Desired Selfhoods: Teachers' Approaches to Contemporary Politics Related to Multicultural Young Adult Literature Instruction

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: Constructing a Teacherly Identity: Perspectives From Australia, Brazil, and the United States

Abstract

English Education scholars call for more research that explores white identities in more complex and nuanced ways and seek to complicate rather than interrogate or criticize white teachers who face dilemmas and constraints as they engage in classroom conversations. The work of this study used lifeworld theory to explore two teachers’ thinking and approaches to contemporary political issues that came with their instruction of MCYAL. Findings revealed that the teachers showed movement of their approaches toward their more desired selfhoods. Consideration of how the selfhood and other fractions of the lifeworld do or do not match the teachers’ project allows for teacher reflection as they seek to meet desired selfhoods which honor student voice.

Author

• Ricki Ginsberg, Colorado State University