ABSTRACT
After several years of professional development work, we recognized our focus on bringing new instructional and assessment tools and strategies to Belize was not exerting significant effects on the dispositions, practices, and professional identities of the teachers with whom we were working. Our original assumptions about how best to serve teachers and students gave way to the realization of the immense impact that relationships and culture have on identity and practice, and in turn, how identity and practice work to shape relationships and culture. What we were reading in the literature on participatory action research, narrative theory, and phenomenology held a bounty of promise, but we had failed to see this for many years. This realization catalyzed the shift to focusing on deepening our relationships through enacting more Freirean-like dialogue, sharing life stories, and being more mindful of the lifeworlds we were sharing. We also realized we were attempting to provide answers when we should have been asking questions. The nature and effects of reframing our work were so powerful; we believe describing them merits an entire chapter.
