Search results for: Conversations

This article reports on the professional benefits of using Critical Friends Group discussion protocols within a Collaborative Action Research project facilitated by two teacher-educators with four junior secondary school teachers in New Zealand. The teachers were encouraged to conduct Action Research projects on topics of their own choice. Critical Friends Group discussions were one of the several strategies implemented to provide for collaboration in the Action Research process. The findings highlight how Critical Friends Group protocols assisted collegial discussions by supporting the professional integrity of participants as they disclosed problems and gave peer feedback aimed at elevating the effectiveness of each other’s practice. The protocols set up a safe space for the teachers to challenge assumptions and make suggestions leading to deeper thinking, pedagogically rich conversations and reflective listening. The Critical Friends Group discussions were complemented by other Action Research activities. Reviewing literature increased the pedagogical content knowledge available to the group. In-class observations supported teachers to identify professional problems for critique and pushed teachers to action ideas from Critical Friends Group discussions. The article concludes by advocating for teachers, teacher-leaders, and teacher-educators to explore using Critical Friends Group protocols because of the capacity to promote deep, collegial examination of pedagogical practices.

This study examines dialogue for evidence of inquiring habits of mind within mentor–mentee interactions. The findings revealed that learning and development was found but at differential rates not necessarily related to experience as a teacher or mentor prior to the programme. Furthermore, while the goals typically aligned with the philosophy of the programme, conversation content analysis revealed a discrepancy between intended goals and actual conversation.

This study explores the preservice teacher learning in the context of conversations about their field-based challenges. First, a review of the literature investigates studies that highlight the role of evidence-based conversation as a mechanism to approach the inevitable problems faced by teachers in the classroom. The subsequent case study provides an analysis of how a group of preservice teachers approached a colleague's challenge through a structured conversation and used digital videotapes and artifacts to add specificity to their analysis.

Nine teacher educators in their first three years as tenure-track professors in an education faculty established a self-study group in 2006–2007. This article by the group’s coordinators focuses on how conversations within the self-study group contributed to the faculty members’ development as teachers and scholars. Qualities of authentic conversation provide a framework for description, reflection and analysis of the group’s interactions. Implications of forming a large self-study group within a teacher education program are identified.