Section Introduction to Part III

The final section of the book begins with a chapter by Deborah Bieler and Leslie David Burns that articulates the centrality of social justice in English education. This chapter reveals the tensions surrounding definitions of social justice, yet articulates the importance of the commitment to social justice tenets within teaching practices, particularly through professional organizations such as the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). In the following chapter, the chapter “Addressing LGBTQ-Themed Texts and Heteronormativity in English Education,” Melissa Schieble and Jody Polleck illustrate the ways that social justice teaching can be incorporated into an English language arts methods course through LGBT-themed literature. Schieble and Polleck describe an innovative field experience for prospective English teachers that focuses on pairing prospective teachers with mentor teachers who can help prospective teachers develop critical orientations to classroom teaching. As Schieble and Polleck note, teacher education programs consistently struggle to provide opportunities to engage teacher candidates in learning why and how to implement critical work in schools. Peter Williamson and Marshall A. George, in the chapter “Toward Clinically Rich English and Literacy Teacher Preparation: A Tale of Two Programs,” situate social justice tenets and preparation in school sites within teacher education university-school partnerships, more generally, and urge us to consider what a true partnership approach to teacher education might look like. Particular features of two clinically rich English language arts teacher preparation programs, one in California the other in New York, are described in an effort to share lessons learned. Finally, in the book’s concluding chapter, Terri L. Rodriguez, Catherine (Kate) M. Bohn-Gettler, Madeleine (Madey) H. Israelson, Madeline (Maddy) A. O’Brien, and Lauren Thoma present a collaborative view of socially just teacher education. This final chapter paves new ground in that it recognizes the seemingly contradictory ways that privilege can act as a barrier and as a resource in social justice teaching. The authors pose questions about social justice teaching: Is it reflection? Is it action? Is it always both? and use these questions as a guide, prompting us to consider our current definitions and the affordances and limitations of them. This chapter is a perfect conclusion for the volume as it leaves us with the suggestion that English language arts teacher education, as field, is always seeking to challenge itself – its aims, goals, and its future. Questioning, acting, and reflecting are the components of English teacher education that have spurred its change throughout its history, and the concluding chapter reminds us that the spiral of questioning, acting, and reflecting must be carried forward as the field continues to evolve and change.