Chapter 4: Places of Possibility, Sites of Action: Reseeing the Gaps between High School and College Writing Instruction

We re-envision gaps student teachers experience between their teacher preparation courses and field experiences as opportunities for real critical engagement in their work rather than merely regrettable divisions. We find Wolfgang Iser’s definition of “gaps” in the reading process provides a useful analogy for considering how gaps between teacher education and teaching in schools might become dynamic sites of interpretive possibility. Paulo Freire’s concept of mediation offers a way for teachers to position themselves as active participants who turn gaps into problems to solve, bridges between what is and what could be.