From professor to colleague: Creating a professional identity as collaborator in elementary science

This self-study of collaboration examines the lived experiences of a university researcher and a classroom teacher who shared the work of teaching 6th grade science. Sharing teaching involved planning, enacting, assessing, and reflecting upon instruction, and became the context for telling stories of collaboration. I interpreted these stories using models of social identity that employ performance metaphors in the construction/deconstruction of multiple identities. The analysis uncovered several tensions in building a collaborative relationship: a) The tension created by my assumption of multiple roles including new teacher, researcher, and collaborator; b) the tension between my desired role of collaborator and the role of professor ascribed to me by the classroom teacher; and c) the tension of an outsider searching for a comfort zone in an established classroom community. The meanings of collaboration that emerged from this study have implications for others who embark upon university/school partnerships.