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The Significance of Geographic and Programmatic Context in Developing Historical Case Studies in Social Foundations in Teacher Education

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Isaac Gottesman  and
Michael Bowman
Isaac Gottesman
Affiliation:
School of Education at Iowa State University
Michael Bowman
Affiliation:
School of Education at Iowa State University
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In the summer of 2008, we met at an alehouse in Columbia City, a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood on Seattle's south side, to begin conceptualizing and designing a School & Society class we were teaching that fall in a Master of Teaching (MIT) elementary teacher education program at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle. One of us (Isaac) was working on a dissertation and was the instructor of record, while the other (Michael) was transitioning from master's to doctoral student, and was the teaching assistant. This was the first preservice teacher education social foundations course either of us had taught. The experience of working together on that course has led to several years of collaborative thinking about social foundations in teacher education, including developing what we call a “place-conscious approach”—an approach that grounds the political and normative questions at the heart of social foundations in the history of places in which preservice teachers learn to teach.

Type
Forum
Information
History of Education Quarterly , Volume 56 , Issue 1 , February 2016 , pp. 172 - 181
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 History of Education Society 

References

1 For an earlier iteration of our thinking, see Bowman, Michael and Gottesman, Isaac, “Why Practice-Centered Teacher Education Programs Need Social Foundations,” Teachers College Record (March 22, 2013), http://www.tcrecord.org, ID number: 17066.Google Scholar

2 Though written with a focus on preservice teacher education, we believe the issues of geographic context and programmatic context are relevant in all place-based case study approaches. In this forum, for instance, these issues are notably central to the type of work undertaken by Daugherty, Jack, Erickson, Ansley, Hale, John, and Lewis, Heather.Google Scholar

3 For further discussion, see Bowman, and Gottesman, , “Why Practice-Centered Teacher Education Programs Need Social Foundations.”Google Scholar

4 Each program offers two sections of a foundations course. One of us (Isaac) has taught Elementary and Secondary sections while the other (Michael) has taught several sections of Elementary. Individual instructors determine course syllabi for foundations in both programs.Google Scholar

5 The UW is also a central site for the development of practice-centered teacher education scholarship. For farther discussion on practice-centered teacher education, see Zeichner, Kenneth, “The Turn Once Again Toward Practice-Based Teacher Education,” Journal of Teacher Education 63, no. 5 (2012): 376–82.Google Scholar

6 Preservice teachers complete practicum and student teaching in the Seattle area, and frequently in Seattle public schools. This is also the area in which most candidates seek in-service positions.Google Scholar

7 The coinstructor in this course was Kate Napolitan. These individual and group interviews were part of a Spencer Foundation Small Grant—funded programmatic research project at the UW concerned with the implementation of a Community-Family-Politics strand within teacher education. This work was done in collaboration with the Multicultural Education Rights Alliance (McERA). Publications based on this work are currently under review. For a brief description and its potential relation to social foundations, see James Fraser, “HES Presidential Address: The Future of the Study of Our Educational Past—Whither the History of Education?” History of Education Quarterly 55, no. 1 (February 2015): 27.Google Scholar

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12 As is the case with all large teacher education programs, cohesion, even if desired, is rather difficult to realize due to the sheer volume of students, faculty and staff, and the numerous moving parts, such as placements.Google Scholar

13 The other three are Educational Technology, Special Education, and Multicultural Education.Google Scholar

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19 In an attempt to leverage individual instructor expertise and to foster an environment of collaboration and dialogue across sections, instructors meet regularly to reflect on student work, share instructional activities, and more generally discuss the course. Course instructors over the past few years have thus been instrumental in improving the class and deserve recognition: Achter, Chuck, Butler, Malika, Fairchild, Ellen, Farley, Jennifer, Moen, Tami, and Gillern, Sam Von.Google Scholar

20 In addition to the valuable contributions of other course instructors, we are also collaborating with a faculty member in elementary social studies education, Swalwell, Katy, who taught a class in Summer 2015 on Teaching and Learning Iowa History: Iowans and the Civil Rights Movement.Google Scholar