Research: Preparing Activist ELA Teachers for the Political: An Exploration of Approaches in Our Field

Teaching is political work—now more than ever, perhaps—and this article seeks to contribute to the conversation on the politics of English language arts education by trying to understand how English teacher educators take up activist stances in their work. Informed by a critical pedagogy perspective, indebted to Paulo Freire particularly, we write through the following question: How do ELA teacher educators describe making activism part of their preparation of future teachers? Our findings, informed by a national survey and follow-up interviews with 19 participants, suggest myriad tactics and strategies ELA teacher educators use to enact a progressive, activist vision in teacher education classrooms. We imagine this article as both manifesto and manual with respect to what an activist ELA teacher education can be for a world to come.