ABSTRACT
Anna Cunningham, a prospective teacher in the teacher education program at Green State University (GSU), a large university in the Midwestern United States, spoke with me in the middle of the spring semester of her senior year. At this point in the semester, Anna was disenchanted with the job search process she was beginning at the same time she was finishing her teacher licensure program. Due to recent state budget cuts, Anna knew that positions teaching English language arts (ELA) in the United States were difficult to attain. In the past two years, state money to support public schools had dwindled, thereby affecting the number of open teaching positions in many public school districts in several states. Anna was one of many pre-service teachers who had expressed distress about what was perceived to be a dismal job market for future English teachers.
