Living with Uncertainty

Living with Uncertainty contributes to our understanding of what it means to teach, offering new insights into teaching and teacher identity. Unlike the idealized teaching models that dominate research, this candid account illustrates the complicated realities of classroom practice. It is not an attempt to attain truth once and for all, but rather a systematic, theoretically informed, deliberate reflection of the author's experiences as he acknowledges uncertainty in his own teaching and seeks improvement. When Curt Dudley-Marling took a one-year leave from his university duties to return to the classroom, his plan was to document and reflect on his experiences as an elementary school teacher. What emerged from this "quest for certainty" was a more complicated notion of teaching, one marked by uncertainties, ambiguities, and contradictions. The chapters in this book provide a complex, often critical look at some important issues.

This book will be of interest to anyone concerned about the current state of education, especially preservice and inservice teachers, teacher educators, and teacher-researchers.