Coteaching: from praxis to theory

Abstract

We evolved coteaching and cogenerative dialoguing to respond to the need of teachers inexperienced in one or another aspect of teaching to learn to teach at the elbow of another. As our praxis of coteaching and cogenerative dialoguing unfolded, we developed a theoretical framework. In this article, we present some core theoretical ideas that go with coteaching and cogenerative dialoguing. These ideas are rooted in our reading of cultural–historical activity theory and critical psychology. The resulting framework is particularly suited for analyzing and theorizing complex practices such as teaching and learning in schools for several reasons. First, it requires us to take a first‐person perspective on the actions of individuals and groups. Second, it theorizes actions available to an individual as concrete cases of a generalized action available at the collective level. Third, we understand all actions to be mediated by the tools (language, curriculum theory), rules, community, and division of labor characteristic of the situation. Fourth, because this approach explicitly theorizes context, it is an excellent tool for articulating and removing structural contradictions. Fifth, the approach assists us in understanding the contradictions within a system in a positive way, namely as opportunities for change and growth. Finally, the framework explicitly focuses on the cultural–historical changes that individuals, their community and tools, and the reigning division of labor and rules undergo.