Chapter 2: Building a Photographic Teaching Philosophy: ELA Preservice Teachers’ Journey to See the Unseen

In the first week of my Introduction to Teaching English in Secondary Schools course, I tell my English Language Arts (ELA) preservice teachers (PSTs) that they will need to uncover what they believe about education. These beliefs include those about the roles of teachers and students, what should be taught, and how teaching and learning should take place. Additionally, I indicate that they should investigate how they came to these beliefs. I emphasize that it is important that they see what previously may have been unseen or unexamined in order to organize and confront their educational beliefs and histories. This process of examination is important because education researchers have found that past experiences and life histories can positively or negatively affect how preservice teachers will teach in the future (Britzman, 1992; Connelly and Clandinin, 1988; Knowles, 1992; Lortie, 2002).