What Makes Me Wobble As A Student?

Wobble occurred for me as I sought to answer the question:

How do I balance my personal belief that teacher candidates must be supported and nurtured while honoring the integrity of our profession? This question emerged from the critical incident of dismissing a teacher candidate from the program. In textualizing my personal and professional experiences as a public school teacher for 12 years and now as an assistant professor, I explored my wobble in response to this critical event. Through conversations and connections with my critical friends and the sharing of literature, I began to further examine my beliefs about learning and thinking.

Bruner’s (1986) two modes of thinking emerged as pertinent influences in this study. A paradigmatic view of learning and thinking is

This leaves much to be desired when our students demonstrate dispositional issues that are better suited to a narrative view of assessment. To tell and know the complete story of ourselves and our students, the paradigmatic and narrative paradigms must be utilized as complementary modes of thinking. The wobble for me came as I realized that in spite of analyzing and striving to understand and support the teacher candidate in terms of both views, the difficult decision to dismiss the student from the program was necessary.

This realization resulted in me questioning my deep rooted belief that growth, learning, and change can occur given the right opportunities and when marked by authenticity, trust, and reciprocal care (Hickman, 2010; Noddings, 1984). As a woman, a special educator, and an educational leader, my belief in the ability to inspire others to achieve goals through collaboration, relationship building, and empowerment had been shaken. It was through the process of textualizing the experience about the unsuccessful teacher candidate that I realized despite belief, empowerment, and care, some are not meant to be