Standing Ground in Urban Schools: Anticipatory Advocacy as Vision and Defense for Effective Teachers

• In Event: Urban Education Initiatives Across Settings and Contexts

Abstract

Urban-focused professional development school partnerships are preparing teachers who are equipped to resist and rise above traditional role expectations for teachers. This paper reports findings from a multicase study of four graduates of an intensive, urban-focused preparation and master’s program whose acts of advocacy extended beyond their classrooms into the futures of their students. These acts of anticipatory advocacy, efforts that the teachers believed would positively impact their students into their adult futures, were acts that they considered to be “just part of the job.” Not only did these teachers foster success for their students through anticipatory advocacy, but also they benefited professionally and personally as their beliefs about and commitments to urban schools and students were confirmed and strengthened.

Author

• Kim Stevens Barker, Georgia State University