Revisiting Reflection: Utilizing Third Spaces in Teacher Education

Much has been written about the importance of reflective practice. What is missing is reflective work on the part of teacher educators to address the mismatch between university-based methods courses and the realities of classroom life. With examples from a third grade mathematics classroom as well as a university-based mathematics methods course, this article explores ways educators can employ third space theory as a way to engage in purposeful reflection into their teaching practices.     

PDS Collaboration as Third Space: An analysis of the quality of learning experiences in a PDS partnership

This article documents the self-study processes and findings of a collaborative research group that examined a professional development school (PDS) partnership. Drawing on the scholarship of self-study of teacher education practices and theoretical perspectives consistent with third space, we conceived our collaborative study group as a learning community aimed at uncovering the complexities of school–university partnerships while seeking new directions for an effective partnership. Data were collected from a variety of sources. Themes were developed based on some identified areas of focus consistent with the group's objectives, which included deciphering the state of our PDS collaboration, our preservice teachers' learning experiences, and insight into faculty as learners in professional relationship. The study revealed that experiential disparity existed within and among faculty and students in various PDS sites as a result of poor communication as well as divergent models of collaboration and philosophical goals between faculty and mentor teachers. Disparity in the learning experiences among the preservice teachers was attributed to the quality and scope of the partnership. This study resulted in better understanding of our roles as hybrid educators and recognition of mentor teachers as critical bridges in a PDS partnership.     

Using Self-Study to Develop a Third Space for Collaborative Supervision of Master's Projects in Teacher Education

Teacher education is constantly being renewed in response to continuous social, economic and technological changes. In 2008, teacher education in Iceland was extended from a three-year to a five-year master's degree program and this significantly increased the number of students at the master's level. To respond to these changes, 3 university-based teacher educators organized collaborative supervisory meetings for 18 master's students during the school years 2012–2014. We used self-study methodology to analyze our progress and inspire our development as supervisors. The goal was to gain a better understanding of how we learn together in collaborative supervision and to develop, adapt, and change our teaching and learning practices. Data included reflective notes and journals, recordings of students' and supervisors' meetings, e-mails, tickets out of class, and material from Moodle. Constant analysis of data was conducted with personal reflection and collective discussion, using theories to scrutinize data. Our findings show that, by working together on supervisory issues, we expanded our resources, strengthened our collaboration and trust, developed our professional identities, and improved our collective supervisory efficacy. We discovered that self-study provided an in-between space for us to explore cultures, roles, and visions as we collaboratively contested, defined and recreated our roles as supervisors.     

Being a Learner Using Social Media in School: The Case of Space2cre8

The aim of this article is to gain knowledge about what it means to be a learner using social media in an educational setting. The article presents an ethnographic study of students in a multiethnic community in Oslo who participate in a social networking site called Space2cre8 (S28). In this article, we set out to explore the kind of space for learning that can be created in a lower secondary classroom by a social networking site. The article provides a detailed study of how two students made use of this social networking site as part of school activities, and it outlines two specific ways in which to be a learner using social media in school. The findings suggest that a social networking site such as S28 can provide different resources for different students with different learner identities, and might represent a space in which everyday knowledge and school knowledge merge to offer a hybrid space for learning.     

Building Bridges in a Third Space: A Phenomenological Study of the Lived Experiences of Teaching Chinese in American Chinese Schools

This study explores the lived experiences of Chinese teachers in American Chinese Schools. Max van Manen’s methodology for hermeneutic phenomenological research provides a framework for the study, and the philosophical writings of Heidegger, Gadamer, and Derrida guide the textual interpretations. Pedagogical voices of Aoki, Pinar, and Greene, and cultural journeys of Hongyu Wang and Xin Li reveal possibilities for understanding the experiences of Chinese teachers, as the question is addressed: “What is the meaning of teaching Chinese in American Chinese Schools?” Ten Chinese teachers engaged in a series of open-ended conversations. The conversations illuminate the experience of Confucian teaching meeting American pedagogies around two main themes. First, in following the metaphor of Chinese knotwork, the teachers speak of their struggles and challenges between Chinese Confucian and American pedagogies, reflect on splitting and splicing the knots through changing and adjusting their method of Confucian teaching. Second, they tell of the experiences of building bridges in a third space through dialogically connecting the different cultures and pedagogies in order to seek the appropriate way of teaching and learning Chinese well in American Chinese Schools.