Agency Through Teacher Education—Reflection, Community, and Learning

Agency through Teacher Education: Reflection, Community, and Learning addresses the ways that agency functions for those involved in twenty-first-century teacher education. This book, commissioned by the Association of Teacher Educators, relies on the voices of teacher education candidates, in-service teachers, school leaders, and university-based educators to illustrate what agency looks like, sounds like, and feels like for people trying to act as agents of change. These examples take the form of narratives, theoretical explorations, formal research studies, and reflective essays. Agency through Teacher Education does not seek to establish one definition for agency, but rather to conceptualize it from three perspectives: reflective practice, community engagement/activism, and organizational learning. The book seeks to explore ways stakeholders in- and outside the classroom become agents of change, as well as the traditional and non-traditional roles played out in teacher education programs across the United States.

Ryan Flessner is an assistant professor of teacher education at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. His teaching and research interests include elementary and early childhood education, elementary mathematics, teacher research, and issues of diversity, equity, and social justice.

Grant R. Miller is an assistant professor in curriculum and instruction at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. His teaching and research interests include social studies education, media literacy, and program evaluation.

Kami M. Patrizio is an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy studies at Virginia Tech University. Her research and teaching focus on learning, collaboration, and qualitative research methods.

Julie R. Horwitz is an assistant professor in educational studies at Rhode Island College in Providence, Rhode Island. Her research and teaching focuses on middle and high school content area literacy, social justice, critical reflection, and teacher research.