The teachers in this study are seventh and eighth grade teachers who have all
been teaching for three or more years at Red Bird Junior High School. They were
among a group of volunteers elicited by the principal and then randomly picked to
participate. The six teachers who participated in this study are all female teachers,
and their experience varies from three years to thirty-one years of junior high and
high school teaching. They all have varied degrees of professional development and
extended schooling. Their names for the purposes of this study have been replaced
by pseudonyms. All participants were contacted by email in January, 2008, and a
first meeting was held at Red Bird Junior High in order to explain the process and
allow for them to ask questions. All then were asked to sign General Consent
Forms (Appendix E) as well as Permission to Audio-tape forms (Appendix F)