Teaching/writing Workshop: A Critical Memoir Of Training Teacher Candidates In Developmental Composition
Abstract
I began by attempting to fill a gap I observed in the preparation of the novice teachers whom I supervised. I created a teaching apprenticeship program in order to give preservice teachers opportunities to enact the theories and methods of writing instruction that I had taught them. The more I read and researched, the more I uncovered important gaps in those theories and methods.Through narrative and critical self-study, I explore my own teaching life, my work with both struggling college writers and teachers-in-training, and my attempts to navigate the complex institutional forces that can frustrate innovation. Ultimately, I suggest that opening up gaps to make space for dialogue, reflection, and the interplay of theory and practice may be more productive than filling gaps through curricular change.