Dilemmas in Facilitating English Language Learner Teacher Inquiry: Is There a Place for an Authoritative Voice?

• In Event: 29.090 - Roundtable Session 9
  In Roundtable Session: 29.090-13 - Self-Study and the Role of the Mentor

Abstract

This on-going self-study examines the dilemmas in facilitating a teacher inquiry group explicitly focused on teachers’ pedagogical practices for ELLs and how these dilemmas reflect the challenges and tensions of preparing teachers to work with ELLs. Over the course of facilitating the meetings, the facilitator encountered a number of unforeseen dilemmas that challenged the facilitator’s previous understanding of teacher inquiry, its processes, and purposes. This study looks closely at a teacher inquiry group and the dilemmas that emerged for the author over two years of facilitating the group. The facilitator moved from viewing the process of facilitation of teacher inquiry as a “dilemma free” process, to a complex undertaking that continually raises questions about issues of authority and expertise.

Author

• Sarah Capitelli, University of San Francisco