I know in one of my previous entry slips I said the Hymel, Schonert-Reichl and Miller reading was my favorite, but as soon as I began reading the chapter on teacher inquiry by Anthony Clarke and Gallen Erickson, this chapter became number one for me. Their talk about the controversy around teaching being professional practice is something I can connect with. In these past couple years, and more recently, these last months during job action, so many people I know have questioned teaching. Many have doubted teachers’ abilities and I feel teachers are not given the respect and acknowledgement they truly deserve. As I read the common elements of various definitions of professional practice I kept thinking, “yeah, teachers have this, yes teachers do this, yes this is characteristic of teachers.” For example, one such element is intensive preparation. In my opinion, teachers definitely fulfill this aspect of professional practice as we are in a one-year program right now in which we learn an amount of concepts, methods and ways of operating as a teacher in just one day that I never would have imagined. What really resonated with me was the importance of teacher inquiry in acknowledging teaching as professional practice; as the authors explain, “when a teacher ceases to be inquisitive about his or her practice … then his or her practice ceases to be professional” (p.5). I definitely agree with the authors on this because I feel like this sort of counters the image others have of teachers as inactive and/or static. I think teacher inquiry is evidence that teachers are indeed evolving, lifelong learners who are constantly trying to essentially enhance their methods of teaching along with how students learn – even if little step by little step. Towards the end of the article, the authors say, “Inquiry is embedded in professional practice,” (p.4) again highlighting how important inquiry is for the professional aspect of our teaching career. And this actually excites me now for carrying out our own inquiries in this program!