That's Funny You Don't Look Like A Teacher!: Interrogating Images, Identity, And Popular Culture (World of Childhood & Adolescence)

177 Pages·1995·1.57 MB·English

by  Sandra J. Weber

That’s Funny, You Don’t Look
Like A Teacher!
DEDICATION
To Michel and Ann, with deepest love
For Rhona Small, just because…
And to our daughters, Stephanie Anne Weber Biron,
and Rebecca, Sarah, and Dorian Mitchell
That’s Funny, You Don’t
Look Like A Teacher!
Interrogating Images and Identity
in Popular Culture
Sandra Weber and Claudia Mitchell
UK The Falmer Press, 11 New Fetter Lane, London, EC4P 4EE
USA The Falmer Press, Taylor & Francis Inc., 325 Chestnut Street, 8th floor,
Philadelphia, PA19106
© S.Weber and C.Mitchell, 1995
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without permission in writing from the Publisher.

First published in 1995

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.
The Falmer Press is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data are
available on request

ISBN 0-203-45356-5 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-76180-4 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0 7507 0412 8 cased
ISBN 0 7507 0413 6 paper
Contents
List of Colour Plates vi
List of Figures vii
Acknowledgments ix
Foreword xi
Chapter 1 The Cumulative Cultural Text of Teacher 1
Chapter 2 Images, Metaphors, and Stereotypes: The Struggle for
Identity 20
Chapter 3 More Than Words: Drawing Out the Gendered Nature
of Teacher Identity and Work 33
Chapter 4 Clothes Make the Teacher? Adornment and Identity 54
Chapter 5 Romancing School 72
Chapter 6 Action Heroes in the Classroom: The Gendered
Landscape of Schooling 94
Chapter 7 Teacher as Woman, Woman as Teacher: Texts of Desire 109
Chapter 8 Through the Teacher’s Gaze 128
References 141
Index 153
v
List of Colour Plates
Plate 1 Fact and fantasy: Drawn by a twelve-year-old male student
Plate 2 Traditional teacher: Drawn by a nine-year-old girl
Plate 3 An ideal teacher?: Drawn by a female student teacher
Plate 4 Real teacher in imaginary setting: Drawn by a six-year-old girl
Plate 5 Sugar and spice: An eight-year-old girl’s view of her teacher
Plate 6 Dragon lady with breasts: An eight-year-old boy’s view of his teacher
Plate 7 Teacher’s discipline: Drawn by an eight-year-old boy
Plate 8 Prairie teacher with bun: Drawn by a female student teacher
Plate 9 Teacher as fairy princess: Drawn by a six-year-old girl
Plate 10 Clothes make the teacher: Self-portrait by a male student teacher
Plate 11 Dressed to impress: Self-portrait by a female student teacher
Plate 12 I see what you are saying: Drawn by a twelve-year-old girl
vi
List of Figures
Figure 1 Adam cartoon: He draws/she draws 36
Figure 2 Manly female teacher 40
Figure 3 Calm down class: Classroom discipline 49
Figure 4 Teacher’s favourite subject 52
Figure 5 Cool dood: Teacher as a punk rocker 69
Figure 6 Serious-looking teacher 70
Figure 7 Barbie is not just any student teacher 111
vii

Acknowledgments
Writing an acknowledgment is a challenge indeed. How to adequately express
the fine quality of the many contributions made by so many people? How to
truly acknowledge the importance of others to this project? Like all books,
this book reflects not only our own thoughts, work, and experience, but also
that of countless other people—colleagues and teachers, past and present,
research assistants, graduate and undergraduate students, and inspiring
scholars, novelists, and authors who, although they may not agree with us,
were instrumental in stimulating our reflection. Authors do not live or write
in a vacuum. Their writings and ours are permeated with echoes, grace notes,
images, and shadows from a lifetime of encounters with significant others.
We wish we could name them all, but that would require a book in itself.
Crucial to this project are two very special and talented people who
played the most critical role of all. Without the extensive research assistance,
challenging feedback, and exceptional editorial skills of Vanessa Nicolai and
Faith Butler, this book would not have been possible. There is no way to
adequately acknowledge the value and extent of their contribution.
The research on which this book is based was funded by the Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and by Concordia
and McGill Universities (internal research grants). We gratefully acknowledge
their assistance.
There are a number of other people whose direct contribution to this
book we would like to acknowledge with thanks: Jacqueline Reid-Walsh for
significant work on Barbie and Nancy Drew, Ann Smith and Michel Boyer
for their helpful editorial advice, Marie Gemma, Nancy Mackenzie, and
Larry Prochner, for some wonderful data. In addition, the technical assistance
of Kathy McElroy from McGill and the help provided by the staff at the
Museum of Radio and Television in New York were much appreciated.
We acknowledge with pleasure the contribution of our doctoral students,
and we would also like to thank the graduate students who participated in
the winter 1994 seminar at McGill on ‘Discourse in teacher education’. We
were able to explore many of the ideas for this book with them. Equally
important is the contribution of our undergraduate students at Concordia
and McGill, many of whom have shared with us their drawings and
reflections on teachers. The warmth and generosity of students and faculty at
Arctic College, North West Territories, Canada, Beit Berl College, Israel,
ix