Tales from the edge : perspectives on "at-risk" teaching

• Main Author: Fukui, Leanne Kazumi
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: Teaching > Anecdotes; Teacher-student relationships; Underachievers > Education
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/9288

This qualitative study provides entrance into the everyday experiences of a team of teachers working in an alternate program. The teachers' personal narratives of the daily, intimate and complex interactions between teachers and students are presented and probed for possible interpretations. Their anecdotes reveal that these teachers do not experience students' risk, in the usual negative sense of the word, but instead as hope for that which is not yet, and for that which might be possible. This hope is shown, for example, through teacher care and commitment to individual students, as well as through high teacher expectations and clearly articulated standards which the students must work hard to achieve. This study suggests that understanding what it is to teach well in a so-called "at-risk" setting is to increase our understanding of the greater question of what it is to teach.