Becoming Teachers, Researchers, and Advocates: Emerging Professionals’ Cooperative Inquiry Into the “Other” Side of Us

• In Event: Transformative Teacher Research: Teacher and Student Empowerment

Abstract

This paper details the second cycle of cooperative inquiry undertaken by emerging educators who self-identify as “other” because of gender, language, ethnicity, and/or sexual orientation. This research focuses on the impact participation in cooperative inquiry had on researchers’ teaching practices. Data sources include transcripts of group discussions and reflective writing completed six months, eighteen months, and two years after the completion of the first cycle of cooperative inquiry. Findings suggest that as a result of engagement in cooperative inquiry, the teacher/researchers established practices to decrease isolation, build unity, and understand students’ backgrounds. Teacher/researchers viewed themselves as advocates for diversity within the classroom, took a collaborative approach to teaching, and came to see research as an essential element of effective teaching.

Authors

• Laura Bower-Phipps, Southern Connecticut State University

• Cristina Albaladejo, Newtown Public Schools

• Arlette Mello Johnson, Bridgeport Public Schools

• Thomas D. Homa, Southern Connecticut State University

• Maria Cristina Cruz, Southern Connecticut State University