Clinical Entrepreneurship: A Student Teacher Assigning Desktop Documentary Making

This qualitative research study examines a student teacher's assignment of a historical documentary project in her eighth grade U.S. History class. Data for the study consisted of classroom observations, document retrieval, and interviews with both the student teacher and her cooperating teacher. Using a triad of frameworks (ambitious teaching, student teaching experimentation, and Cultural Historical Activity Theory), this study sought to understand what led the student teacher to employ documentary making and how she employed it into her classroom. Results reveal that this student teacher proposed the documentary project to the cooperating teacher, who supported the student teacher as she integrated it. Additionally, the two teachers employed documentary making as a means to foster a personal connection with students as well as a personal encounter with the past. Finally, the student teacher was proactive in light of experiencing adversity with assigning the documentary project. Implications of these findings are discussed.