ABSTRACT
In the foreword to Teachers Are Researchers, Nancie Atwell (1993) notes that when she started teaching she was more the “technician” than the reflective teacher that she is today. As a technician, Atwell relied on “outside” expertise—for example, the authors of reading and writing programs—to inform her teaching. She viewed her role as managing the students, the paper work, and the programs that she used. The more she taught, however, the more she became dissatisfied with classroom practice. Gradually, she began to observe and reflect on what literacy learners actually do when they use language to construct meaning; she inquired into the problems and uncertainties of learning and teaching literacy in a classroom context. Reflective teaching allowed her to respond to what students needed to know and do to become effective readers and writers. Rather than relying on outside experts, reflective inquiry allowed Atwell to construct knowledge of literacy learning and teaching inside her head to better inform her practice.
