First-Year Teacher Eight Years Later: An Inquiry into Teacher Development

Co-authored by Robert Bullough and Kerrie Baughman (the teacher who was the subject of Bullough’s classic 1989 study, First-Year Teacher), "First-Year Teacher" Eight Years Later provides readers with a rare opportunity to chart the development and difficulties that Kerrie faced as she became an experienced teacher. This ten-year collaboration presents both a valuable longitudinal examination of Kerrie’s teaching experience as well as a provocative and unique account of how a teacher and teacher educator learn from one another. Together they explore how to master the daily grind of classroom life while maintaining a measure of clarity about the moral center of the teaching craft. Bullough and Baughman create a compelling narrative of their journey, depicting the struggles and successes of their work together to foster a mutual understanding of "what counts" as beliefs change and experience accrues, of the meaning and significance of "expertise," and of the importance of teacher professionalism. The result is an honest, timely, and rich collaboration that offers valuable knowledge of how teachers develop and the means for encouraging teacher learning.