ABSTRACT
This chapter shows how one preservice teacher examined positions of advocacy during her time as a student teacher. Social equity teaching recognizes that students learn within social, political, and cultural contexts and advocates for students by focusing on the assets of students' literacy capabilities in ways that attempt to offset social inequalities. Because social equity teaching is cultivated over time, preservice teachers would benefit from teacher education programs that foster systematic opportunities for preservice teachers to enact and examine teacher identities. Erica, a European American female in her early twenties, was enrolled in a master's level English education program in a large public university in the northeast United States. Erica's philosophy of herself as a teacher reflected a desire to position herself as an advocate for her students. Erica's analysis also confirmed that students situated her as an advocate.
