Stepping in/Stepping Out: A Self-Study of Two Teacher Educators' Conversations About Campus Teaching and Practicum

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session 16
  In Roundtable Session: Developing Teacher Education Practice Through Collaborative Self-Study

Abstract

Given the persistent issues of the “thirdspace” (Bhabha, 1994; Zeichner, 2010) between university classes and practicum, two teacher educators engaged in a collaborative self-study of their practices through the lens of student teachers’ conversations about practicum. This paper details the NVivo sentiment analyses of conversations, emails, and reflections between the two teacher educators that took place following a series of informal ‘meet-ups’ with student teachers during their practicums. Sentiment analyses revealed positive, negative, mixed and neutral tones in the data of emails, transcripts of conversations and reflections. Results include assertions that self-study is by nature provocative, requires commitment and is grounded in experience. ‘Stepping in/stepping out’ is suggested as a heuristic for examining and improving practice within the “thirdspace”.

Authors

• Awneet Sivia, University of the Fraser Valley

• Judy Larsen, University of the Fraser Valley