“They’re Shocked That I’m Doing Research!”: Supporting an Early Career Teacher’s Inquiry in Teaching Informative Writing

Abstract

An early career sixth grade classroom teacher and a teacher educator undertook a qualitative inquiry to investigate implementing the Common Core Writing standards. Using Feiman-Nemser’s (2001) theoretical framework of Central Tasks of Learning to Teach, this article closely examines supportive factors that can sustain and contribute to early career teachers’ learning and their commitment to the teaching profession. Data included teacher pre- and postinterviews, transcripts of monthly meetings, and teacher reflection. Findings revealed that a collaborative partnership between classroom teachers and teacher educators can help to anchor early career teachers in reform-minded teaching through coherent, connected learning opportunities, to afford talk with like-minded colleagues to study one’s own teaching practices, to sustain learning and cultivate an ongoing disposition toward reflective practice, and to encourage questions that matter as integral to their intellectual work. Implications for continuing teacher development for early career via partnerships between schools and universities are discussed.