On Becoming a Democratic Teacher Educator

Narratives of teacher educators fostering active participation in democratic life are of particular relevance to educators interested in teaching democratically and actualizing Dewey s pedagogical vision. Specifically, fostering facilitative relationships between teachers and students, in which teacher educators interpret knowledge of teaching as an outgrowth of students interests and experiences, is necessary for constructing authority relationships from community life. Doing so is important for helping students more fully maximize their growth, fulfill their potential as future teachers, and humanize learners in ways authoritarian practices cannot-thereby expanding and enacting the pedagogical possibilities of democratic teacher education. In this chapter, I highlight my journey of becoming a democratic teacher educator. My quest, as a beginning teacher educator, to learn the skills and knowledge necessary for making students interests central to my teaching-transforming my pedagogical practice from transmission to dialogue-proved pivotal to my knowledge and identity as a teacher educator. Such a shift constituted the central defining transition of my professional career. From my successes and failures at responding to students expressed interests in my first semester of pedagogical transformation, I illuminate the challenges of acting on one s pedagogical vision, balancing ideals with institutional and cultural constraints, and envisioning possible selves of relevance to expanding pedagogical possibilities in teacher education. In undergoing similar transitions-away from authoritarian practice and towards dialogue-teacher educators can courageously counter authoritarian assumptions in teaching and help future teachers construct pedagogical identities congruent with democratic aims.