Multiple Annies

Abstract

Feminist poststructural theories of subjectivity posit a notion of the self as a site of disunity and conflict that is always in process and constructed within power relations. In teacher education, this theory of subjectivity troubles the notion of a predetermined, unified teacher identity assumed to emerge if a novice follows a linear, already-completed path of the student teaching experience. This article presents the story of Annie, a young woman learning to teach under the guidance of two cooperating teachers, Candace and Sheila, who espoused opposing discourses of teaching and mentoring. Deconstruction of Annie’s experience illuminates how her subjectivities shifted between competing discourses within the discursive field of her student teaching experience. Annie’s becoming a teacher was a wrenching, uneven process as she constructed her teacher subjectivities while situated within the unstable relationships between power, knowledge, and experience. Annie’s experience of learning to teach offers a postmodern perspective on the normalizing assumptions and discourses embedded in current teacher education practices.

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