Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 2 Teacher Action Research Group activities

Chapter 3 Identity

Chapter 4 Community and community practices

Chapter 5 Helping

Chapter 6 Possibilities

Chapter 7 Being in-between

Chapter 8 Conclusion

References

Reporting on the research collaborations of a group of teachers, graduate students and a university professor, this book weaves together their collective insights about how classrooms might be better for students of diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds, abilities and socio-economic circumstances, and better for teachers as well. It also shows how research collaborations can result in rich and compelling descriptions of classroom events. Written in a style accessible to teachers and student teachers, it introduces sociocultural perpectives on identity, classroom and community practices, helping and transformative possibilities, using teacher narratives to reflect the complexity of classroom decision-making and reflective action.

Corey Denos spent 25 years teaching 4-8 year olds in Vancouver and Surrey, BC public schools. She is now retired.

Kelleen Toohey is Professor of Education at Simon Fraser University. She wrote Learning English at School: Identity, Social Relations and Classroom Practices (2000) and co-edited with Bonny Norton Critical Pedagogies and Language Learning (2004).

Kathy Neilson is a Faculty Associate and PhD student in Education at Simon Fraser University, working in teacher in-service education. Her research interests include arts education and teacher inquiry.

Bonnie Waterstone is a lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University. Her 2003 PhD dissertation studied the first year of the group featured in this book.