Learning in the Afternoon: When Teacher Inquiry Meets School Reform

Susan L. Lytle , Jolley Bruce Christman , Jody Cohen , Joan Countryman , Bob Fecho , Dina Portnoy

Date: January 1994

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This article, published in Chartering Urban School Reform (Michelle Fine, ed., Teachers’ College Press, 1994) describes the Seminar in Teaching and Learning, a researching community of approximately 35 teachers from Philadelphia high schools who meet to participate in a form of oral inquiry into classroom and school experiences. They have created this research community in order to engage in collaborative analyses of their experiences. The authors of this paper, part of the collaborative leadership team that facilitated the seminar, argue that teacher inquiry informs professional knowledge and practice by providing a safe space for teachers to restructure their classrooms and relationships with colleagues.

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Learning in the Afternoon: When Teacher Inquiry Meets School Reform

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