Organic collaboration: sustaining teachers and teacher educators in the cottage industry of curriculum making

Abstract

This inquiry explores the collaborative relationship between Mary, a teacher at a junior high, and Stefinee, a teacher educator at a nearby university. Through the use of emblematic narratives that emerged through the process of reliving and retelling experiences from a shared professional knowledge landscape, we make assertions about our collaboration through the use of the metaphor of an informal roadside fruit stand while contrasting our work with larger collectives of school–university partnerships. The sustaining quality of our collaboration emerges from our shared experiences involving both children and teacher candidates in educational experiences where their learning can be sustained. We also revel in the opportunity to be part of a collaborative effort that is voluntary and therefore driven by our own wonderings and hopes as teachers and teacher educators.

Keywords:

• public school/university collaboration
• teachers as curriculum makers
• sustaining teaching