Investigating Tensions to Push Forward: A Collaborative Self-Study by Developing Teacher Educators

• In Event: Foregrounding the Relational in Teacher Education Practice

Abstract

Myriad factors influence teachers’ instructional practices and decision-making, yet these factors often remain unexamined. Grounded in the understanding that teaching is full of tensions and complexity (Berry, 2007), this collaborative self-study draws on Cochran-Smith and Lytle’s (2009) concept of “inquiry as stance” (p. 121) to explore the factors influencing two developing teacher educators’ practice during challenging times. Committed to fostering a caring and humanizing space for students experiencing an array of pressures, the authors consider how engaging self-study methodology aids in understanding the ways in which competing influences on practice challenge their values and beliefs about teaching and learning and opens up possibilities for resistance and moving forward.

Authors

• Kristen Driscoll, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Emily Yerkes, University of Colorado - Boulder