Cultural Assimilation: A Narrative Case Study of Student-Teaching in an Inner-City School.

A preservice teacher’s personal beliefs regarding teaching are confronted by her experiences during a yearlong internship in an inner-city school. Analysis of four interviews, 12 written re#ections, and seven transcribed group discussions revealed a sense of the culture shock Mary experienced on entering the inner-city school. Her narratives described a journey from initial culture shock, eliciting both emotional and cognitive dissonance, to cultural assimilation as she adapted to her concerns about her students, her worries about getting along with her mentoring teacher, and her doubts about her own abilities. ( 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

[1]  L. Iannaccone.  Student teaching: A transitional stage in the making of a teacher , 1963 .

[2]  F. Michael Connelly,et al.  Stories of Experience and Narrative Inquiry , 1990 .

[3]  R. Yin.  Case Study Research: Design and Methods , 1984 .

[4]  J. Kozol.  Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools , 1992 .

[5]  M. Haberman,et al.  Handbook of research on teacher education , 1990 .

[6]  Peter C. McDermott,et al.  The Influence of Classroom Practica Experiences on Student Teachers' Thoughts about Teaching , 1993 .

[7]  Wayne Williams,et al.  The relationship between supervising teachers' personal attributes and professional backgrounds and the attitudes of their student teachers , 1992 .

[8]  P. Pintrich,et al.  Educational psychology for teachers: Reforming our courses, rethinking our roles , 1995 .

[9]  R. Laurent.  La formation des enseignants dans le débat scolaire aux États-Unis : Holmes Group. — To Morrow Teachers, 1986 ; ; Carnegie Forum on Education and the Economy. — A Nation Prepared : Teachers for the 21st Century, 1986 , 1988 .

[10]  J. Calderhead,et al.  Images of teaching: Student teachers' early conceptions of classroom practice , 1991 .

[11]  David C. Berliner,et al.  The Development of Expertise in Pedagogy. , 1988 .

[12]  C. Craig.  Knowledge Communities: A Way of Making Sense of How Beginning Teachers Come to Know in Their Professional Knowledge Contexts* , 1995 .

[13]  C. Craig.  THE INFLUENCE OF CONTEXT ON ONE TEACHER’S INTERPRETIVE KNOWLEDGE OF TEAM TEACHING , 1998 .

[14]  S. Weber.  The Narrative Anecdote in Teacher Education , 1993 .

[15]  H. Tillema.  Training and professional expertise: Bridging the gap between new information and pre-existing beliefs of teachers , 1994 .

[16]  H. Walberg.  Personality: Role Conflict and Self-Conception in Urban Practice Teachers , 1968, The School Review.

[17]  Anthony J Gabriele,et al.  Preservice Teachers' Prior Beliefs: Transforming Obstacles into Opportunities. , 1998 .

[18]  Frances F. Fuller.  Concerns of Teachers: A Developmental Conceptualization1 , 1969 .

[19]  J. Thomas,et al.  On Becoming a Good Teacher: Reflective Practice with Regard to Children's Voices , 1998 .

[20]  N. Denzin,et al.  Handbook of Qualitative Research , 1994 .

[21]  K. Williamson,et al.  “I Wouldn't Want to Shoot Nobody”: The Out-of-School Curriculum as Described by Urban Students , 1992 .

[22]  D. Kagan.  Professional Growth Among Preservice and Beginning Teachers , 1992 .

[23]  Lorraine McCune-Nicolich,et al.  Educational psychology for teachers , 1980 .

[24]  Y. Lincoln.  In search of students’ voices , 1995 .

[25]  L. Weiner.  Preparing Teachers for Urban Schools: Lessons from Thirty Years of School Reform , 1993 .