Advocacy, Humanity, and Hope in the Face of an Education World Gone Wrong

Abstract

If given the choice, would we, as teacher educators, enter the profession again? Would we embark on a career that is faced with an antagonistic national context that has permeated nearly every aspect of a teacher’s existence – from the media to the teachers’ lounge, from the lack of support from parents to the lack of respect from students, from the misguided policies and accountability demands to the blanket, uncreative curriculum? How can we, as teacher educators who are doubting our own place in the field, reasonably expect to make a difference in the careers of our graduates? This chapter explores how and why the preparation of English Language Arts teachers must focus on three tenets in the present context for education: Advocacy, Humanity, and Hope. By examining different approaches that both authors have used with teacher candidates through multiple vignettes, we will create a deeper understanding of both the realities our new teachers face and the ways in which they can efficaciously face those realities and help reclaim the profession of teaching. Our work will be grounded in a blended framework of critical pedagogy and progressivism and thus examine these vignettes through that collective lens.

Citation

Witte, S. and Goering, C.Z. (2017), "Advocacy, Humanity, and Hope in the Face of an Education World Gone Wrong", Innovations in English Language Arts Teacher Education (Advances in Research on Teaching, Vol. 27), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 41-60. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-368720170000027003