Is it Teacher Research?

I'm thinking tonight about the opportunity I have this spring, teaching two sections of FYC at RIC, to write about teaching writing. A few years back, I read a book called I'm the Teacher, You're the Student, written by a conservative history teacher at Emory University. In the book, which was, I think, organized, simply, by weeks (1, 2, 3), this guy walks you through teaching a history course--the questions he asks about the work, the students, everything. He sort of lays out the internal conversation that is in his head as he makes his way through the semester. He's a bit of a veteran; he's been at it for some time, so he has all kinds of interesting reflections on history, the teaching of history, students, college, etc. (even writing!)

I'm thinking that I might write a similar kind of piece, not sure how long, documenting my experiences teaching writing. Now, the questions: his book was written for lay-readers and was likely written because he already has tenure and didn't have to worry about crossing over to mainstream audiences. The book lacks any sort of reflexivity or methodology. It would not be considered scholarly, I don't think.

So, could I write such a book or at least an article? Possible readers:

1. Professors in other disciplines.

2. Future teachers of FYC.

On one level, I know I could and know I would enjoy writing such a piece in a non-scholarly way.

But another part of me wants to think about this as a project of teacher research, so perhaps I should look into this term. Do I want to design an actual study, get IRB approval, all that?

I have a model for what such a project could look like if it were non-scholarly: the guy who wrote the book on what it's like to teach a history class. But what about people who have studied their own pedagogy and classrooms in a more scholarly way, with a methodology and rationale and all of that? Who has done that, if anyone?

This would fall under the heading of making the best out of a difficult situation.