A Self-Study Liaison Community: Transforming the Isolation of Autonomy Into Agency and Action Toward Improving Practice

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: Developing Teacher Identities Through Collaboration

Abstract

Professional isolation is a feature of teaching that is a barrier to professional growth and change (Bedward &Daniels, 2005). To counteract professional isolation, five teacher educators came together in a community and formalized a collaborative self-study to both study our practice as “improvement-aimed” (Bullough & Pinnegar, 2007; Loughran, 2007) and uncover key parts of learning to be a liaison. We wondered, How might engagement in collaborative self-study influence liaison decision-making and agency? Data sources included memory work, liaison journals, layered response memos, and recorded meeting notes. Through several rounds of cyclical coding (Saldana, 2016), we found collaboration around problem-posing and shared inquiry developed a collective agency that developed our individual identities, advocacy and decision-making capabilities.

Authors

• Sherry Dismuke, Boise State University

• Jennifer L. Snow, Boise State University