Urban schools are struggling to hire and retain effective literacy teachers. Alternative certification programs throughout the country seek to bridge the achievement gap and to bring qualified teachers to underserved classrooms. This dissertation explores the transformative inquiry of developing "resident" teachers in their journey as they teach struggling readers in guided reading throughout various schools in Washington, D.C. The teachers met bi-weekly as part of a master's program practicum course. In collaborative teams, teachers shared their videotaped guided reading lessons using a "critical friends tuning protocol" to analyze, problem solve, and support the development of teacher's instructional practices and students' reading abilities. This phenomenological research documents twelve teachers' experiences and uses multiple qualitative data sources including collaborate inquiry video recordings, resident teacher journal entries, practicum portfolios, focus groups and in-depth interviews. The study captures the essence of resident teachers' common experiences, reflections and shifts in practice as they use guided reading groups as sites of inquiry. This research shows that to be successful at teaching children to read, teachers must develop more than content and pedagogical knowledge. The author illustrates that guided collaborative inquiry methods support the development of inquiry mindedness and the expansion of shared knowledge in guided reading instruction. The lived experiences of these teachers inform teacher education with implications for future professional development. The insights offered by this study add to the dialogue examining the development of effective and reflective teachers ready to positively impact literacy teaching and learning. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]