When Missions Collide: Colleen’s Story

• In Event: Roundtable Session 39
  In Roundtable Session: Becoming a Teacher: Construction of Teacher Identity

Abstract

The story of Colleen, a Christian education student in the mid-west, illustrates the tensions that can occur while learning to teach. For Colleen, her religious identity created significant conflict within her teacher education program, ultimately leading to her dismissal. As she struggled to negotiate her internal voice against the external voices of her university program, Colleen illustrates what Britzman (2003) calls “a problem of language that allows experience to be noticed, valued, dismissed, or even regretted” (p. 18). Her story illustrates not only the complexity and tensions involved in becoming a teacher, but also the struggle for a dialogic space amid competing voices within teacher education.

Authors

• Jennifer H. James, University of Georgia

• Kimberly R. Logan, University of Georgia