Action Research in the Teaching Internship: Exploring the interpretive pathway

Abstract

This paper explores action research Involving the student teaching triad In an undergraduate teaching Internship. It attempts to show how collaborative Inquiry Involving an intern, cooperating teacher, and faculty advisor enabled them to better understand and change their teaching practices. A collaborative action research account focuses on the triad's struggle to Improve student writing over the course of a sixteen-week teaching Internship at the high school level. Reflection on the experience takes place through three Interpretive themes. The notions of collaboration, reflective practice, and professional development, as they relate to the Internship, take on different meanings when examined from the action research perspective. These new understandings show the action research pathway to involve the interpretation of experience as opposed to the simple implementation of teaching techniques. © 1995, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.