Portraits of Teacher Preparation: Learning to Teach in a Changing America

More often, teacher educators and the programs and institutions they represent are often confronted with an increasingly difficult responsibility of preparing teachers to address issues of diversity, social justice, and equity. Here, Patrick and Karen Jenlink bring to the foreground, current work by teacher educators in universities across the U.S. It specifically focuses on the challenges of: · Standards and accountability · The No Child Left Behind Act · Licensure/certification issues · Increasing diversity · Issues of social justice · Shifting demographics, and · The myriad of social issues that make schools and teaching problematic. The editors incorporate "portrait" as a metaphor and guiding lens for examining their respective programs, providing richly detailed descriptions, and defining qualities of the teacher preparation programs that illuminate how teachers learn in a field-based program. The nine portraits presented throughout this book provide the reader an experience of seeing new ways of learning to teach, set against the backdrop of a changing America. The authors demonstrate an understanding of the need to set aside conventional practices for new mediums of expression and learning and constructing new and alternative pedagogies for learning. Importantly, the authors present a narrative window into learning to teach that reflects a re-imagining of teacher education as a culturally and ethically responsive action towards creating alternative futures for America's schools. For faculty and administrators in higher education, teacher educators, and public school staff.