DIANA TWISS

I work for Capilano College in North Vancouver, BC in the Community Development and Outreach Department and have been here since 1997. I have been caught up in teaching ever since I left Espanola, Ontario in 1980, teaching art and history classes, running an after-school program for elementary children, and, for the last 10 years, teaching adult literacy. I started teaching adults shortly after I graduated from Teacher's College in 1993. I have been involved in a couple of research projects: Something to Think About, Please Think About This: A National Study of Access to Adult Basic Education in Canada (Hoddinott, 1998) as a teacher-researcher; and, most recently, Literacy for Women on the Streets (Alderson and Twiss, 2003), where we examined the effects that literacy education has on women who participate in a drop-in centre for sex trade workers. This is my second collaborative research project.

My teaching experiences include teaching Grade 4-8 on a remote reserve in Northwestern Ontario, English as a second language/literacy, college study skills courses, workplace education, tutor training, community development, and research. I have taught in school districts, colleges, sawmills, hospitals, a women's drop-in centre, a community centre, and the backstretch of a racetrack. I hold Bachelor's Degrees in the Arts (University of Guelph, 1988) and in Education (Nipissing University, 1993) as well as a Master's degree in the Arts (University of Guelph, 1990). My passions are my farm in Lipton, Saskatchewan, basil, spinning and knitting, William Morris, motherhood, painting and de-cluttering my life. I am currently studying with the Knitting Guild Association and working towards becoming a Master Knitter.

Introduction

In a variety of ways, this chapter is different from the other chapters that follow: it deals with much different data; it contains much more description and detail; and it offers less analysis. It is about the team; it is about how we worked and how we figured out this thing called "research-in-practice." It is a piece that deals largely with the process of doing the research, from the development of the proposal right through to the writing of the final research report which you are now reading.