Building community using experiential education with elementary preservice teachers in a social studies methodology course

There is urgency for teacher educators to instruct preservice teachers in the tenants of social justice education. This urgency is based upon the American demographic landscape and the responsibility of educators to teach for social justice. Preservice teachers report feeling inadequately prepared to educate for social justice when entering the classroom setting (citations from below). Feelings of incompetence in social justice teaching expressed among preservice teachers coupled with minimal examination in the literature of the effects of teacher education practices that aid in the readiness to teach for social justice provided the foundation for this study. This study examined experiential methodologies that can prepare preservice teachers to teach for social justice, particularly within a social studies context. The study focused on two research questions: (a) How do preservice elementary teachers in a social studies methods course conceptualize teaching for social justice within an experiential framework? (b) In what ways did preservice teachers operationalize teaching for social justice in the practicum classroom? Also examined was how the development of community in a social studies methodology course fostered the understanding of teaching for social justice. The findings highlight how preservice teachers were able to conceptualize building communities with experiential methods to teach for social justice and how doing so created an effective learning community. Although the preservice teachers valued the implementation of experiential methods to foster the teaching of social justice, difficulties were expressed in their incorporation of experiential methods in the practicum environment due to a lack of confidence, teaching competence, or collegial support.

Teaching and learning with morning meeting in elementary social studies methods courses

PurposeUsing morning meeting, an evidence-based practice that is part of the responsive classroom (RC) approach, the authors (two teacher educators [TEs]) created opportunities for teacher candidates (TCs) to experience representations, decompositions and approximations of practice in multiple iterations of an elementary social studies methods course.Design/methodology/approachThe authors detail how TEs can expose TCs to social studies content (e.g. the National Council for the Social Studies themes) that can be incorporated into structured, daily classroom routines, such as morning meeting.FindingsThe authors include TE-created morning meeting facilitation guides with components such as a morning message, greeting, share, group activity and theme justification. Furthermore, the authors outline TCs' reflections on planning and implementing a morning meeting with a partner in addition to their own reflections on the TCs' feedback.Originality/valueThis work has implications related to TEs and TCs in elementary social studies methods courses as well as current and future students in elementary classrooms.

The doors they choose: Solutions to “The Lady or the Tiger”

We consider the extent that elementary preservice teachers enrolled in a social studies methods course expressed empathy for story characters when solving the story’s emotionally ladened problem. We believe that the manner by which these students resolved one character’s dilemma informs about the nature of their own emotions. Participants read Frank Stockton’s story, “The Lady and the Tiger” toward the beginning and at the conclusion of the semester. The data represented all student responses to the prompt, “Read the short story at the following link. To what door do you think the princess directed the accused? What is the reason for your choice?” Forty-two students completed both reflections of the reading. The analysis found that in their initial reflections, a solid majority of students selected the tiger. At the end of the course, this percentage decreased to a smaller majority. Analysis of the six students who changed their perspectives of the princess’s decision found that five referenced course experiences in their explaining the reason for change. This paper fills a gap in social studies research about emotions and decision-making. Additional research needs to interpret the specific nature of these emotions and the conditions that influence them.

Fostering Inclusive Communities Through Children's Literature

This comparative case study explored pre-service teachers' (PSTs) understandings and concerns around creating inclusive classrooms before and after engaging in explicit instruction and practice surrounding issues of inclusion in elementary social studies methods. Findings illustrate that PSTs understood inclusion as an expansive concept, encapsulating various social identities, before and after explicit instruction. Engaging in a lesson planning project involving children's literature and a deep dive into anti-bias and inclusion literature helped to lessen concerns held by PSTs about creating inclusive classrooms but amplified other concerns, such as how to manage parental pushback and how to support students of marginalized backgrounds. This chapter addresses implications for elementary social studies teacher educators, such as the need to provide explicit practice and guidance when emphasizing the need for inclusive classroom communities, and the authors suggest ways PSTs' concerns could be lessened through interviews with parents and panel discussions with inclusive educators.

From A to Zinn

Scholars have presented a number of challenges to elementary pre-service teachers gaining content mastery specifically in social studies methods courses. One of those challenges relates to the selection of what social studies content should be mastered by pre-service teachers. Scholars encouraged elementary social studies teacher educators to engage their students in new, challenging, critical, and complex topics, rather than redundant, simple, and general content the students already agree with. In response, this endeavor presents an instructional framework rooted in social justice teaching designed to inspire elementary pre-service teachers with the necessity of teaching social studies for social justice and the content knowledge and skills to do so. The chapter author shares how she supported students in conducting macro-to-micro content analyses of critical and challenging sociological issues of race, economic status, and gender in the development of the United States while sharing the methods for teaching elementary social studies that represented diverse ideas and perspectives.

Thinking with theory in a civil rights center

PurposeThe purpose of this theoretical paper is to propose that museums can be useful sites in intervening the theory–practice divide in teacher education. The authors draw from their visit to the Center for Civil and Human Rights (CCHR or Center hereafter) to explore the potential of a local museum as a powerful intervention in the preservice teacher education theory/practice divide.Design/methodology/approachThe authors’ theoretical framework draws off of “thinking with theory,” a method of using concepts to make sense of data by “plugging” a concept “into” data (Jackson and Mazzei, 2011). The authors believe that everyone, even their preservice teachers think with theories in an attempt to make sense of information and events. In their social studies methods courses, the authors offer readings, texts, videos and experiences that present ideas and concepts that are new to their preservice teachers in order to expose underlying theories that frame worldviews.FindingsThe authors provide four “snapshots” or findings. These include: heroification and villainification, White–Black binary and messianic meta-narratives, empathy and simulation and critical Black patriotism. Each of these snapshots is grounded in theories from scholars in the field of social studies, demonstrating one way to put theory to work.Originality/valueAs the aforementioned snapshots show, the authors found a place like CCHR that can serve as important space to think with theory and deconstruct presented narratives. The authors “plugged” concepts from social studies scholarship “into” the narratives presented at the CCHR. Specifically, the authors used villainification (van Kessel and Crowley, 2017), AsianCrit (Chang, 1993), Black Patriotism (Busey and Walker, 2017) and messianic narratives and martyrdom (Alridge, 2006).

From A to Zinn

Scholars have presented a number of challenges to elementary pre-service teachers gaining content mastery specifically in social studies methods courses. One of those challenges relates to the selection of what social studies content should be mastered by pre-service teachers. Scholars encouraged elementary social studies teacher educators to engage their students in new, challenging, critical, and complex topics, rather than redundant, simple, and general content the students already agree with. In response, this endeavor presents an instructional framework rooted in social justice teaching designed to inspire elementary pre-service teachers with the necessity of teaching social studies for social justice and the content knowledge and skills to do so. The chapter author shares how she supported students in conducting macro-to-micro content analyses of critical and challenging sociological issues of race, economic status, and gender in the development of the United States while sharing the methods for teaching elementary social studies that represented diverse ideas and perspectives.