Are you REALLY a Life-Long Learner?

As I finished up Dr. Tatum's book, Teaching Reading to Black Adolescent Males, the final chapter really caused me to switch gears a bit.  The title is "Conducting Teacher Inquiries" and Tatum calls this the "final strand for creating nesting grounds where literacy of black adolescent males can flourish".  We hear terms like "inquiry-based learning" quite a bit in education but how many of us are truly engaged and invested in using this method ourselves?

Teacher inquiry is basically action research.  Often when I'm presenting at conferences or even to principals, the resounding question is, "Why can't  you give us some strategies that we can use now?"  If only it were that simple.  Whether you're an educator, a parent, activist or concerned citizen you are in a position to conduct your own action research to seek answers and enough information to begin to form your own strategies for working with struggling readers.  As Tatum emphasized, "there are no black-male only research-based reading strategies."  Regardless of race or academic achievement level, reading strategies are the same for all students.  So what's the answer?

One thing that I learned during my doctoral studies is that it is perfectly fine not to have all the answers.  In fact, true learning takes place when we encounter problems and challenges and take time to grapple with them.  Reflecting on our own practices, collecting data to inform us, collaborating with colleagues, talking to students, sharing findings with others and of course READING are all useful forms of action research. 

If you consider yourself to be a life-long learner, then engaging in these practices are a natural extension of your work!  So I ask, are you REALLY a life-long learner?  How do you know?