English Education - Volume 52, Issue 2, 2020

We explore the ways in which preservice teachers (PSTs) develop a practice in practice (Darling-Hammond, 2010) with diverse learners when placed in classrooms with college writing mentor teachers. Analyzing survey data and instances of stated confidence in PSTs’ activity logs, we share results that reveal a significant increase in the novice teachers’ perceived ability to teach diverse learners when placed in this context. Results also demonstrate a model of Teacherly Reflective Inquiry Practice (TRIP). These results suggest that placements with college writing instructors acting as mentor teachers can facilitate the development of collective efforts to teach diverse learners.

This case study of an English methods course examines how preservice teachers demonstrate knowledge, skills, and dispositions for social justice teaching. Qualitative analyses of participants’ performances on two signature course assessments, micro-teaching and unit planning, show how opportunities to demonstrate socially just teaching practices are both afforded and missed. The study and course design draw from theories and practices of critical multicultural education, culturally relevant teaching, and equity literacy. Findings indicate that despite our best intentions, course assessments did not fully support engagement with, or applications of, social justice principles.

Many teacher education programs consider reflection to be critical as preservice teachers appropriate tools related to the teaching of writing. The purpose of this research was to explore three preservice teachers’ analysis of written reflections that they composed while taking a writing methods course embedded in two field experience sites. The following research questions guided the study: (1) What themes did preservice teachers identify in their reflective writing? (2) What do their meta-reflections demonstrate about their learning to teach writing? This study provides implications for how preservice teachers can develop into reflective writing practitioners.

In this Provocateur Piece, we build a theory of poetic resonance through the interspersing of theory, philosophy, and literature with students’ voices and our own. The ideas sprang from an undergraduate English methods course we co-taught focused on micro-teaching. Throughout the essay we explore momentary encounters of resonance within and beyond pedagogical moves and students’ experiences, engaging the particularities that shape lives in classrooms.