partment of Literacy at Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York. She has published one book

Jane M. Gangi is Associate Professor in the Department of Literacy at Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York. She has published one book, Encountering Children’s Literature: An Arts Approach (Allyn and Bacon, 2004), and over a dozen literacy-related articles. Her research interests are in the relationship between literacy, the arts, culturally responsive pedagogy, and multicultural literature. Email: gangij@mville.edu.

Terri Thomas Klemm, Ed.D., is Principal of George Washington Elementary School in White Plains, New York. She believes that action research combining public education and higher education is an extremely effective tool in meeting the educational needs of the continually changing student population in White Plains, as well as the nation. E-mail: terriklemm@wpcsd.k12.ny.us.

Manhattanville College

Purchase, New York

with Lisa M. D’Annibale and Lauren M. Minzter (Manhattanville College),

Susan L. Peck (Waterside School, Stamford, Connecticut), and Miriam L. Stein (Manhattanville College)
Abstract

Many education programs want to identify new student populations, beyond traditional preservice teacher undergraduate or in-service teacher graduate students. However, needs and professional teacher identity development of such students have been understudied. As a result, programs attempting to serve them tend to have significant dropout rates. This article synthesizes identity development research and outlines how a program feature, teacher action research, supports professional identity development. Exemplars of this feature in action, collected in an alternative program within a school of education, are presented. Identity development themes are discussed relative to realistic teacher education.

This article synthesizes research on identity development and then presents four preservice students’ experiences in a course titled Teacher as Researcher as exemplars of identity transformation in the context of an alternative graduate level teacher preparation program. Themes of identity development and transformation towards an active professional identity as a teacher are identified. The impact of the action research seminar is explored as a programmatic feature that facilitates a strong positive development of professional identity as teachers and actualization of professional skills.

In student teaching field placements often the student teacher is clearly in the role of trainee, learner, or student. The cooperating teacher and field supervisors are positioned as expert. This hierarchical arrangement may be limiting in the ways that professional dialogue and growth may unfold. Action research experience prior to student teaching can lessen this unbalanced relationship. We propose that preservice student teachers, who in most alternative programs are seasoned professionals with other careers to draw on, can position themselves in a more professional stance and better prepare for collegial relationships during student teaching and beyond if they have had a successful experience as a teacher action researcher than if they have not.
Literature Review and Theoretical Framing

Several bodies of literature illuminate the significance of the inclusion of an action research program component in the teacher education program. Psychological research looking at developmental identity formation for adult learners, educational research centered on the characteristics of high-quality teacher education programs, and teacher education research focused on the possibilities for making the relationship between theory and practice more intertwined all contribute to a dynamic understanding of this innovation and its impact on the development of an identity as a teacher. These bodies of literature provide both insights from research and theoretical frames for interpreting the significance of action research experiences for professional identity development in alternative teacher education programs.

King and Hicks (2007) present the notion of goal change as a developmental opportunity for adult learners. Many of the preservice students enrolled in alternative teacher education programs are changing careers and as such have a great deal of personal and professional experience that they draw from to help them complete education coursework and re-enter the world of work as teachers. The choice to return to school and become teachers represents a significant change in career direction. Creating opportunities for adults to engage in this shift at a professional level is critical to active engaged learning, self-esteem, and programmatic success.

Identity is typically thought of as a key developmental aspect of adolescence. However, over the last twenty years there has been increased research on adult identity development (Kroger, 2007). Erikson’s conceptualizations of the development of identity in adulthood are central to understanding the development of teacher identities within the Teacher as Researcher course. From an Eriksonian perspective, how did the process of conducting teacher action research help teacher education students come to know genuinely who they were as teachers, given their biology, psychology, education, experience, and social contexts? Erikson theorized that a “sense of identity provides the ability to experience one’s life as something that has continuity and sameness and to act accordingly” (Erikson, 1963, p. 42). Identity development is influenced by three interacting elements: biological characteristics, psychological needs, and cultural milieu (Kroger, 2007). Erikson believed that it was easier to understand the architecture of identity development when it was interrupted or disrupted by a major event (Kroger, 2007). This is interesting because for many in alternative teacher preparation programs the events that led to their enrollment, participation in the program, and the first years of teaching may all represent disruptions of sorts in an adult’s life. Therefore, looking at identity development in this context may yield interesting findings for teacher education as well as the field of psychology and identity theorists. From an Eriksonian perspective the most advantageous context for adult identity development to occur would involve “finding social roles and niches within the larger community that are a good ‘fit’ for one’s biological and psychological capacities and interests” (Kroger, 2007, p. 8). Finally, Erikson (1959, 1980) sees adult identity development as radically changing the person’s perspective and requiring the use of new ideologies.

In Darling-Hammond’s 2006 book, Powerful Teacher Education: Lessons from Exemplary Programs, she outlines features of outstanding programs. She describes excellent programs as those that, among other things, “…develop teachers who can act on their commitments…” (p. 5). This ability to act and draw upon education literature, educational philosophy and original action research is central to the success of these novice teachers in the classroom as well as to their development of professional identities as teachers. Further, she writes that a “tight integration of theory and practice” as well as “close observation and analysis of teaching and learning” contributed heavily to candidates’ development as highly prepared teachers (p. 99). Cochran-Smith (1991) discusses the impact and importance of action research in teacher education. She writes, “the ability to pose questions, to struggle with uncertainty and build evidence for reasoning…is an indispensable resource in the education of teachers” (pp. 280-281). Research by Kitchen and Stevens (2008) indicates that teaching and supporting preservice teachers through action research experiences clearly helps preservice teachers to “develop professionally through reflection, inquiry into practice, and connecting theory and practice” (p. 26). Kitchen and Stevens, referencing Branford, Darling-Hammond, and LePage (2005), write that action research is an authentic venue for preservice teachers to “explore and expand their practice in order to meet student needs” (p. 26). Ultimately, engaging in action research allows preservice teachers to deal with the complexity of teaching and look closely at challenges and consider action for improvement.

Korthagen (2001) promotes the pedagogy of realistic teacher education. He argues that there are three principles that need to be in place for teacher education to link theory and practice with preservice teachers. Further, he argues if these principles are not in place new teachers rely more on their personal educational experience to inform and shape their practice as educators than what was shared during teacher education programs. Drawing from Maslow and Fullan, Korthagen’s first principle is “A teacher’s professional learning will be more effective when directed by an internal need in the learner” (2001, p. 71). Korthagen’s (2001) second principle is Piagetian in orientation. He writes it is critical that professional learning for teachers be grounded in their own experiences. The third principal is based in Korthagen’s own research. He contends, “A teachers’s professional learning will be more effective when the learner reflects in detail on his or her experiences” (p. 71). When these three principles are active realistic teacher education can take place. This transformative education engages the preservice teacher, teacher educator, and others to discuss and practice actual teaching and learning paradigms, actions, philosophy, and theory.

In summary, professional teacher identity is developed through enacting ideologies through inquiry and experience that make sense of one’s biology, psychology, social contexts through the marriage of theory and practice. Teacher identity is having the genuine experience of yourself as a teacher and believing that you have the capacity and abilities to participate as a teacher. An action research experience for preservice teachers allows them to critically analyze classroom practices and consider interventions, thus drawing theory into practice.
Research Methods

This study is a qualitative, ethnographic-oriented, micro-case study that is centered on document analysis, interview protocols, and fieldnotes. Naturalistic observations of the students in class and in the field-based practical experiences (practica, internships, and student teaching) informed and contributed to this interpretive study. Program documentation from schools of education was reviewed for information about action research being included in the courses of study. The interpretative paradigm used to ground this research “defines shared constructs and meanings as ‘situated’ ” (Le Compte & Schensul, 1999, p. 49). This study was participatory by design as interpretive research is dependant on interaction. Researchers “must …participate in the lives of research participants in order to observe …dialogue and interaction—the process of creating constructs, ideas, and meanings—as it occurs” (Le Compte & Schensul, 1999, pp. 49-50). For the purposes of research the following pre-existing documents were collected:

• 
  Copies of philosophy-of-education statements (written in two different courses over time),
  
• 
  Teacher action research papers (from the Teacher as Researcher seminar), and
  
• 
  Program descriptions of top-ranked teacher education programs in the United States.
  

1. 
   How would you describe who you are as a professional at this time?
   
2. 
   How did participating in Teacher as Researcher impact your development and identity as a teacher?
   
3. 
   What additional program supports and features do you think would be useful and powerful as you move towards your professional goal?
   

Finally, significant member checking (Guba & Lincoln, 1989) and self-study of teacher education methods (LaBoskey, 2004; Loughran, 2004) were used to collect and analyze materials and evidence collected. The co-authors of the study are the four exemplar preservice teachers discussed. They were informants, participants, and contributors to the paper. They read and responded to drafts of this paper as a member check and provided feedback about their experience in the MAT program and the action research seminar. As the lead author and teacher of the action research seminar, Lang drew on self-study of teacher education methodology (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2004; LaBoskey, 2004; Loughran, 2004) to reflect on this experience and draw conclusions and ideas for improving teacher education in general as well as improving the alternative teacher education program at my institution.

The students who participated in the study were enrolled in an alternative program housed in a school of education that is part of a comprehensive college in southern New York State. The program is geared to serve the needs of stay-at-home mothers who can only attend graduate school during typical K-12 school hours, 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM. All of the students in the program have significant work experience prior to enrolling. Most of the students are mothers of school-age children. They bring seriousness and direction to their graduate level studies in education. The Teacher as Researcher seminar is a required course that is completed during the intermediate level of the program. The course involves designing and implementing an original teacher action research project. Seminar participants are fully responsible for choosing the topic, site, methods, etc. for their study. Ultimately, the preservice students write a 20-40 page article-style paper about their research and present it to a college-wide audience of preservice and in-service teachers. The papers and learning of four preservice teachers are the focus of this research project. These students were asked to volunteer to engage in further discussion, research, and writing about their developing teacher identities. Coding processes highlighted that all of these papers included a strong linkage of theory and practice as well as evidence of reflection on how the process of engaging in action research influenced their philosophies of teaching, identity, and self-positioning as a new teacher.

Lisa is the mother of two children. She worked as a marketing product manager in a bank prior to returning to school to study education. She has a bachelor’s degree in communication. Her paper, “Implementing Student Journals in the Elementary Classroom Can Offer Teachers Valuable Insight into Their Students’ Progress,” was intriguing in that it described how, through the process of working with veteran teacher Ms. D, Lisa was able to research the usefulness of using student journals as a means of alternative assessment and make informed recommendations regarding the use of rubrics to guide journal writing for third graders. Lisa was empowered through the process of conducting action research. She shared with the other preservice teachers in her seminar at the end of the semester, “Ms. D was so impressed with my suggestions she is actually implementing them!” To conclude her action research paper, Lisa wrote

This research project brought to light for me all of the positives that are gained from using student journals in the classroom. I plan to incorporate the use of journals across the curriculum when I teach. I am now more educated on how to implement them and look forward to the future when I can use this wonderful alternative assessment tool in my classroom.

In this passage and during her presentation to the seminar, Lisa was clear in her ability to examine curricular issues and improve practice to enhance learning for children. She was acting as a teacher and colleague when she suggested innovations to a veteran teacher. Lisa’s professional identity was molded and shaped by the action research experience.

In fall 2007 as Lisa prepared to graduate, she documented her philosophy of education. In the statement, Lisa elaborated on her professional identity. Echoes of her action research project were heard when she discussed the importance of expectations and life-long learning. She shared these thoughts:

Teaching provides me with the opportunity for continual learning and growth. It is a life-long process of learning about new strategies, learning, from colleagues, and especially learning from students…. I believe that students have greater respect for their teachers and peers when they feel safe and sure of what is expected of them.

Lauren is the mother of two young children. She worked in accounting before enrolling in the MAT program in Childhood Education. She has an earned bachelor’s degree in business. She is on the boards of the local Junior League and Parent-Teacher Association; she is active in other community organizations. Her action research was born out of substitute teaching experiences that lead her to wonder about silent sustained reading programs. Her paper, “In Search of the Optimal Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) Program,” Lauren observed four teachers’ practices as well as interviewed the teachers at length. In the final analysis, Lauren presented the opportunity and intellectual room to identify practices that she would employ in her classroom. She compared and contrasted practices weaving literacy research through her analysis. Her professional identity was transformed as she responded to professional practices as a teacher (rather than as a student of teaching) and envisioned her own SSR program. In the action research paper, Lauren asked in the voice of a teacher:

How do we strike the right balance between independent reading and instruction? Should we have a mini lesson introduce a focus topic to look for each day? Should there be any parameters at all? Should we just say to our students, “Read and enjoy.” These are some of the questions I plan to shed light on.
In her paper Lauren shared case studies of four different classes and the SSR strategies in use. She appraised the strengths and weaknesses of each SSR implementation. Based on her reading, interactions, and observations, she developed an action plan for the implementation of SSR in her own classroom. In the concluding section of her paper, she demonstrated her comfort as a teaching professional when she used theory and research of others to construct her own professional opinion. She stated

Generally the students should read independently and silently. Teacher modeling which sounds good in theory is not essential. While both Methe and Hintze (2003) and Krashen (2004, 2006) recommend teacher modeling, I agree with Gambrell (1996) who believes that teacher modeling is too passive. I now believe that the teacher should not participate in silent reading, rather he or she should spend time conferencing with students. I believe that the time the teacher spends individually with students about their reading is essential… SSR, when used effectively, is an important strategy that should be used in the classroom.

Susan is the mother of three teenage children. She has an undergraduate degree in chemistry. She has experience in running an art gallery. She loves mathematics and brought that joy to her student teaching. In her action research paper “Fuel for School: It Isn’t Just a Breakfast Program,” she explored a school problem through the overlapping lens of adult child looking back, mother, and teacher. Susan started with the questions, “Do students exhibit a change in their behavior before and after eating snack? Is the difference notable and does it affect their school experience?” She ended with

I had begun my research to examine the effects of snack time on student behavior. Snack time was not just nutritional, but it was social time, shared by the students and their teachers. I was now interested in understanding what I was actually observing in the classroom, students with the nutrition they needed for learning and the behavior that allowed their classes to be learning environments.

In this passage, we witness Susan transitioning from a parental perspective that is biologically focused on nutrition to a teacher’s-eye view where she started to become acutely aware of the social networks and socialization that go on in schools. This is evidence of her developing identity as a teacher and ability to fluidly move to that view to consider observations in classrooms. In her final analysis of her research, she noted that the classroom teachers she worked with did report noting changes in student behavior when snacks were provided even though Susan could not notice the impact. She decided the key issues in the school were that though there were variations in student behavior, the socialization to positive school norms of behavior were strong and consistent. She was then drawn to looking at the processes of this school based socialization. Again, we see evidence of the development of a stance of a professional educator who can flexibly integrate a large amount of data and evidence and use theories and patterns to view emerging educational issues. Ultimately, reflecting on her own development within the research seminar she reported

Participating in Teacher as Researcher taught me to observe what was happening in the classroom more closely and more objectively. While I was completing the research part of the course I focused on the practice of teaching and not just the theory for the first time. Analyzing what I had observed and making a plan of action helped me to see the classroom from the teacher point-of-view instead of from the student or parent point-of-view. I was able to discuss with conviction the expertise and professionalism of teaching.

Susan clearly pinpointed the time when she transitioned into feeling the strength of a professional identity as a teacher in this passage.

Miriam is the mother of two school-aged children. She has a bachelor’s degree in history. Prior to enrolling in the MAT program she was a bank manager. She is a pre-student teaching fellow at an urban professional development school. In her research paper, “Finding the Balance: How Structure and Student Autonomy Optimize Learning,” she conducted an ethnographic study of three local primary school classrooms. The study focused on teaching style, classroom set up, and support for students. Additionally, she included analysis of some of Debbie Miller’s classroom footage from Colorado.

In the introduction to her paper Miriam reflected on her developing philosophy and identity as a professional teacher. She shared these comments:

Stepping into my first education class, my philosophy of teaching included a belief that we need to establish a rather rigid framework for children to follow in order to create an environment conducive for learning. In this setting, children are attentive receptors of the information that the teacher will impart to them. After many hours in the field and after digesting a healthy compliment of relevant and inspiring literature, I believe this stance would be more characteristic of a teacher, and thereby a class, which is focused on rote learning and standardized testing and less on what should truly be a teacher’s highest order: helping children to discover their learning potential through exploration, investigation and critical thought.

Looking back over her course work and focusing on the impact of participating in Teacher as Researcher on her philosophy as a teacher and ability to act on that philosophy she reports

As I finish my last two courses, I feel confident about my ability to work with children. I know I will continue to learn throughout my career, but I begin my teaching career with solid ideas about classroom management, assessment, how I want children to learn, and the skills I want them to have and feel good about.  My Teacher as Researcher project helped me to identify the roles that the children and I will play as we learn together. As I observed other effective teachers and drew upon countless literature, I recognized that children learn a great deal about their role in the classroom from the structure we design and from our expectations of them. I feel strongly that children should have the opportunity to reach their potential and should learn to be capable, thinking individuals. I will try to design my classroom and curriculum with these goals in mind. I have spent time with so many dynamic and talented teachers over my coursework. Going forward I hope to have two student teaching experiences that will help me further solidify what the optimal learning environment looks like. When I begin teaching, I would love a mentor who will objectively listen to dilemmas and put me on a productive course of action…

Through researching her topic and writing the paper, Miriam had an opportunity to rethink her assumptions about teaching. With current theory and observations to draw from, she completed the course with a reformed view of the role of the teacher as well as a working philosophy about autonomy and structure in the classroom. Finally, she presented a confident identity as a teacher that includes acceptance of the changing roles teachers can play in the lives of students.

Considering the research and reflection of Lisa, Lauren, Susan, and Miriam, it is clear that the intense and authentic experience of identifying an educational issue and conducting original action-oriented research was conducive to developing an active, informed identity as a teacher. Many teachers report feeling unprepared for student teaching and the first years of teaching (Mandel, 2006). This feeling results in weak identity formation, a lack of confidence, dissatisfaction with work as a teacher, and exit from teaching. However, it is important to note that all of the exemplars presented here were able to reflect on their philosophies, training, and observations to actively address issues using a multifaceted research-based approach. This practice was taught and supported in the Teacher as Researcher seminar. Through engaging in original action research, they came to new and reformed views of educational issues through careful analysis of educational literature and their original research. Through this process they were armed to integrate into the world of teachers with practices and orientations that are highly professional. This dynamic orientation is one that, especially for preservice teachers who are career changers, allows them to enter schools as more than novices.

Reviewing the exemplars from a programmatic viewpoint, it seems important to consider the sophisticated manner in which the preservice teachers used theories, philosophy, and research of others to form their understandings, original research, positions, and, ultimately, identities as teachers. This linking to educational literature is crucial to the development of flexible growth-oriented identities as teachers. This orientation allows teachers to integrate research into practice rather than push it away. Beyond requiring Teacher as Researcher or other such teacher action research courses, it seems that it would be important to review the articles and literature required in all of the program courses to ensure that action research is part of the readings in the preservice teachers’ courses. The orientations to action and voices from practitioner inquiry need to be heard in teacher education programs so that teacher as researcher is a reality rather than the title of one seminar.

Another dimension of this research was an analysis of program documentation of ten top-ranked schools of education. Special Report America’s Best Graduate Schools: Schools of Education [2007] was used to identify rankings. The review of program documentation led to the conclusion that nine of these programs have original research components in their teacher education programs. The research component in all of these programs has a focus on action-oriented research, as well as marrying theory, philosophy, and practice. This cross-school information reflects what was found in this study of exemplars. Darling-Hammond (2006) in her discussion of exemplary teacher education programs discusses the significance of allowing teacher candidates to bring their developing knowledge of theory and practice together through action research.

Research, especially action research, provides a strong footing for preservice teachers in alternative teacher education programs to engage in a highly professional manner with working teachers, investigate practices, methodologies, and phenomena and suggest improvements and enhancements to education. This sophisticated engagement prior to student teaching supports professional identity development, skill development, and knowledge. Action research allows for Korthagen's (2001) three principles for realistic teacher education to be in force in a dynamic learning environment and provides a significant contributing role for preservice teachers.

As each of the preservice students completed their action research and reflected on the experiences, they were able to identify course-based critical influences on their identity development as a teacher within an Eriksonian framework. Each preservice teacher was increasingly able to ponder who she was as a teacher given her biology, psychology, education, experience, and social context. Through completing Teacher as Researcher within the alternative teacher education program preservice teachers develop strong teacher identities that provide continuity and ability to act upon their new professional identity.

Documented opportunities for preservice teachers to develop identities as teachers abounded in the work of the exemplars. Their work provided examples of the ways that preservice teachers can adopt new ideologies and take agency as teachers through completing a teacher action research project. Through studying teacher practices in their field-based research preservice teachers were able to use and develop theories about learning and teaching. Zeichner (2001, 2002) contends that action research is an excellent method for developing the practice of preservice and in-service teachers. This research methodology allows for the critical examinations of teaching and learning that leads to improved instruction and creative of learning environments. Through developing and working in the role of teacher as researcher preservice teachers were able to engage in in-depth cogenerative conversations with practicing teachers that leveled the hierarchical relationship between master teacher and preservice teacher. Having a developed set of tools and orientations for executing teacher research allowed for identity development as teachers. This teacher identity supported them as they took agency as teachers and became prepared for their new career.

References

Cochran-Smith, M. (1991). Learning to teach against the grain. Harvard Education Review. 61(3) 279-310.

Diane E. Lang, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Education at Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York. Her research interests include field-based teacher education, teacher research, learning through play, and language socialization. Email: langd@mville.edu.

Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

University of Missouri, Kansas City

This article is a self-study of the teaching practices of two teacher educators who collaborated to explore how they could reframe their teaching practices to improve their teaching of preservice and inservice teachers. Grounding their research in self-study and Dalmau and Gudjonsdottir’s (2002) professional working theory, they scaffolded reflective practice to help their student teachers understand how they could integrate educational theory, practice, and ethics to reflect upon their practice and create their living theories of education. Themes emerging from this qualitative study include the use of metaphors and graphic organizers to scaffold reflective practice, the importance of dialoging, and emerging student theories of practice.

I’ve tried to convey my vision for the whole of teaching reading…. Then my mouth goes dry. I feel panicked and small. I can see authorities in the world looking down at me, their faces big like those of Sendak’s wild things, asking, “Who are you to have a comprehensive approach to teaching reading?…For a moment, I’m ready to throw in the towel, to admit that the job is too big, too contentious, and too desperately important for me to be worthy of it. But then I think, what I’ve done is what every teacher needs to do. Each one of us must, in our classroom, author a comprehensive approach to teaching reading…. (p. 3)

Calkins’ challenge resonates with our own feelings about the value of theory building in teacher education. One of our challenges has been how to make theories and research-based principles of instruction relevant to the practical situations that teachers face in their own classrooms. We have struggled to point preservice and inservice teachers to the heart of theory building that transforms teaching from a job into a calling. We face challenges in helping preservice teachers understand how theories can inform practices.

In our experience, preservice teachers often want to learn the “hows” of teaching. They want to know, for example, how to teach students to summarize or find the main idea of a passage or how to teach students to spell. They find irrelevant or ignore the “whys” of teaching using a particular method or strategy.

In the case of inservice teachers, we find they are seeking new ideas to inform their practices. They, too, seem to look for “new methods” rather than seeing their professional development as an opportunity to clarify their approaches to teaching by comparing their current practices with principles of effective practice. We are concerned that they perhaps do not feel ownership of their professional lives to author, as Calkins (2001) states, a personal and comprehensive approach to teaching language and literacy (p. 3). They have learned to be suspicious of new methods; but at the same time, they are seeking ways to solve particular problems or ways to help certain types of students. Furthermore, we have found it challenging to teach our preservice and inservice teachers that as educators they can create their own “living theories” (Whitehead & McNiff, 2006b, p. 32) of education and that doing so is integral to their reflective practice. “Living educational theories” are the “descriptions and explanations that people offer for their practices” (Whitehead & McNiff, 2006b, p. 32). We believe it is vital for educators to be able to describe and explain the theories that are the foundation of their practice.

As teacher educators, we have been using the professional working theory (PWT) proposed by Dalmau and Gudjonsdottir (2002) to help our graduate students understand how as teachers they can integrate elements of educational theory, practice, and ethics to reflect upon their practice and create their living theories of education in meaningful ways. This paper is a self-study of our teaching practices as teacher educators. The purpose of this self-study is to describe how we sought to improve our practice by reframing our teaching through the implementation of Dalmau and Gudjonsdottir’s professional working theory in our courses.

Our paper is grounded in the practice of self-study. Self-study is the careful and rigorous study of the teaching practices of teacher educators in order to improve their teaching and that of their students. This form of research comprises “the study of one’s self, one’s actions, one’s ideas, as well as the not self. It is autobiographical, historical, cultural, and political and it draws on one’s life” (Hamilton & Pinnegar, 1998, p. 236). Russell (1998) defines self-study as being about teachers’ learning from the creation of new experiences for themselves and their students. There are three defining characteristics of self-study: openness, collaboration, and reframing (Barnes, 1998). All three characteristics should help teacher educators commit to deeper reflection by examining their practices “to bring into action the values that underlie their practice” (Hamilton & Pinnegar, 1998, p. 1).

Self-study has its roots in the notion of reflective practice put forth by Dewey (1933), Zeichner and Liston (1996), and Schon (1983, 1987). However, self-study takes reflective practice and extends it through the features of openness, collaboration, and reframing (Barnes, 1998). Openness is achieved through sharing ideas and research with students and colleagues—making the privacy of our classroom teaching public and open to critique. Collaborating, negotiating, and sharing ideas and research with critical friends should help teacher educators consider different perspectives of their work. At the core of self-study is the idea of reframing. Teachers and teacher educators engage in the process of reframing when they reflect on their actions and decisions and then “reinterpret and reframe their situation on the basis of their experience in trying to change it” (Zeichner & Liston, 1996, p. 16). Self-study is a formal and rigorous form of reframing, where teacher educators study their practices in order to improve their teaching.

To practice self-study, teacher educators “systematically collect evidence from their practice, allowing them to rethink and potentially open themselves to new interpretations and to create different strategies for educating students that bring their practice into concert with the moral values they espouse” (Hamilton & Pinnegar, 1998, p. 2). This paper is a study of how we used collaboration and openness to help us reframe our teaching and introduce our graduate students to a framework for reflecting on their practice.

Our study is also grounded in Whitehead’s idea of assisting students to generate their own “living educational theories” (Whitehead & McNiff, 2006, p. 38); that is, asking the question “How do I improve my practice?” (p. 38), to guide their own instructional practices. Vital to Whitehead’s ideas, is the need for individuals to strive to connect their values to their teaching practices. Whitehead and McNiff position the practical theories of teachers as more important than “learning about the disciplines and applying theory to themselves” (p. 38). In our reframing we encouraged students to also consider the role of research as one resource in helping them solve practical classroom dilemmas. In other words, we hoped to give them the tools to “exercise their judgment about various teaching situations while taking advantage of research, experience, intuition, and their own values” (Zeichner & Liston 1996, p. 56).

The framework we used in this study to reframe our practice is the professional working theory (PWT). Dalmau and Gudjonsdottir (2002) built upon the ideas of Whitehead (1989, 1993), Schon (1983, 1987), and Handal and Lauvas (1982) to develop the PWT. The PWT provides a framework for considering three essential elements of reflective practice: theory, practice, and ethics. Dalmau and Gudjonsdottir (2002) define practice as “what teachers do, theory as how they understand what they do, and ethics as why they do what they do” (p. 102). The definitions are intended as a starting point for teachers to reflect upon the educational theories and ethical commitments that are embedded in their daily teaching practices. The PWT provides both a framework and a process to guide reflective practice throughout a lifetime of teaching. In addition, the framework is flexible enough to allow teachers with different levels of expertise to engage in authentic dialog based on evolving interpretations of their theory, practice, and ethics.

Lighthall (2004) describes three approaches to methods in self-study. They are: methods that advocate a change in teacher educators, methods that advocate a change in preservice teachers, and methods that promote both of these. Similar to the work of Richards (1998), Fitzgerald, Farsted, and Deemer (2002) and Richards and Richards (1998), our study aims to promote both methods. We looked to reframe our understandings and approaches to teaching in order to improve our teaching practices and to introduce our students to a model for reflective practice.

The professional working theory articulated by Dalmau and Gudjonsdottir (2002) is a fairly recent contribution to the literature on self-study and reflective teaching. Our research is an attempt to add to the body of work on self-study by building upon their work. We do this by demonstrating how we adapted the PWT in two different courses to reframe our teaching practices. By engaging with our students in developing professional working theories, we hoped to introduce them to a framework for reflective practice. As teacher educators, we hoped to improve our practice, extend our collaboration, and develop shared understanding through inquiry. As Loughran (2002) states, “teacher educators inquiring into their own practice can lead to a better understanding of the complexities of teaching and learning—for themselves and their students” (p. 242).

The following research questions guided our study:

1. What, as teacher educators, did we learn from our self-study that can improve our teaching of language and literacy?

2. What did we perceive our graduate students learned from using the PWT as a framework?