The American Teacher: The History of US Teacher Preparation

English 696E/EDCI 613
The American Teacher:
The History of US Teacher Preparation, 1821-Present
Or
The American Teacher:
The Image of the US Teacher, 1821-Present
Spring 2004
Professor Janet Alsup
436 Heavilon Hall
494-3777
[email protected]
Office Hours:
M W 2-4 or by appointment
Textbooks available at Von’s
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Spark
Disturbing Practice: Reading Teacher Education as Text by Segall
The Role of Self in Teacher Development edited by Lipka & Brinthaupt
Changing Research & Practice: Teacher’s Professionalism, Identities, and Knowledge
edited by Kompf, Bond, Dworet, and Boak
Course pack available at Copy Mat
Course Description: This seminar will survey the history of secondary and postsecondary teacher preparation and the “image” of the American teacher, specifically in
English studies. Related issues to be explored include gender, class, race/ethnicity,
religion, assessment, and politics and their historical connections to teacher preparation
and professional development. Also addressed will be teacher preparation curricula,
pedagogical philosophies underlying teacher preparation, professionalization of postsecondary faculty, and the dominant cultural scripts that have influenced teacher identity
over time.
Course Goals: By the end of the seminar, we will explore the following questions:
1. What does it mean to be an elementary, high school, or college teacher in the US?
2. What are some key cultural expectations/definitions of the teacher?
3. How have media and popular culture affected these images and definitions?
4. How is teacher identity influenced by the history of teacher education and various
educational policies?
5. How do race, class, gender, and sexual orientation affect teacher identities?
6. What is our role as teachers and teacher educators in the crafting of future
definitions of teacher identity?
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Course Assignments and Expectations: This course is a graduate seminar; that means
that it is discussion based, and students are expected to contribute to class discussions and
bring related issues and ideas to class regularly for our consideration. Attendance is
required. The specific assignments are as follows:
1. Complete all course reading when assigned and participate actively in class
discussions.
2. Prepare and give one class presentation on a selected theme or issue; this
presentation will take up approximately 30 minutes and will be followed by
discussion on the issue, which you will facilitate. Presentations can be prepared
and delivered individually or with a partner. You will also be required to
supplement course readings (1-2 essays or book chapters) on this particular issue.
One copy of these readings should be provided to the instructor no later than the
Monday before the class session for which they are required.
3. Final seminar paper or project on a topic of your choice and an informal class
presentation about this paper or project. The choices are:
a. Ethnography or auto-ethnography of a teacher (case study or scholarly
memoir)
b. Traditional seminar essay or article delving further into one of the topics,
themes, or issues we have addressed (analysis, research report)
c. Pedagogical project (unit plan, curriculum guide, or pedagogical essay
describing how you might introduce and explore the course issues in a
class you teach or might teach in the future). This project should also
include some introductory narration or exposition explaining your
purpose, context, and rationale.
Class Schedule
Week One, January 15th
Introduction to class and to each other
Who is the American English teacher?
Read:
“April Foolishness: The 20th Anniversary of a Nation at Risk” CP
“Introduction: Balancing the Personal and Professional Development of Teachers” from
Lipka and Brinthaupt BK
“Identity and Pedagogy” from Danielewicz CP
“Identity and Induction: Establishing the Self in the First Years of Teaching” from Lipka
and Brinthaupt BK
Week Two, January 22nd
History of US Teacher Preparation
Educational policies and politics affecting teacher preparation and English studies
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Read:
“Contradictory Realities in Learning to Teach” from Britzman CP
“Tensions in Learning to Teach: Accommodation and the Development of a Teaching
Identity” from Journal of Teacher Education CP
“On Developing a Critical Sociology of Teacher Education” from Ginsburg CP
Chapter 5 of Disturbing Practice by Segall BK
Week Three, January 29th
Contradictions in Teaching and Teacher Preparation
Read:
“Man/Woman/Teacher” from Warren CP
“Seminary for Social Power: The Classroom Becomes Woman’s Sphere” from Hoffman
CP
“Eros, Eroticism, and the Pedagogical Process” by bell hooks CP
“Lesbian/Gay Role Models in the Classroom” from Garber CP
“Breaking the Silence: Sexual Preference in the Composition Classroom” from Garber
CP
Week Four, February 5th
Feminist theory, gender, sexuality and teaching
Read:
“Demographics and Teacher Education” from the Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) CP
“’My Eyes Have Been Opened’: White Teachers and Racial Awareness” by Johnson
from JTE CP
“The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People’s Children”
from Delpit CP
“The History of Blacks in Teaching” from Warren CP
PRESENTATION #1 and 2
Week Five, February 12th
Race/ethnicity and teacher preparation
Read:
Selection from Coming to Class: Pedagogy and the Social Class of Teachers by Shepard,
McMillan, and Tate HANDOUT
“Who Became Teachers?” from Warren CP
PRESENTATION #3 and 4
Week Six, February 19th
Socio economic class and teacher preparation
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Read:
“Teaching With Heart and Soul: Reflections on Spirituality in Teacher Education” by
Palmer from JTE CP
“History, Religion, and Schooling: A Context for Conversation” from Sears and Carper
CP
“The Fundamental Principle” from Zen and the Practice of Teaching English by Tremmel
CP
PRESENTATION #5 and 6
Week Seven, February 26th
Religion, spirituality and teacher preparation
Read:
Excerpts from the No Child Left Behind Act HANDOUT
“A Pedagogy for Identity Development” from Danielewicz CP
“The Given and the Possible in Teacher Education” from Britzman CP
“Intellectualizing the Work of Teachers” from Smyth CP
“On Learning to Teach English Teachers: A Textured Portrait of Mentoring” from
English Education CP
PRESENTATION #7 and 8
Week Eight, March 4th
Teacher preparation curricula, pedagogies, and programs
Read:
Excerpt from Teaching Writing Teachers by Tremmel HANDOUT
“Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss: Class Consciousness in Composition” from
CCC CP
“Why Don’t Our Graduate Programs do a Better Job of Preparing Students for the Work
that We Do?” by Miller in WPA Journal CP
PRESENTATION #8 and 9
Week Nine, March 11th
Post-secondary issues for English teachers
Read:
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
“Shaping Images of Teachers” from Vinz CP
PRESENTATION #10 and 11
Week Ten, March 18th
Spring Break—No Class
Week Eleven, March 25th
No Class. I will be at the CCCC. Work on seminar projects.
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Week Twelve, April 1st
Literary and popular cultural representations of teachers
Read:
Read another “teacher” novel or play. Possibilities include Up the Down Staircase by
Kaufman, What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal by Heller, Educating Rita by
Russell, To Sir With Love by Braithwaite, and The Children’s Hour by Hellman.
“Images, Metaphors, and Stereotypes: The Struggle for Identity” from Weber and
Mitchell
Week Thirteen, April 8th
Literary and popular cultural representations of teacher, continued
Filmic representations of teacher
Read: An example of a teacher ethnography or auto-ethnography. Possibilities include
Lives on the Boundary by Mike Rose, Voices of the Self by Gilyard, A Life in School by
Tompkins, White Teacher by Paley, Schoolteacher by Dan C. Lortie
Week Fourteen, April 15th
The teacher ethnography/understanding teaching through narrative
Read:
“Is There a Problem with Knowing Thyself? Toward a Poststructuralist View of Teacher
Identity” by Britzman CP
“Cultural Scripts for Teachers,” “The Multiple I’s of Teacher Identity” from Kompf BK
“A Storied Landscape as a Context for Teacher Knowledge” from Kompf BK
“The Place of Story in the Study of Teaching and Teacher Education” Educational
Researcher, HANDOUT
Week Fifteen, April 22nd
Conceptualizing and re-conceptualizing teacher identity
Sharing of seminar papers/projects
Week Sixteen, April 29th
Who is the American teacher? Revisited
Review of research on teacher identity
Exam Week May 3-8
Seminar papers/projects due no later than May 7th
Students with disabilities must be registered with Adaptive Programs in the Office of the Dean of Students
before classroom accommodations can be provided.
If you have a documented disability that will impact your work in this class, please contact me to discuss
your needs.
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