A Tale of Two Teachers: Pitfalls and Possibilities in Learning to Teach

1. A Tale of Two Teachers:Pitfalls and Possibilities in Learning to Teach World Teachers Day Conference New Zealand Teachers Council Wellington, October 29, 2010 Professor Marilyn Cochran-Smith Lynch School of Education Boston College, USA

2. “Stories play a major role in our sleeping and waking lives. We dream in narrative, daydream in narrative, remember, anticipate, hope, despair, believe, doubt, plan, revise, criticize, construct, gossip, learn, hate and love by narrative.” (Barbara Hardy)

3. A Tale of Two Teachers:Pitfalls and Possibilities in Learning to Teach

4. Sources: Teacher Inquiry and Learning to Teach Research Project PI: Marilyn Cochran-Smith University of Pennsylvania, 1994-1998 Inside/Outside: Teacher Research and Knowledge Marilyn Cochran-Smith and Susan L. Lytle New York: Teachers College Press, 1994. Inquiry as Stance: Practitioner Research for the Next Generation Marilyn Cochran-Smith and Susan L. Lytle New York: Teachers College Press, 2009 (Gill Maimon chapter: “Practitioner Inquiry as Mediated Emotion”) Qualitative Case Studies of Learning to Teach (QCS) Research Project Co-PI’s: Marilyn Cochran-Smith & Patrick McQuillan Core Researchers: Joan Barnatt, Lisa D’Souza, Cindy Jong, Kara Mitchell, Karen Shakman, and Dianna Terrell, Boston College, 2004-present.

5. The Tale of Gill Maimon Mid 20s, white, female, middle class Very strong academic background Struggled her first year TP emphasized inquiry and social justice TP at a major university Assigned a school “mentor” and attended orientations for new teachers Teaching job in same district, same grade level Planned to teach for 3 years, then policy

6. The Tale of Elsie Reynolds Early 20s, white, female, middle class Very strong academic background Struggled her first year TP emphasized inquiry and social justice TP at a major university Assigned a school “mentor” Teaching job in same school, in her field Planned to teach for professional lifetime

7. A Tale of Two Teachers JUST STARTED 15th YEAR FIRED AT END OF 1STYEAR

9. A Tale of Two Teachers High expectations for all students Deprivatization of practice Multiple overlapping communities Inquiry as stance

10. entry characteristics, personal situation values, beliefs, expectations, dispositions teacher prep/professional development school cultures, context, resources TIME

11. Deprivatization of practice

12. The Tale of Gill Maimon • struggled with management • reflected on her own failings • at odds with principal • unsupported by “mentor” • advocated for by an experienced teacher • helped by grade-level partners • reached outward for help making teaching public Deprivatization

13. The Tale of Elsie Reynolds • struggled with management • ambivalent about the source of her difficulties • separated from other faculty • ignored by principal • unsupported by “mentor” • turned inward and withdrew Privatization

14. entry characteristics, personal situation values, beliefs, expectations, dispositions teacher prep/professional development school cultures, context, resources TIME

15. High expectations for all students

16. The Tale of Gill Maimon • student teaching with “at risk” low-income students • cooperating teacher had low expectations • engaged in “principled resistance” • provided rich learning opportunities • documented students’ learning Maintenance of High Expectations

17. The Tale of Elsie Reynolds • high expectations about inspiring a love of literature and critical thinking skills • cooperating teacher found her expectations too high • a school culture of low expectations and little support in resisting/rethinking • gradually abandoned alternative methods Erosion of Expectations

18. entry characteristics, personal situation values, beliefs, expectations, dispositions teacher prep/professional development school cultures, context, resources TIME

19. Inquiry as stance

20. The Tale of Gill Maimon • preparation program focused on inquiry • fit well with her own world view • wrote regularly about her teaching in order to know more • professional groups emphasized oral inquiry and classroom research

21. “My turtle _____ to be alone.” “My turtle MUST GO INTO THE STREET to be alone.”

22. The Tale of Gill Maimon • preparation program focused on inquiry • fit well with her own world view • wrote regularly about her teaching in order to know more • professional groups emphasized oral inquiry and classroom research Inquiry as Stance

23. The Tale of Elsie Reynolds • preparation program fostered inquiry as project, not stance • inquiry was an inconvenient requirement, not a way to know more Inquiry as Project

24. entry characteristics, personal situation values, beliefs, expectations, dispositions teacher prep/professional development school cultures, context, resources TIME

25. Multiple overlapping communities

26. The Tale of Gill Maimon • nested communities during preparation period • Teachers Learning Cooperative • school principal at new school • Philadelphia Writing Project • graduate program • hosted student teachers • mentored new teachers Multiple overlapping communities

27. The Tale of Elsie Reynolds • placement at a non-partnership school • minimal involvement in program’s activities • 1-1 mentoring arrangement Isolation

28. entry characteristics, personal situation teacher prep/professional development values, beliefs, expectations, dispositions school cultures, context, resources TIME

29. Learning to teach well is not determined by single factors Need for multi-layered policy and practice solutions that address multiple issues and account for diversity among teachers Need for professional contexts where questions and uncertainty are signs of learning, not signs of failing

30. “Teachers must act in an imperfect world…” “We have no choice but to risk ourselves. The choice is to consider the risk private or to build a community that accepts vulnerability and shares risks.” (Dwayne Huebner)

31. A Tale of Two Teachers: