A Year in the Third Space: The Praxis of Inquiry

• In Event: Urban Teacher Residencies, Year 1: Looking Across Models and Contexts

Abstract

The Newark Montclair Urban Teaching Residency (NMUTR) is a “hybrid” residency model, developed in collaboration between the Newark Public Schools (NPS) and Montclair State University (MSU), that aims to open a “third space” in teacher education (Zeichner, 2010) where knowledge of community, university faculty, P-12 teachers, and students (residents) are equally valued. The secondary math and science program of the NMUTR offers a twelve-month apprenticeship accompanied by emergent, integrated, on-site M.A.T. coursework with an underlying philosophy of “inquiry as stance” (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999) and intensive mentoring by both university and district teacher educators. Goals of the NMUTR secondary math and science program include integrating educational theory and classroom practice to transform traditional conceptions of teaching; supporting teacher development through extensive collaboration between MSU, NPS, the Newark community, and other community organizations; developing teachers as public professionals who see themselves as agents of change for urban students; supporting mentors as teacher educators; and tailoring program curriculum specifically to meet the needs of Newark students.

The first cohort was admitted to the NMUTR in June of 2010. From August 2010-June 2011, data were collected from all residents from the first cohort, including three semi-structured, open-ended interviews administered at key points in the academic year, classroom observations, resident narratives and assignments, student work and test scores, and an exit survey. All data were coded separately by three researchers, who then looked for common themes and consolidated codes and their definitions. Our paper will address our major findings for the first year of the NMUTR, which revolved around the paradigm shift all residents experienced as they moved from an understanding of teaching as transmission, mainly derived from their own previous experience in school (Lortie, 1975; Richardson, 1996) to an understanding of the “what,” “why,” and “how” of inquiry teaching and learning of mathematics and science. Although each resident experienced initial resistance to the idea of teaching through inquiry, our data indicate that over the course of the year, the residents unpacked their own experiences in relation to traditional and inquiry teaching, built their understanding of a conception of teaching and learning through inquiry, and began to understand and apply “inquiry as stance” as a social justice issue.

Authors

• Monica Taylor, Montclair State University

• Emily J. Klein, Montclair State University

• Kathryn Jill Strom, California State University - East Bay

• Linda Whalen Abrams, Montclair State University