Reflections on the Eureka! Fellowship Program for Teacher Researchers Clare Kosnik Ph.D. Professor Director Jackman Institute of Education, OISE/UT Pooja Dharamshi M.Sc. Doctoral Candidate, OISE/UT Instructor, George Brown College Shelley Murphy Ph.D. Instructor Master of Teaching Program, OISE/UT Dewey, in the early 1900s, said, “We never educate directly, but indirectly by means of the environment (1916, p. 32). He elaborated by suggesting, “education is essentially a social process. This quality is realized in the degree in which individuals form a community group” (1938, p. 58). The concept of a learning community is longstanding -- craft guilds, academic communities, individuals who share a hobby -- learning with others has long been recognized as an effective pedagogy. As Dewey noted, community can be a powerful form for learning; however, Grossman et al. (2001) observed that simply gathering a group of teachers together does not necessarily lead to improved learning or the formation of a community. This chapter describes a learning community, which is very much in keeping with the spirit of community described by Dewey. Clare, a professor of Education, was approached by Rosemary Evans, the principal of University of Toronto School (UTS), to assist with forming a teacher research group. Rosemary had received funding for the Eureka! Fellowship program from Newton Foundation to start a teacher researcher group. Clare happily accepted Rosemary’s invitation then invited a current and former doctoral student (Pooja and Shelley) to co-facilitate because they had much to offer and the team approach would model collaboration. The research group consisted of 12 teachers/administrators (excluding ourselves) who were conducting a range of research. Over the next two years we met on a monthly basis for approximately two hours. This paper reports on our work cofacilitating the teacher research group.
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