No Teacher Left Behind: The Development of a Professional Collaboration

The purpose of this article is to describe how a collaborative partnership between a public school teacher and university teacher-educator positively influenced their thinking about effective literacy practices in schools. The col-laboration began when the two attended a state initiative summer literacy proj-ect. During the workshop they engaged in personal and collective reflection of their teaching practices and those presented during the training. These informal discussions became the basis for a collaborative partnership in which Vicki, the teacher, would periodically attend Denise’s university reading methods course to work with preservice teachers and Denise to teach Vicki’s first graders. In con-nections such as these, learning communities are established that benefit both teachers and university professors. pages 63–8