Stories of Teaching A Foundation for Educational Renewal

PREFACE INTRODUCTION TO INSTRUCTORS We have written this book for people who love great stories of teaching and who believe these stories are a powerful way to learn about the world of education. The stories we have chosen are designed to spark discussion about important educational issues and to provoke teachers to reexamine their assumptions about learning. We seek, above all, to engage and excite our readers and to immerse them, through the vehicle of stories, in the concrete particulars of everyday teaching. The stories explored in this book axe written by superb teacher/writers who paint realistic and vivid portraits of classroom life. Their narratives sharply depict the stirring interactions that make contemporary teaching such challenging and exhilarating work. Furthermore, these stories underscore how much inspiring teachers can accomplish when they retain faith in the ability of learners to master even the most difficult academic material. We have divided the teachers' stories in this book into six types of genres: narrative of social criticism, narrative of induction and apprenticeship, narrative of reflective practice, narrative of journey, narrative of hope, and narrative of freedom. We devote one chapter to each of the story types and incorporate discussions of at least three distinct narratives in each chapter. In these chapters, we explore the special problems of teaching presented by each genre. In the narrative of social criticism, for instance, we examine stories that highlight major social problems or that advance powerful critiques of schools. In the narrative of apprenticeship, we consider the unique challenges faced by beginning teachers, while in the narrative of reflective practice we focus on the teaching of Vivian Paley and her ability to hone her craft through careful and systematic reflection. The narrative of journey dwells on the autobiographies of teachers who have spent half their lives in education, whereas the narrative of hope reminds us that strategies for sustaining and perpetuating hope are a critical aspect of the craft of teaching. Finally, the narrative of freedom, like the narrative of reflective practice, centers on the lessons of a single, remarkable educator--bell hooks--and her uncompromising commitment to teaching as the practice of freedom. In all of these chapters, we retell these stories in powerful and compelling ways but are especially intent upon drawing out lessons for novice and experienced teachers alike. A partial listing of the lessons we derive include that the best teachers: skillfully observe human interactions in classrooms carefully ground their teaching in a vision of a democratic community dedicate themselves tirelessly to their students' growth and welfare maintain challenging but flexible standards and are responsive to their students' individual needs learn constantly from colleagues and students and from their surroundings are stubbornly resilient and relentlessly affirming take risks and learn from mistakes and errors think continuously about their practices use dialogue and storytelling to help their students grow create secure places for learners are first and foremost learners themselves reflect on their own experiences as learners and use what they know about themselves to help others retain faith in the ability of all students to learn cannot conceive of teaching without a foundation in hope believe that human liberation is one of the enduring goals of all teaching ORGANIZATION Chapter 1 argues that reading outstanding teacher narratives by skilled teacher-writers is an invaluable way to prepare new teachers and to assist veterans in growing professionally. We also make a case for narrative as a way of knowing, and we offer more extensive descriptions of the siPreskill, Stephen L. is the author of 'Stories of Teaching A Foundation for Educational Renewal', published 2000 under ISBN 9780139212482 and ISBN 0139212485.