Repurposing My Professional Practice: Learning from my students over time and place

Abstract

This article, written in narrative form, represents a data-based analysis of what I have learned about myself as a teacher of prospective teachers and as a teacher education researcher from Fall 2000 through Fall 2008 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The data for this analysis consist of three related data sets: notes on 13 people who graduated from an English teacher preparation program in Spring 2002, notes on the research team that collected data on the graduates and who participated in the early stages of analysis, and notes on my current teaching. I argue that it is impossible and undesirable to segment my professional practice into discrete components. I also argue that is simplistic and unrealistic to locate students' learning in one event or one factor. A longitudinal, qualitative design has provided me with insight into the development of my former students' practices and career paths and also into the challenges and complexities of maintaining connections through the medium of research.

Keywords:

• teacher education
• English education
• longitudinal research
• case study

Acknowledgements

This article is a revised version of a paper presented to the Seventh International Conference on Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices, August 2008, and is based upon work supported in part by the US Department of Education (Grant No. P336990042-00A) and by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Research Board. The government has certain rights in this material. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Education or the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I acknowledge Bryan Clift, Lara Hebert, and Raúl A, Mora, who provided helpful feedback on an earlier version of this article.