From Inspired Vision to Impossible Dream

Abstract

This article will present a case study of an unrequited teacher-learning collaboration, an attempt to work with an experienced teacher to redesign his practice in consonance with Fostering a Community of Learners (FCL) principles and practices. The author’s purpose in presenting this case will be threefold: first, to provide a coherent account of a modest attempt to assist an experienced teacher to reform his practice within a school context that was itself at least as traditional as the teacher himself; second, to use this account to illustrate the usefulness of a conceptual framework for representing how teachers learn and think about the essential features of teachers’ capacities that are the focal points of change; and third, to offer a process analysis of a teacher learning not to engage in a new practice and doing so in an intentional and reflective manner.