In this article, we explore how we live among students and teachers as a/r/tographers and how we become creatively immersed in the wholeness of the classroom experience as a result. This is in contrast to our initial intentions of using ethnographic techniques and qualitative methods. As we began our project, it became apparent that another lens…

In this study, I explored the impact of collaboration and capacity building during the design and implementation of a teacher-developed middle grades Language Arts Literacy curriculum. Participants included ten teachers and a literacy coach. We developed skill-based thematic units incorporating identified strategies designed to increase student…

Despite the long history of the study of pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), two facts remain obvious. First, there are almost as many conceptions regarding the definition of PCK as there are researchers interested in it. Second, it is largely unclear which methods enable teacher educators to best prepare teacher candidates to use PCK. Recently,…

A national literacy professional development project reduced the achievement gap for students experiencing difficulties in reading or writing in 91 of New Zealand's schools. It was based on two premises: coherence within and between the multiple levels of the schooling and educational administration systems, and a focus on evidence-informed…

This article reports on the results of a mixed method case study investigating the relationship between professional learning community (PLC) activities and teacher improvement in a first-year middle school. Data were collected from core academic sixth, seventh, and eighth grade teachers using a professional development survey, teacher interviews,…

This article presents four cases of journeys of discovery and renewal, and the unexpected learning that results from exploring our practice with others. The authors are three classroom teachers--Steve, Stephanie and Bennyce--all of whom took part in a year-long action research sequence and the two professors--Helen and Mary--who co-taught these…