Do They Know What They Need to Know? Examining Preservice Teachers’ Classroom Narratives

• In Event: Roundtable Session 103
  In Roundtable Session: Exploring the Impact of Professional Development School Partnerships

Abstract

Learning to teach is very much a personal, context-bound experience. Preservice teachers need both professional knowledge and self-knowledge if they are to become effective teachers. This qualitative study used a narrative inquiry approach to explore the interplay between the personal and the professional self (Loughran, 2006) in traditional-aged preservice teachers’ understanding of classroom events during an intensive, semester-long field experience. Semi-structured interviews, audio diary comments and coursework reflections provided the data. Findings suggest better field experience outcomes for preservice teachers ready and able to adopt a critical inquiry stance in the face of frustrations and dissonance.

Author

• Daphne S. Schuchart, University of Northern Iowa