Teacher as learner: Portraits of professional development

There is a common belief that many reforms in the field of teacher education place the experienced teacher in the multiple roles of teacher and learner. These reforms suggest a circuit of teacher learning connected to classroom practice in which cooperating teachers and student teachers learn alongside and from one another about teaching and learning.;How do these cooperating teachers conceive their roles as teacher and learner? How do these conceptions influence their practices as teacher and learner? To answer these questions we must take into account the words and practices of cooperating teachers affiliated with a university teacher education program. This dissertation uses observational and interview data with two secondary teachers who work with student teachers in an urban high school as part of Bay University1 Teacher Education Program in order to examine these conceptions of teaching and learning.;This qualitative study suggests that cooperating teachers grapple with their own conceptions of what teaching and learning look like against their previous conceptions of teaching practice constructed from their past education and experience. In particular, this study suggests that the perception of learning by experience appeared to influence how each cooperating teacher (a) facilitated the practicum for his or her student teacher and (b) framed his or her own ongoing teacher learning. This study illustrates the circuit of teacher learning for these two particular cooperating teachers. It suggests a need for substantive preparation for cooperating teachers to shift from teacher to learner since experience alone will not suffice.;1Bay University is a pseudonym.