Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines predicaments generated by what might be called the culture of educational practice. It discusses predicaments that emerge from a broader origin, namely societal conditions writ large. Those conditions press down on teachers in ways that can trouble their classroom work. The book illustrates predicaments that come more directly from within the practice of teaching. It considers in terms of the authors’ concern both for the broader circumstances in which teachers work and for the immediacies of everyday practice. The book focuses on contemporary calls for teachers not only to “deliver the goods”—the traditional image of what teachers do—but also to help students understand the logic and structure of subject matter. It shows how one team of teachers, practicing in harmony with the program’s vision, enacted a rich version of the program’s philosophy.