Disruptive Teacher Education: Using Stories of Self to Confront Assumptions and Transform Beliefs and Practices

• In Event: 25.068 - Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: 25.068-3 - Leveraging Self-Study to Transform Our Identities

Abstract

This self-study examines two teacher educators’ attempts to disrupt the commonly-held and often unexamined practices that have defined teacher education for decades. As their preservice candidates face ever-increasing diversity in schools, it is critical that they understand, accept, and value the lived experiences of their students and school communities. This inquiry uses storytelling/narrative to engage preservice teachers in thinking beyond their own school histories and experiences to see ways schools and teachers marginalize particular students and recreate inequitable practices. Through storytelling and the lenses of the ethics of care and advocacy, the authors ask their students to confront and examine current practices to transform schooling into an equitable and just learning environment for students from all backgrounds.

Authors

• Laurie A. Ramirez, Appalachian State University

• Valerie A. Allison, Susquehanna University