Description
Book SynopsisThis book focuses on English teacher educators' experiences concerning professionalization and teacher identity. The term professionalization, itself, can be problematized (Popkewitz, 1994), as it connotes adherence to realities to professional norms that are based within particular histories. Yet, teacher educators must confront how to mentor prospective teachers into the field and how changes to the field manifest changes to what it means to be a professional. In research about changes in English teacher education over the past twenty years, Pasternak, Caughlan, Hallman, Renzi and Rush (2017) presented five distinct foci of ELA programs that have evolved: 1) changes to field experiences within teacher education programs, 2) altered conceptions of teaching literature and literacy within the context of ELA, 3) increased adherence to standardization, 4) changing demographics of students in K-12 classrooms, and 5) increased expectations for use of technology within ELA. These foci impact
Trade ReviewAt a time when we need to actively recruit, fully prepare, and then continue to support novice English teachers, Hallman, Pastore-Capuana, and Pasternak have assembled an urgent and essential volume. The contributors present critical perspectives and rich dialogue around topics such as culturally sustaining pedagogies, technology integration, and handling the day-to-day stresses of classroom life. As an occasion for rethinking their methods courses—as well as the design of student teaching experiences—English educators can use this book to examine the social, emotional, and intellectual demands placed on our teacher candidates, and how we can respond to those challenges with empathy, tenacity, and hope. -- Troy Hicks, professor of English & Education, Central Michigan University, author, Crafting Digital Writing (2013) & Because Digital Writing Matters (2010)
As teacher candidates work their way toward a license and a career, they each strive to define a viable persona. The methods class can support or inhibit this effort, especially when the methods class operates within institutional constraints that can seem counter to the goals of the course. The many contributors to Possibilities, Challenges, and Changes in English Teacher Education Today explore the intentions, efforts, and tensions common to the methods class. The essays in this collection, and the responses to them, reveal the complexities involved in using the methods class to foster a keen sense of professional identity that ultimately advances the cognitive, social, and emotional development of learners. -- Thomas M. McCann, professor of English, Northern Illinois University
Possibilities, Challenges, and Changes in English Teacher Education Today: Exploring Identity and Professionalization is a critical contribution to the field of English education today, as it is grounded in robust research and theory with immediately practical applications to consider. Written by researchers in the field who possess decades of experience working with preservice and inservice ELA teachers, each chapter offers teacher educators and their methods students a critical space to examine, problem-solve, and navigate the myriad possibilities, potential challenges, and current changes in English education so that all students have equitable opportunities to succeed in the classroom and their communities. As a collection, this powerful work offers a valuable mosaic of much needed professional advice for the field and provides the promise of hope and growth in authentic ways. -- Nicole Sieben, Assistant Professor, Secondary English Education, SUNY College at Old West
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Editors’ Introduction Heidi L. Hallman, Kristen Pastore-Capuana, and Donna L. Pasternak Section I: English Language Arts Teachers’ Professional Roles and Identities Chapter 1: Engaging Preservice Teachers in Productive Struggle Through Antideficit English Education Amber Warrington and Michelle Fowler-Amato A Response to Chapter 1 Melinda J. McBee Orzulak Chapter 2: ‘It’s Just Not What I Thought It Would Be:’ Novice Teachers Navigating Tensions in Identity Katharine Covino A Response to Chapter 2 Amber Warrington and Michelle Fowler-Amato Chapter 3: The Potential of Problematic Practice: Educating Teachers for the Secondary ELA Classroom Melanie Shoffner A Response to Chapter 3 Brandon Sams and Mike Cook Section II: External Pressures on Teachers’ Professionalization Chapter 4: Writing Problems and Promises in Standardized Teacher Performance Assessment Sarah Hochstetler and Melinda J. McBee Orzulak A Response to Chapter 4 Connor K. Warner Chapter 5: Changing English: Technology and its Impact on the Teaching of English Education Donna L. Pasternak A Response to Chapter 5 Julie Bell Chapter 6: ‘We Need to Go Next Door and Talk about Our Lessons’: One State’s Context and Collaboration around Standards-Based Reform Lara Searcy and Christian Z. Goering A Response to Chapter 6 Jessica Gallo Chapter 7: Making Video Recording and Reflection Meaningful for English Teacher Candidates Julie Bell A Response to Chapter 7 Christian Z. Goering and Seth D. French Section III: Beyond English Language Arts: Challenges to our Profession Chapter 8: More than left, right, up, down: Teaching Tensions in Non-ELA Literacy Methods Courses Jeff Spanke and Chea Parton A Response to Chapter 8 Melanie Shoffner Chapter 9: Learning from Interns Who Leave the Profession: Emotional Labor and the Limits of the Methods Course Brandon Sams and Mike Cook A Response to Chapter 9 Jeremy Glazer Chapter 10: Training for the Unsustainable: The Need to Consider Attrition in ELA Teacher Preparation Jeremy Glazer A Response to Chapter 10 Jeff Spanke About the Editors About the Contributors Index
