In Search of Transformative Community in Teacher Education

• In Event: Teacher Preparation, Mentoring, and Community at the Intersections of Identity

Abstract

This paper explores how diverse members of an in-service, residency-based teacher education program interpret and draw upon notions of community in justice-oriented practice. Through the complementary research approaches of intersectional qualitative research and critical practitioner inquiry, we propose two broad conceptions of the role of boundaries in community: (1) community as an environment where members can collectively construct boundaries that nurture us in different ways; and (2) community as an environment where teachers can stretch, challenge, and transform boundaries. We argue that when teacher educators and researchers pay attention to different kinds of boundaries and how these boundaries are navigated, we can develop more critical and nuanced understandings of community as we refine and evolve approaches to justice-oriented teacher education.

Authors

• Charlotte E Jacobs, University of Pennsylvania
  Presenting Author

• Jessica Whitelaw, University of Pennsylvania
  Presenting Author

• Sonia M. Rosen, University of Pennsylvania
  Presenting Author

• Sarah Odell, The Hewitt School
  Presenting Author

• Frances OC Rust, University of Pennsylvania
  Presenting Author