learning. I published thisinformal (not for credit) research in 7 volumes of Passion in ProfessionalPractice (2001-2007) and created a repository for this and mastersaccredited research onhttp://www.spanglefish.com/ActionResearchCanada. Since 2002, when Igraduated with my doctorate from the University of Bath, the supervisoryrelationship between Jack and me changed into one of co-researchers,working together and supporting each other’s inquiries as informalpartners, as did my relationship with Cathy and Liz. Working with mythree much respected colleagues in creating this paper, I haveendeavoured to analyze past learnings and current efforts in encouragingand supporting students and colleagues in comprehending the nature of