With conceptions of literacy growing beyond the traditional print medium, new understandings of multiliteracy practices and pedagogies are needed to better inform the preparation of secondary English teachers. This article presents the findings of a study examining five first year teachers' understandings of and experiences with multiliteracies.…

Resilience is essential to the good teacher. This paper summarises research on factors that have sustained one life in education and compares them with narratives from nine other long-serving and fulfilled teachers. It identifies some elements that build teacher resilience and discusses how this knowledge might apply to teacher education and the…

The purpose of this study was to determine the continued impact of a short-term international student teaching experience on participants during the first five years following graduation from their teacher preparation program. We investigated the sustainability of pedagogical skills and personal growth through a comparison of alumni initial…

In this article, William Ayers reflects on his teaching experiences starting in 1965 when he found that teaching, from his first day until the present, has been linked for him to the persistent longing for freedom, and the never-ending quest for justice. He describes the "Children's Community"--"an experiment in freedom and…

This research examines the school-based training experiences of a female trainee teacher of physical education (Emily) at a grammar school for boys. The purpose of this research is to consider whether the sex of the trainee teacher either inhibits or advances the professional development of trainee teachers in an opposite-sex school. Emily…

This article presents the author's presidential address, delivered at the NCTE Annual Convention in Chicago, Illinois, on November 20, 2011. The author focuses on the powerful stories that define educators. The author's point is that telling one's story is one of the most important things an educator can do for those he/she teaches as well as for…

Schwab (1978) argued that curriculum emerged in the commonplaces of teacher, learner, subject matter and milieu. It was in these four frames that I narratively explored my own development as an English teacher and curriculum planner around Shakespeare's work, particularly "The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet." In this narrative, I relate four…

It is common practice to invite survivors of the Holocaust to speak about their experiences to pupils in schools and colleges. Systematic reflection on the value of working with survivors of the Holocaust and other genocides and on how to make the most of doing so is rarer, however. In this article Andrew Preston reports how his school has worked…

The purpose of this article is to share wisdom collected from the field and offer a view of meaningful learning, explore the tensions that exist in educators' work, and invite conversation about the future of educational practice. The anecdotes and data come from a series of research studies conducted from 2001 to 2011 by a cadre of middle grades…

This paper explores how 20 African teachers in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, construct their identities in the light of inclusive education, and how they negotiate the tensions and contradictions emerging from the process of becoming inclusive practitioners. Central to this discussion is the understanding that teachers' identities are…

Broadly speaking, this reflection approaches the on-going concern of capacitating an overwhelmingly White teaching profession for effectively teaching inner-city students attending "de facto" segregated schools. Using professional identifications, this reflection presents narrativized understanding of respondents' "becoming"…

The "urban" mathematics classroom has become an increasingly polarized site, one where many middle-class White teachers attempt to bridge the divide between themselves and their relatively economically disadvantaged, non-White students. With its mania for high-stakes testing, current education policy has intensified the importance of…

This study looked at the transition from preservice teacher to teacher by considering novice teacher success stories. This investigation rested on the presumption that the first year of teaching may be a struggle for some. This claim was underscored by the prevalence of the sink or swim metaphor in discourse related to induction. To understand how…

When a teacher enters a classroom, a story begins. The plot is informed by its characters and setting-the students, faculty, and the surrounding community. If a teacher comes from outside this community--whether in terms of race, class, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, ability status, or culture--the plot thickens. Existing…

In this narrative inquiry, I explored the role of language in the lives of six Russian-speaking immigrant teachers. Theoretical perspectives emphasized experience, context, and culture in understanding their beliefs, and language served as an interpretive lens through which the experiences were explored. The inquiry revealed the following…