Abstract Teaching and Teacher Education 16 (2000)

qAnearlierversionofthismanuscriptwaspresentedattheannualmeetingoftheAmericanEducationalResearchAssoci-ation,SanDiego,CA,April,1997.*Correspondingauthor.Tel.:#[phone];fax:#[phone].E-mailaddress:mlgomez@facsta!.wisc.edu(M.L.Gomez).1Weusethewordidentityinthesingularhereasawaytotalkabouthowpeopleconstructwhotheyareataparticularplaceandtime.Identityisnotasingularandxedconstruction,butisnonunitary,evolveswithinthemultiple,shiftingcontextsinwhichwelive,andisproducedwithindiscourse.WebelievewithKondo(1991)andNarayan(1991)thatthesocial,historical,andculturalcontextsinwhichwendorlocateourselvesplayakeyroleinshapinghowwhichofthe`availableI'sawhichcomposeusareshowcasedatanyparticularmoment.TeachingandTeacherEducation16(2000)731}747PersonalexperienceasaguidetoteachingqMaryLouiseGomez*,AnneBurdaWalker,MichelleL.PageUniversityofWisconsin-Madison,456-DTeacherEducationBuilding,225NorthMillsStreet,Madison,WI53706,USAReceived2February1999;receivedinrevisedform29July1999;accepted5October1999AbstractInthispaper,theauthorsanalyzetheirexperiencesinusingstorytellingaboutteachingtopreparesecond-careerteachercandidates.Casesoftwoprogramparticipantsaredevelopedtoshowhowpersonalexperiences,ratherthanmulticulturalprogramideals,becameinstantiatedasguidesforteachingpractice.Theauthorsshowhowprospectiveteachersdevelopedaspeechcommunityinwhichtheyclariedtheirindividualpathstoschoolsuccessandattemptedtotransporttheseunderstandingstoinstructingstudentsofcolorwhowerestrugglinginschool.Foranalyses,theauthorsdrawonideasabouthowpeopleworkindi!eringsocialgroupswithparticulardiscoursesthatsupportgroupcohesivenessandideals.Implicationsforteachereducationusingnarrativeasavehicleforcriticalre#ectionarepresented.(2000ElsevierScienceLtd.Allrightsreserved.Keywords:Preserviceteachereducation;Narrative;Teacherdevelopment;PersonalexperiencesTeachereducatorshaveattemptedvariedstrat-egiesforpreparingprospectiveteacherstoworksuccessfullywithdiversepopulationsofstudents.Anumberoftheseapproacheshavecompelledpar-ticipantstoconsiderthecontrastbetweentheiridentitiesandexperiencesandthosewhomtheywillteach.Adesiredoutcomeofsuchre#ectionisanunderstandingofhowteachercandidates'race,class,gender,languagebackground,socialclass,andsexualorientationinterweavetocreateimagesofthemselvesandothers,andexpectationsforin-teractionswithpeoplebothlikeandunlikethem-selves.Asteachereducators,weaskprospectiveteacherstothinkabouthowtheiridentity1andexperiencesa!ecttheirexpectationsforstudentsandtheirinteractionswiththem.Wehopeprospec-tiveteacherswillsee:fhowstudents'learningisin#uencedbyteachers'choicesforwhattoteachandhowtoteach,0742-051X/00/$-seefrontmatter(2000ElsevierScienceLtd.Allrightsreserved.PII:S0742-051X(00)00022-6fhowteachers'choicesforwhatandhowtoteachareshapedbytheiridentitiesandpriorexperiences,fhowteachingrequiressomematchesbetweenstudents'interests,needs,andbackgroundsandtheirowninterests,skills,andexperiences,andfthattobesuccessfulteachersofeveryone'schil-dren,theywillbecalledupontochangeideasaboutthemselvesandothers,toenlargetheirrepertoireofexperienceswithpeopleunlikethemselves,andtodevelopnewwaysofthinkingandbehaving.However,thelearning-to-teachliterature(e.g.,Bullough&Knowles,1991;Bullough,Knowles&Crow,1992;Calderhead&Robson,1991;Elbaz,1983;Holt-Reynolds,1992;Tabachnick&Zeichner,1984)tellsusthatitisdi$culttointerruptoralternotionsaboutselfandothersthatprospectiveteachersbringtoclassrooms.AsKagan(1992)sum-marizedinherreviewofresearchontheprofes-sionalgrowthofprospectiveandnoviceteachers:thepersonalbeliefsandimagesthatpreservicecandidatesbringtoprogramsofteachereduca-tionusuallyremainin#exible.Candidatestendtousetheinformationprovidedincourseworktoconrmratherthantoconfrontandcorrecttheirpreexistingbeliefs.Thus,acandidate'spersonalbeliefsandimagesdeterminehowmuchknow-ledgethecandidateacquiresfromapreserviceprogramandhowitisinterpreted(p.154)Despitethedi$cultyofalteringtheviewsteachercandidatesbringwiththemtoteachereducation,Kagan(1992,p.155)believesthatanexaminationofselfisbotha`necessaryandcrucialelementaofteacherdevelopment.Indeed,anumberofinterven-tionshavebeenimplementedinteachereducationprogramstodevelopprospectiveteachers'criticalre#ection(Liston&Zeichner,1991;Zeichner,1996;Zeichner&Liston,1996)}adispositionforconsid-eringstudents'needs,interests,andbackgroundswhenplanningforcurriculumandinstructionandthesocial,political,andinstitutionalcontextsinwhichteachingandlearningoccur.Interventionsaimedatorientingteachercandidatestocriticallyre#ectivedispositionsinclude:requiringcommun-ityserviceandconversationsaboutthatserviceamongparticipants(Beyer,1991;Ladson-Billings,1991),requiringprospectiveteacherstoliveincul-turallyunfamiliarsettingswheretheyalsowillbeaskedtore#ectontheseexperiencesandtheirim-plicationsforteaching(Mahan,1982a,b),ando!er-ingcourses(Ahlquist,1991)andeldexperiences(Murrell,1992)thatengageteachercandidatesinconsideringthelivesandexperiencesandvalueofpeopleunlikethemselves.Inthepastdecade,someteachereducators(e.g.,Bloom&Munro,1995;Cland