Unplayed Tapes: A Personal History of Collaborative Teacher Research

At a time when classroom researchers find themselves pulled between conflicting models of inquiry--empirical research versus narrative recounting--Fishman and McCarthy map out an alternative to the field's current either/or dichotomy. Using the contrasting orientations of Ann Berthoff and Lawrence Stenhouse to better understand their own views, Fishman and McCarthy open the "unplayed tapes" of conversations behind four of their published studies. In doing so they trace their struggles to create a style of inquiry that utilizes both approaches, mixing features of empirical research with elements of teacher story.