Teacher Preparation as an Inspirational Practice: Building Capacities for Responsiveness

Winner of the 2015 AERA Division K Award for Exemplary Research in Teaching and Teacher Education Amid the chorus of demands for change in teacher education, Teacher Preparation as an Inspirational Practice focuses on an equally important but seldom discussed question: What should stay constant? This book provides a compelling answer—nurturing the capacities of prospective teachers to be responsive to their future students, while also being responsive to teacher candidates themselves. This book draws from the literature base on teaching’s moral dimensions to establish a framework for responsiveness in teacher education, describes obstacles to its actualization, and suggests approaches for nurturing responsive capacities in teacher candidates. Teacher educators will find personal relevance and resonance in the familiar, daily language of practice used in this book. Voices of teacher candidates, preservice teacher educators, and school administrators animate the conversation about responsiveness through reflections about personal experiences, aspirations, and challenges. Philosophy and practice are situated within the context of tensions between standardization and teachers’ commitments to remain true to the unique needs of students and teacher candidates.