Practitioner inquiry partnerships offer a method of professional learning that positions teachers as experts and supports their culturally, linguistically, and racially diverse students through the cultivation of responsive pedagogical practices. This article builds on the research base around practitioner inquiry in literacy classrooms and contributes further understanding of what it looks like to partner with teachers to engage in inquiry as professional learning, how this process leads to refined literacy pedagogy and shifts toward student‐centered practices, and why it is humanizing to embrace expansive notions of literacy. By attuning to sociocultural and affective approaches to literacy, the authors discuss inquiry partnerships with two teachers and provide insight into how other teachers might also engage with practitioner inquiry to refine their literacy pedagogy. The authors argue the inquiry process supports shifts in literacy pedagogy that not only help teachers navigate constraints but also lead to centering students’ responses and engagement.

Welcome to A-town! All the residents of A-town have names that start with the letter A! Could you live here? Join these students as they solve problems around their neighborhood. Remember, math is everywhere.

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine multiple dimensions of reflexive and reciprocal mentorship as they work through the fear of teaching challenging and politically charged ideas. Design/methodology/approach This piece is a case study of the complex instances of reciprocal mentorship within a teacher education program. Objects of analysis included the informal educational experiences from the bi-monthly meetings and student-teaching experiences. Semi-structured interviews, field notes, interpersonal discussion and the authors’ own reflections were used as data sources. Findings The authors found that having difficult conversations in informal spaces provided social studies teacher candidates with the opportunity to get more comfortable with challenging conversations; that mentorship is helpful when shifting context between formal and informal spaces; and that once these teachers grew more comfortable, they moved from mentee to mentor with support and guidance from their own mentors. The authors conclude by providing several implications for pre-service teachers, teacher and teacher educators, as they help social studies practitioners work with and beyond the politics of fear. Research limitations/implications Limitations such as subjectivity, generalizability and implementation exist. Factors such as personality, program, cultural background, lived experience and other elements played a role in the findings. Therefore, the authors do not suggest these are monolithic claims about the nature of mentorship, teacher education or teaching, but rather the authors wish to share these findings and recommendations. Practical implications The authors argue that three major findings emerged from the data. First, informal spaces are valuable for initiating difficult conversations among mentors and mentees. Second, shifting between formal and informal spaces can be uncomfortable, but allow for mentoring opportunities during these challenging instances of becoming. Third, moving from mentee to mentor includes valuable reciprocal mentorship within a learning community. Originality/value This research project is grounded in the needs of the participants and researchers. To the authors’ knowledge, a project of this type with similar participants has not been done.