Enacting a Vision of Teacher Education by Developing a Common Interpretive Zone

• Published in: Studying teacher education Vol. 7; no. 1; pp. 51 - 64
• Main Authors: Margolin, Ilana, Tabak, Edith
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Taylor & Francis Group 01-04-2011; Routledge; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: activity theory; Collaboration; Communities of Practice; Computer Mediated Communication; conflicts; Educational Methods; Educational Practices; Feedback (Response); Foreign Countries; interpretive zone; Israel; Journal Writing; Knowledge Base for Teaching; Learning; learning community; mentoring; Mentoring programs; Mentors; Organizational Change; Professional Development; Reflection; Self Evaluation (Individuals); Studies; Teacher Collaboration; Teacher Competencies; Teacher Education; Teacher Improvement; Israel
• ISSN: 1742-5964; 1742-5972
• DOI: 10.1080/17425964.2011.558362

This collaborative self-study explores the co-construction of professional teacher education knowledge through mentoring, framed within the notion of working in an interpretive zone. The study is set in a learning community established in a college of education where Ilana was the head of the elementary department and Edith served as a new clinical supervisor. Using data collected from electronic correspondence, this self-study illustrates the co-construction of our knowledge of practice in two ways: (1) the development of our personal perceptions through self-study of reciprocal relationships, conversations, and active attempts to improve our teacher education practices; and (2) the impact of working collaboratively in the interpretive zone as a source of expanding learning, changing the curriculum, and initiating new activities. The development of our professional self-understanding occurred by reframing knowledge of practice as conflicts, using them to evaluate and reconstruct experience, and performing transitional actions on the boundaries between dominant and new activities.