| This thesis focuses on three teachers working within the professional network of English teachers developed at the Bread Loaf School of English, Middlebury College. Essentially, how do they enact within their own classrooms, their Bread Loaf learning experiences? My research questions asked of the three Bread Loaf teachers in the sample: (1) What are their espoused theories regarding knowledge of content, pedagogy, and student cognition? (2) What do these teachers say are the sources of these espoused theories? (3) How, if at all, are their espoused theories reflected in classroom practice? (4) How, if at all, do the working theories of the Bread Loaf School of English become apparent in each teacher's classroom practice?;My frame of reference for this study of three teachers was the following: (1) To determine the extent to which connections can be made between espoused theories and theories-in-use around content, pedagogy, and student cognition among the teachers in my study. (2) To conceptualize a working theory-of action among the teachers in those areas. (3) To determine the source(s) of those working theories-in-action. (4) To determine the extent to which connections can be made between those theories and the working theories of the Bread Loaf School of English around content-related professional development.;The data from the study suggest that for each of these teachers, their first summer at Bread Loaf opened their sense of themselves as individuals with unique histories and contexts for ongoing development. Their roles shifted and developed as knowledge in English studies accumulated in summer courses and in collegial and student exchanges via BLRTN (Bread Loaf Rural Teacher Network) during the academic year. All three teachers, after having had their first Bread Loaf summer experience, had to face what the researcher determined to be "the teaching self." (Abstract shortened by UMI.). |
