Hovering Between Passion and Responsibility: Complexities of Teacher Knowledge Development to Support Student Literacy

• In Event: 29.069 - Curriculum Moments and Knowledge in Narrative Inquiry

Abstract

In this study, I examined the experiences of a beginning teacher as she navigates the 10th grade English curriculum in her culturally diverse high school. I examined ways in which she developed and implemented curriculum, and reflected upon complexities and challenges she encountered as she developed a deeper understanding of teaching in her particular (Schwab, 1969) school context. I present curriculum events as moments of tension between passion and responsibility, when she felt the pull between her professional responsibility to fulfil expectations of the standardized curriculum and a commitment to supporting her students by acknowledging their needs for meaning and engagement in their school curriculum.

Author

• Elaine Chan, University of Nebraska - Lincoln