Supporting teacher candidates’ development of critical thinking skills through dialogue and reflection

This chapter employs a dialogic, sociocultural perspective to describe ways teacher educators can support teacher candidates as they develop the critical thinking skills needed to make the transition from student to teacher in contemporary classrooms in the United States. Data from a longitudinal qualitative study are used to examine the utility of problem-posing seminars and subsequent reflection as tools that can help English teacher candidates embrace the tension they encounter as competing ideologies both complicate and nurture their efforts to enact a student-centered framework for teaching. Specifically, participants’ reflections on their efforts to employ dialogic approaches to teaching are explored in the context of standardized curricula and classroom settings. Data suggest that making dialogue and reflection key facets of teacher education programs creates conditions for critical thinking and creativity to flourish.