Developing as Teachers and as Researchers: Emerging Professionals' Experiences with Cooperative Inquiry

This article details the second cycle of cooperative inquiry undertaken by emerging educators who self identify as "other" because of gender, language, ethnicity, and/or sexual orientation. The current cycle focuses on the impact participation in cooperative inquiry had on researchers' teaching practices. Data sources include transcripts of group discussions and reflective writing completed six months, eighteen months, and two years after the completion of the first cycle of cooperative inquiry. Findings suggest that as a result of engagement in cooperative inquiry, the teacher/researchers established practices to decrease isolation, build unity, and understand students' backgrounds. Teacher/researchers viewed themselves as advocates for diversity within the classroom, took a collaborative approach to teaching, and came to see research as an essential element of effective teaching. The value of practitioner research is indisputable. Teacher research serves as an important tool for reflective practice and professional development (Schon, 1995) Teachers who research their own practices become more effective teachers and gain professional efficacy (Vetter, 2012) The benefits of research conducted by in service teachers are so great that learning to research has become increasingly common in graduate teacher education programs and professional development, yet teaching research practices in undergraduate teacher preparation is far less common (Mencke, 2013) This article details a cooperative inquiry (Heron, 1996) initiated when four of the five An On line Journal for Teacher Research Networks: Vol. 18, Issue 1 ISSN 2470 6353 Spring 2016 Bower Phipps, Cruz, Albaladejo, Johnson, Homa 2 authors were undergraduate pre service teachers and the fifth was a novice teacher educator. Our work together spanned various transitions across professional roles and strengthened our practices as teachers and researchers. The group comprised two immigrants from Latin America, a US born Latina, a White male, and a lesbian. Having come together from various marginalized perspectives, we named our project "The 'Other' Side of Us." The goal of our first cycle of cooperative inquiry was to better understand our experiences as self identified minorities in a teacher preparation program; we had united to discuss our "Otherness." The goal of our second cycle was to learn how our roles as researchers in a cooperative inquiry shaped our identities and our teaching practices. The following questions guided the second cycle of cooperative inquiry: How has our engagement in cooperative inquiry shaped our understanding of ourselves as the "Other" How has our engagement in cooperative inquiry impacted our interactions with those whom we consider the "Other" How has our engagement in cooperative inquiry impacted our professional practices? Perspectives on "Otherness" Said (1978) used the term "Other" to describe those who are marginalized and positioned as inferior in dominant cultures. Such marginalization occurs as institutions and institutional discourses prioritize some ways of being over others, naming some ways of being as normal/natural and others as deviant (Foucault, 1978) Our divergence from the majority of individuals within teacher preparation programs, White, middle class women from the suburbs (Morell, 2010) yielded experiences of isolation and alienation (Bower Phipps, Homa, Albaladejo, Johnson, Cruz, 2013) It was important for us to understand these experiences as a means of successfully navigating our teacher preparation program and achieving our professional goals, but also as a means of facilitating the entrance of additional women of color and men into the teaching professions. The striking incongruity between student demographics and teacher demographic in the United States has led to many initiatives to increase the number of male teachers and teachers of color (Achinstein, Ogawa, Sexton, Freitas, 2010; Banks, Cochran Smith, Moll, Richert, Zeichner, LePage, McDonald, 2005) Despite widespread agreement regarding the importance of male teachers and teachers of color (e.g. Villegas Irvine, 2010; Zumwalt Craig, 2005) teacher preparation typically focuses on White, middle class, female candidates (Morrell, 2010) Our inquiry into our experiences as "Other" in a teacher preparation program was a means for us to make teacher preparation more relevant for us personally and to increase teacher educators' knowledge base around recruiting and supporting male teacher candidates and teacher candidates of color in their paths to becoming teachers. Learning about our experiences as "Other" in a teacher preparation program was only the beginning of our development as teachers and as researchers. Upon reporting the findings from our first cycle of cooperative inquiry, we unanimously agreed that we had far more to learn about ourselves as teachers and as researchers and began a second cycle of inquiry. Now, nearly three years after starting the conversation about our "Otherness," two of us are full time teachers in bilingual classrooms, two are teachers in elementary classrooms, and the other is an associate professor. All of us self identify as researchers, as teachers, as the "Other," and as advocates for diversity within our classrooms and broader educational contexts.  As we have experienced first hand, engaging in research has the potential to impact teachers' practices in powerful ways. Some argue that collaborative research groups promote teachers' growth more effectively than traditional professional development, directly informing classroom practice and supporting teacher learning (e.g. Mitchell, Reilly, Logue, 2009; Roberts, Crawford, Hickmann, 2010) Teacher inquiry groups operating within and across contexts provide important spaces for teacher reflection and connect teachers with current literature in the field (Sense, 2007) Cochran Smith Lytle (2009) promote the notion of "practitioner researcher" not only as a means of teacher professional development, but also as a way for teachers to come to understand inequities inherent within educational systems. Similarly, Cochran Smith and Deemers (2010) suggest that teacher inquiry "is a powerful way for teachers and teacher educators to understand the complexities of teaching and learning, construct rich learning opportunities for all students, interrogate their own assumptions, and work for social justice" (p. 14) Developing the habits of mind of a researcher can (but rarely does) begin in teacher preparation (Mencke, 2013) Assuming the role of researcher during fieldwork enhances preservice teachers' learning (McIntyre, 2003) Taking a research stance during pre service teaching experiences can have a lasting impact on teachers' practices. This will develop a reflective habit of mind that is crucial for teachers to be effective in their classrooms and adaptive to the changing needs of their students, and allow for a greater degree of professional self efficacy and satisfaction on the part of the teachers themselves. ( 2013, p. 1) While beneficial, the focus of teaching research in teacher education programs tends to be on professional development (e.g. Ginns, Heirdsfield, Atweh, Watters, 2001; McIntyre, Chatzopoulos, Politi, Roz, 2007; Olafson, Schraw, Vander Veldt, Ponder, 2011) but lacks modeling these research methods for teachers' future use (Mencke, 2013) As seen in the above quote from Barbre and Buckner, the emphasis is on learning to teach, not learning to research. We believe that learning to teach and learning to research can happen simultaneously and that the roles of teacher and researcher can build upon and strengthen one another. Our cooperative inquiry continues in the tradition of teacher research that promotes social justice, in particular through our focus on "Otherness," yet our research as teachers departs from previous literature in that our research began when four of us were pre service teachers and the fifth was an emerging teacher educator. Our inquiry explores the impact of engaging in research on teachers' practice when learning to research coincides with learning to teach (and learning to teach teachers) Our engagement in research as a form of professional development and support in the early years of our career was particularly meaningful given our identities as the "Other." Attrition rates for minority teachers are higher than those for White teachers, suggesting that teachers who identify as "Other" would benefit from additional support and mentoring (Achinstein, Ogawa, Sexton, Freitas, 2010) In viewing teacher research as effective professional development, we value cooperative inquiry as a means to provide support to teachers from populations with traditionally high levels of attrition.  Spring 2016 Bower Phipps, Cruz, Albaladejo, Johnson, Homa 4 Our Cooperative Inquiry Our identity as the "Other" informed the selection of cooperative inquiry as our methodology. Cooperative inquiry allows individuals to simultaneously enact the roles of participant and researcher as they investigate their lived experiences (Heron, 1996) As individuals who have been marginalized in schools and in teacher preparation programs, it was important for us to select a methodology that would allow all of us to be equal partners in the research project (Heron, 1996) and enable us to "create social and individual change" (Reinharz, 1992, p. 181) Cooperative inquiry consists of cycles of action and reflection with four distinct stages: (1) initial reflection, including agreeing upon a purpose for the inquiry and establishing research questions; (2) initial action, consisting of engaging in the experience to be studied; (3) continued action with g