Teacher Learning in a Community of Practice: A Case Study of ...

observer played themselves out. A comprehensive analysis ofmy role is provided in
Chapter Seven.
Researchers inherently become a part of, and help to shape, the settings in which they
study teachers' learning:
...as researchers trying to understand what teachers know and how they learn, we must be
particularly attentive to the support and guidance that we provide... (B)ehaviourist
perspectives worked hard to avoid this issue... recording what transpired (as if) not
influencing it (putman and Borko 2000: 14).
Researchers working within the interpretative tradition and holding a situative
perspective, recognise that as researchers we are inevitably a part ofthe contexts in which
we seek to understand teachers' knowing and learning. This issue is important when
individuals take on multiple roles ofresearchers and teachers ofteachers. Putman and
Borko note that recent professional development programmes illustrate:
... the bringing together ofteachers and university-based researchers or staffdevelopers
into new forms ofdiscourse communities focused on teaching and learning. University
participants can bring to these communities the critical and reflective stance and modes
ofdiscourse that are important norms within the academic community. In addition, they
bring research-based knowledge... that can contribute to the improvement ofteaching.
Teachers, in tum, can bring to such discourse communities craft knowledge about
pedagogical practices, their own students, and the cultural and instructional contexts of
their classrooms (Putman and Borko 2000:9).
The next section deals with the various methods that were used in the research study. The
fieldwork for this research study took place from October 2002 to February 2004. It
entailed periodic interviews, classroom observations, informal discussions, and regular
entries in myjournal.
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