ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how the external context of Uncertain Times pushes upon the discipline of English language arts teacher education, the specific discipline that teachers featured in this book are embedded within. I view the construction of school subjects, like English language arts, through a dual lens. Whereas I recognize that some critical theorists focus on the role of schooling in normalizing behavior and preparing citizens by transforming contentious disciplinary content into unambiguous knowledge (e.g., Fendler, 2003; Popkewitz, 1998), other critical theorists (e.g., Giroux, 1988) use this understanding of school subjects as a platform from which to focus on the agency (or lack thereof) of students within classrooms and schools. The school subject itself, then, becomes a means for accomplishing the goals of schooling, rather than promoting disciplinary knowledge (Popkewitz, 1998).
