Dialogic Ground: The Use of 'Teaching Dilemmas' with Prospective Teachers

Abstract

This article describes a method of storytelling that can assist novice teachers in moving toward “re-seeing” their stories of teaching not just as narratives of experience, but as sites for work to be done. The assignment novice teachers undertook as part of a methods class in the teaching of English language arts has the potential to be a catalyst for problem solving and decision making as teachers. We argue that telling one’s teaching stories in such a fashion helps novice teachers discover the layered and context-specific nature of schools and classrooms, as well as assists them in moving toward envisioning multiple possible solutions to the challenges they face in the classroom. Also, through this assignment, novice teachers were able to forge new understandings or build on ones already held by interacting with their peers about the dilemmas they faced as teachers.