Teacher Research as a Practical Tool for Learning to Teach

Teacher research has a long, rich history. However, teacher research is primarily limited to practicing teachers and those pursuing graduate education. It is only beginning to be used as means of understanding the instructional needs of English Learners. In this article, a preservice teacher and her university instructor describe the role of inquiry in an early literacy course. They tell the story of a semester-long teacher-research project in which the preservice teacher learns about the role of inquiry and native language in responding to the instructional needs of a young English Learner. It is a story in which thinking about teaching and learning as inquiry emerges as a powerful guide in finding one’s way as a preservice teacher on unfamiliar ground, one in which the practice of teacher research becomes a practical tool for seeing, valuing, and responding to difference.