One Classroom Teacher's Personal Narrative of Collaborative Research on the Teaching Practicum

Abstract

This paper describes one classroom teacher's personal account of collaborative research on the teaching practicum involving a professor and two associate teachers. The teacher's narrative report describes how she became involved in the research project, various research procedures that took place during the project, and how the entire experience affected her personal and professional life. Data from surveys, Journals, focus-group discussions, observation notes and individual interviews reveal that associate teachers find the teaching practicum both a beneficial and a stressful experience. By examining these issues, we are better able to understand the nature of the socialization process which occurs during the teaching practicum. By evaluating the research process from an individual narrative perspective, we hope to bring a teacher's voice to the literature, and discover the benefits of teacher research in the classroom. © 1994, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.