Learning to conduct teacher research: Exploring the development of mediated understandings

There is a growing trend in education to advocate for the inclusion of teacher researcher voices in local, state, national and international conversations about classroom teaching and learning. While many scholars agree that teacher researchers can, do, and should make important contributions to the educational research community, much remains to be learned about how teachers learn to engage in quality reflective inquiry. Our goal in this work is to explore instances of one practicing teacher's opportunities to learn to conduct teacher research. The practicing teacher (pseudonym, Dot) was enrolled in a university seminar that focused on learning to conduct classroom research. For this qualitative investigation we analyzed field notes taken during 13 class sessions across the semester, audiotapes of classroom interactions during class sessions, and artifacts such as written class reflections about course topics and drafts of course assignments. Results revealed that a complex set of significant instances of Dot's learning about teacher research shaped both what and how she learned. The careful descriptions of Dot's instances of learning can inform individual instructors about moment-to-moment instructional decisions when working with teachers in teacher research courses. Additionally, this work can inform a broader educational community with respect to how classes pertaining to teacher research might be re-conceptualized to promote systematic research of one's practice as a 'way of being' as a classroom teacher.