Chapter 5: Establishing Teacher Allies through Critical Multicultural Coursework

2021 ◽  
Vol 123 (13) ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Lan Kolano ◽  
Leslie Gutierrez ◽  
Anna Sanczyk
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Undocumented Immigrants ◽  
The United States ◽  
Border Crossing ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Immigration Laws ◽  
Alternative Routes ◽  
Policies And Practices

Background Contemporary dominant discourses surrounding (un)documented migration in the United States are commonly divided into two polarized frames: those immigrants who are hard workers seeking a better life, and others who are border-crossing criminals. For teachers in the Southeast, developing an understanding of immigrants becomes critically important as new demographic trends and anti-immigration rhetoric have resulted in the implementation of restrictive laws, policies, and practices. In this article, we move beyond pedagogical strategies that address students’ linguistic needs and explore what teachers know and say about immigration, along with what they know about undocumented and DACAmented students. Purpose The purpose of this study was to explore the ways in which exposure to counternarratives of undocumented or DACAmented youth and families altered the frames in which teachers viewed immigration and undocumented and DACAmented immigrants. Research Design The researchers used qualitative methods to collect a series of narratives in the form of I-essays from 71 preservice teachers over four semesters. The narratives were then used as a tool of communication in exploring two research questions: (1) What were teachers’ perceptions of undocumented immigrants, given the racialized context in the Southeast? (2) How did counternarratives presented in multiple formats challenge the dominant essentialized view of undocumented immigrants? Narrative data from participants were analyzed using an inductive analysis approach. Findings The findings support how the use of critical conversations around immigration and exposure to the lives of youth and families through the use of film and narratives can support the development of teachers as undocumented allies. Conclusions We argue that preservice (ESL) teachers need to be knowledgeable about immigration laws, statuses, policies, and practices in order to be prepared to serve their students’ needs and to aid them in mapping out alternative routes/resources. For our participants, their views were challenged to reflect a deeper understanding of immigration, particularly around what it means to be an undocumented immigrant in an area of the United States that has experienced new immigrant growth. This study has significant implications for teacher preparation programs and further research.

Latina Adolescent Becomings: Interrupting (Un)Silenced Spaces Into Entangled Modes of Resistance

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 116-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alycia Elfreich
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cultural Studies ◽  
Undocumented Immigrants ◽  
The United States ◽  
Border Crossing ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Latina Adolescents ◽  
Feminist Cultural Studies ◽  
Liminal Experiences

This research project focuses on embodied and engendered liminal experiences of Latina adolescents through ontologies of becoming as a space to generatively and critically expand notions of resistance and activism. Specifically, this article seeks to reconceptualize Latinas’ identities and subjectivities outside current (and silenced) understandings of their border-crossing journeys and the subsequent trauma of living in the United States as undocumented immigrants. Finally, a Chicana/Latina Feminist Cultural Studies (FCS) framework creates “parallel genealogies of thought” that disrupts methodological Eurocentric perspectives and entangles postcolonial agentive thought.

scholarly journals Online Involvement for Georgia Student Teachers During Covid-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle A. Thomas ◽  
Martin Norgaard ◽  
Laura A. Stambaugh ◽  
Rebecca L. Atkins ◽  
Anita B. Kumar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Teacher Preparation ◽  
Student Teachers ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
The United States ◽  
Teacher Preparation Programs ◽  
Spring Semester ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Face To Face

As concerns about Covid-19 rapidly escalated in March 2020 in the United States, all levels of education were impacted. A unique population (student teachers) faced challenges from two perspectives: as students and as teachers forced to teach and learn from a distance. Student Teachers, or preservice teachers (PST), are university students finishing a degree and/or teacher certification program by serving as an intern in a school setting. As schools were closed, these PSTs may not have been given access to the online learning platforms of their cooperating teachers (CT) and were no longer included in classroom instruction. The purpose of this study was to examine how the sudden shift away from traditional face-to-face instruction, co-teaching, and mentorship affected the involvement of music PSTs and their CT mentors in one region of the United States. Specifically, the research questions were: (1) How and in what ways were PSTs involved in planning, instruction, and/or assessment synchronously and asynchronously after school closures? (2) In what subdomains (performance, music theory/ear-training, etc.) were PSTs engaged in instruction and learning activities? (3) What challenges and solutions did PSTs report related to Covid-19 closures? A survey was sent, via email, to PSTs attending teacher preparation programs at universities in the state of Georgia at the end of the spring semester. Thirty-seven participants responded to the survey questions representing about 32% of all PSTs in Georgia in Spring 2020. Twenty-one were not given access to the online teaching platform of their placement school. A thematic analysis of the open-ended questions identified common themes including whether experiences were perceived as negative or positive. Of the PSTs given access, the majority of their responsibilities and experiences were creating assignments, additional help videos, participating in Zoom meetings, and assessing student assignment submissions. Of these experiences, interestingly, most were classified as positive by the PSTs. However, the importance of face-to-face interactions for both PST and the P-12 students was mentioned throughout survey responses. Approximately 10 PSTs mentioned their CT relationship/interaction and four of the respondents noted that their CT never reached out for help; however, six noted collaborative meetings or teaching with their CT. Importantly, some PSTs reported a lack of knowledge related to the planning and implementation of music instruction in the online modality. Therefore, teacher preparation programs should consider incorporating technology including online solutions into the music curriculum so that future music educators may more flexibly incorporate both in-person and distance learning.

Implications of Preservice Teachers' Perceptions of the Visual Arts for Educator Preparation

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 10-28
Author(s):  
Adam I. Attwood
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Teacher Perceptions ◽  
Fine Arts ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public University ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Educator Preparation ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
The Arts ◽  
Art Course

This study addresses preservice teacher perceptions of their experience with the arts. Implications are explored for how educator preparation programs might address an art course for generalist or multiple-subject teachers. This study adds to the literature on perception of art from K-8 generalist multiple-subject teachers by applying a discourse analysis to a survey of preservice teachers' (n = 37) perceptions of their experience with art in school. The survey was administered at a public university in the United States with questions asking participants to briefly explain their perceptions and experiences with the fine arts and how the fine arts are integrated into teaching practices. This study addresses the following question: How do preservice elementary teachers conceptualize the fine arts? Recommendations are made for educator preparation programs.

Diversifying Musical Experiences in Schools and Music Teacher Preparation Programs

2019 ◽  
pp. 891-901
Author(s):  
Robert H. Woody ◽  
Mark C. Adams
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Popular Music ◽  
The United States ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Music Making ◽  
Large Ensembles ◽  
Classical Traditions

This chapter discusses the innate differences between vernacular music-making cultures and those oriented in Western classical traditions, and suggests students in traditional school music education programs in the United States are not typically afforded opportunities to learn skills used in vernacular and popular music-making cultures. The chapter emphasizes a need to diversify music-making experiences in schools and describes how vernacular musicianship may benefit students’ musical development. It suggests that, in order for substantive change to occur in music education in the United States, teachers will need to advance beyond simply considering how to integrate popular music into their traditional large ensembles—and how preservice music teacher education programs may be the key to help better prepare teachers to be more versatile and philosophically open to teaching a more musically diverse experience in their future classrooms.

Labor Unions and Undocumented Immigrants: Local Perspectives on Transversal Solidarity During DACA and DAPA

2020 ◽  
pp. 089692052098012
Author(s):  
Els de Graauw ◽  
Shannon Gleeson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Labor Unions ◽  
Undocumented Immigrants ◽  
The United States ◽  
Immigrant Communities ◽  
Immigrant Rights ◽  
Deferred Action ◽  
Immigrant Organizations ◽  
Local Perspectives

National labor unions in the United States have formally supported undocumented immigrants since 2000. However, drawing on 69 interviews conducted between 2012 and 2016 with union and immigrant rights leaders, this article offers a locally grounded account of how union solidarity with undocumented immigrants has varied notably across the country. We explore how unions in San Francisco and Houston have engaged with Obama-era immigration initiatives that provided historic relief to some undocumented immigrants. We find that San Francisco’s progressive political context and dense infrastructure of immigrant organizations have enabled the city’s historically powerful unions to build deep institutional solidarity with immigrant communities during the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA [2012]) and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA [2014]) programs. Meanwhile, Houston’s politically divided context and much sparser infrastructure of immigrant organizations made it necessary for the city’s historically weaker unions to build solidarity with immigrant communities through more disparate channels.

scholarly journals Preservice Teachers’ Discursive Constructions of Cultural Practices in a Multicultural Telecollaboration

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Baburhan Uzum ◽  
Bedrettin Yazan ◽  
Netta Avineri ◽  
Sedat Akayoglu
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
The United States ◽  
Discursive Constructions

The study reports on a telecollaboration exchange between two teacher education classes in the United States and Turkey. In synchronous and asynchronous conversations, preservice teachers (PTs) engaged in social justice issues and made discourse choices that captured culture(s) and communities as diverse or essentialized. These choices were affected by PTs’ positionings and impacted how PTs connected to individuals only and/or to broader society.  PTs asked questions that created space for critical discussions and facilitated awareness of diversity, yet sometimes led to overgeneralizations. The study has implications for designing telecollaborations that promote language and practices to unpack the issues of social justice.

scholarly journals Shifting from Village-Based Networks to Locally Generated Networks: Undocumented Mexican Agricultural Workers Who Use/Used Hard Drugs

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Keith V. Bletzer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Drug Use ◽  
Illicit Drugs ◽  
The United States ◽  
Border Crossing ◽  
New Drugs ◽  
Agricultural Workers ◽  
Economic Success ◽  
Childhood Difficulties ◽  
Hard Drugs

Hardships that face transmigrants working in agriculture include the potential for drug use. Reliant on village-based networks that facilitate border crossing and developing a plan for a destination within this country, transmigrants who try new drugs/alcohol and/or continue on accustomed drugs/alcohol are facilitated in these endeavors through locally generated networks as alternative forms of access and support. Seven cases of undocumented men from Mexico are reviewed to show how use of illicit drugs is minimally affected by economic success and time in the United States, or village-based networks that first facilitated entry into this country. Prior conditions, especially childhood difficulties and search for socioeconomic autonomy, precipitate new and/or continuing drug use within the United States on this side of the border, where both forms of drug use are facilitated by locally generated networks.

How Can Preservice Teaching Programs Help New Teachers Feel Prepared to Address Absenteeism?

2020 ◽  
Vol 122 (5) ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Michael A. Gottfried ◽  
J. Jacob Kirksey ◽  
Ethan Hutt
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
General Education ◽  
New Teachers ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Teacher Licensure ◽  
Current Crisis ◽  
Chronic Absenteeism ◽  
Preparation Programs ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Teaching Candidates

Background Though policy makers are beginning to hold schools accountable for reducing chronic absenteeism, little attention has been paid to the role of teachers. No known study has examined whether rising cohorts of new teachers feel prepared to address this challenge. This is particularly problematic given that teachers with less experience tend to be less efficacious at reducing students’ absences. Research Questions (1) Do newly graduating teachers feel as if they have sufficient knowledge about chronic absenteeism? (2) Do newly graduating teachers feel prepared to address absenteeism? (3) Do these perceptions differ by elementary versus secondary preservice graduates? Subjects Our study collected survey data from the 2017–2018 graduating cohort of general education teacher candidates from a statewide university system in California. This system prepares, on average, 800 teaching candidates a year, and all general education candidates participate in teacher licensure. We surveyed the teaching candidates in the 2017–2018 graduating cohort from these campuses and had a response rate of 60%. Survey measures included teacher background data and perceptions of the effectiveness of their preparation programs, knowledge of absenteeism, and perceived ability to address absenteeism. Research Design We began with a baseline model in which our outcome measures (knowledge and ability to address absenteeism) were regressed on teachers’ background characteristics and perceptions of the efficacy of their preparation programs. We augmented this model by including university fixed effects, such that we only explore variation within program rather than across universities. Results Our findings suggest that preservice teachers who found their programs to be helpful, who felt supported by supervisors, and who found usefulness in their field placements also felt as though they had greater knowledge about chronic absenteeism and how to address it. The results were differentiated by elementary versus secondary candidates. Conclusions Given our students’ extreme rate of missing school days, it is of immediate importance to determine if we are preparing our nation's newest teachers to help address the current crisis. Our study fills this gap by looking at the influence that teacher education programs (specifically teacher licensure requirements) might have in contributing to teachers’ perceptions of being prepared to graduate and attend to attendance.

Undocumented Status and Schooling for Newcomer Teens

2015 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 478-501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine C. Allard
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
High School ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Undocumented Students ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Border Crossing ◽  
Transnational Identities ◽  
Undocumented Status ◽  
Professional Aspirations

In this ethnographic study, Elaine C. Allard describes and analyzes the characteristics and experiences of undocumented newcomer adolescents attending a US suburban high school. She considers the ways in which newcomer adolescents show agency in their border crossing, prioritize work over formal education, and express transnational identities. She contrasts their experience with the predominant narrative of DREAMers, undocumented childhood arrivals who are often characterized as migrating to the United States “through no fault of their own,” who prioritize professional aspirations through schooling, and who are “American in spirit.” Allard calls attention to a subgroup of undocumented students who may benefit from different approaches by educators and immigrant advocates.

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