Search results

Advancing Social Studies Education through Self-Study Methodology provides a collection of works that highlights ways in which self-study of teaching and teacher education practices can advance conversations and knowledge in social studies education. Some of the pieces chosen for this book will provide theoretical connections between the two fields (e.g. how values and principles important to both fields work together, are similar, and can help each field expand). Others will provide specific examples of self-studies that focus on social studies specific concepts. The book provides a strong and clear introduction of self-study to the field of social studies education as well as an argument for its use to further understand social studies teaching and teacher education. It also provides the self-study community with an example of how self-study can be used to look at content specific aspects of teaching and teacher education.

In this volume teacher educators explicitly and implicitly share their visions for the purposes, experiences, and commitments necessary for social studies teacher preparation in the twenty-first century. It is divided into six sections where authors reconsider: 1) purposes, 2) course curricula, 3) collaboration with on-campus partners, 4) field experiences, 5) community connections, and 6) research and the political nature of social studies teacher education. The chapters within each section provide critical insights for social studies researchers, teacher educators, and teacher education programs. Whether readers begin to question what are we teaching social studies teachers for, who should we collaborate with to advance teacher learning, or how should we engage in the politics of teacher education, this volume leads us to consider what ideas, structures, and connections are most worthwhile for social studies teacher education in the twenty-first century to pursue.

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to share findings from research on preservice social studies teachers' visions of themselves as they prepare to enter their student teaching experience.


Design/methodology/approach
The guiding research question for this study asked, "How do preservice social studies teachers articulate their visions of themselves as powerful social studies teachers just before their student teaching experience?"


Findings
The authors found that their visions of themselves emphasized aspects of powerful teaching, yet lacked explicit and important connections to social studies teaching. In their discussion and conclusions, they share the implications of these findings for their social studies teacher education program and other social studies education programs generally.


Originality/value
The authors contend that while powerful teaching is important, without an emphasis on powerful social studies teaching, they may struggle to achieve social studies teaching goals and purposes, such as teaching for democratic living, the common good, or citizenship. The distinction between powerful teaching and powerful social studies teaching, the authors believe, should be of concern for social studies teacher educators interested in positioning student teachers to create classroom spaces focused on the common good, national and global societies, or the deepening of democracy.

In this study we explored prospective social studies teachers' memories of their middle and high school social studies teachers. Our goal was to determine what lessons, if any, their apprenticeships of observation taught them about teaching. Analysis of interviews with these prospective teachers indicated they talked about five ways of being a social studies teacher: an information giver, a content knowledge expert, a "character", a caring, committed teacher, and "powerful." After discussing these five ways of being a social studies teacher we present implications for teacher educators interested in building upon prospective teachers' initial conceptions of powerful social studies teaching and learning.