Search

Service-learning is often identified as a pedagogy to prepare undergraduates for life beyond college. However, research suggests service-learning courses rarely challenge learners to explore structural causes of inequity or engage in transformative action. This study explores how one college professor positioned students as they engaged in service-learning. Through document analysis of nine semesters of one course, researchers sought to understand how positioning of university students shapes the effectiveness of service-learning coursework with a justice orientation.

This qualitative analysis of experiential reflections in two English methods courses considers the ways that perceptions of literacy can shape understandings of social justice and social justice pedagogy. Although social justice is an essential component of English teacher education, scholars are still attempting to transcend theoretical discussions into field experiences. Following a semester of justice-oriented readings and reflexive activities involving practicum placements including a community-engagement project in local schools, teacher candidates responded to open-ended questions related to literacy and social justice on post-course questionnaires. An ideological approach to literacy comprised of literacy events occurring in social contexts frames the research design and interpretations of participants' responses. Findings illustrate respondents' perceptions on a continuum between literacy as fixed and amenable to change. Although their understandings of social justice indicate a preference for embracing differences in students' literacy practices and cultural backgrounds, transferring social justice pedagogy from theory to practice remains a significant challenge. These results hold implications for teacher education program stakeholders whose experiences can help actionize social justice in classrooms.

This study draws on sociocultural and affect theories to understand findings from our investigation of secondary English education preservice teachers' (PSTs') experience with communal video analysis sessions (VAS). We organize the article by first theorizing reflection in teacher education research and its relation to video analysis. Then, we describe our qualitative case study methodology and report on our findings to the question of how (dis)comfort shapes PSTs' communal reflections by using illustrative participant vignettes. Through analysis of a communal VAS around PSTs' teaching practices and follow-up interviews with the PSTs, the authors found that video analysis provides a nonevaluative supportive environment that enables reflection and growth when a sense of community is preestablished. This article demonstrates the affordances of staying within "comfort zones" for PSTs as they reflect upon their teaching practice within a group VAS. Several tensions around the organization of professional learning communities for reflective video analysis with PSTs are unpacked in relation to this finding.

There is currently a dearth of research inquiring into the ways that pre-service teachers (PSTs) are prepared to teach writing, including reading and responding to student writing. Furthermore, although the benefits of a practice-based approach to teacher education are widely cited, increasing financial and legislative pressures to shorten the length of university-based teacher education programs and to migrate to online spaces present challenges for including opportunities for PSTs to practice. In this study, we inquired into the experiences of one group of PSTs as they completed a digital Pen Pal Project, wherein they were partnered with sixth grade students to learn about and practice responding to student writing. Data analysis indicated that PSTs engaged in many different types of feedback yet struggled to provide specific feedback aligned with students' competencies as readers and writers. We draw on these findings to offer recommendations to teacher educators as they leverage digital spaces to realize the benefits of practice-based learning in preparing PSTs to teach writing.

Demographic differences between teachers and students and the need for pedagogical approaches that address issues of equity, power, and justice have bolstered arguments for community-engaged teaching in U.S. schools. Recent literature indicates that community-based experiences during teacher education may introduce teacher candidates (TCs) to more diverse people and spaces, develop TCs' multicultural awareness, and prepare TCs to address issues of justice and equity in their teaching. In this study, we draw on sociocultural theory and culturally-proactive teaching to frame our development of a community engagement project at two large public universities in the U.S. Specifically, we analyze TCs' experiences and reflections during their participation in the project to consider how their characterizations of community and community-engaged teaching shifted over time. We then draw on our findings to consider the conceptions of community-engaged teaching TCs held after engaging in the project and to identify implications for teacher education.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to inquire into the effectiveness of authentic writing instruction embedded in a critical service-learning project in a middle school English Language Arts curriculum. Design/methodology/approach: This paper analyzes middle school students' survey responses before and after their participation in a critical service-learning project designed to engage students in authentic writing. Specifically, the paper considers students' perspectives of community and writing as a result of their participation in the project. Findings: Participants' perspectives fell into three categories: audience influence, empowerment or personal knowledge to act and confidence in ideas. Originality/value: These perspectives suggest a deviation from common findings regarding the benefits of authentic writing instruction, as the presence of an audience in this study often hindered student confidence in their abilities as writers and community change agents. Authors draw from the findings to offer recommendations to support teachers in effectively incorporating authentic writing practices and audiences into their instruction.

In recent decades, diverse field experiences have proliferated in university-based teacher education programs in the United States. In particular, community-based experiences where teacher candidates learn about, from, and with community members and spaces have increased in popularity and significance. In this article, the authors consider if and how community-based field experiences during teacher education are achieving their purported social justice aims. They begin by reviewing literature inquiring into the ways and purposes that teacher education programs have incorporated community-based field experiences into their programs, as well as the primary challenges associated with these approaches. The authors then draw on critical literacies and cultural studies to consider how teacher educators might reframe their approaches to community-based field experiences to mitigate those challenges. The article offers a framework for supporting teacher candidates before they engage in community-based field experiences that could contribute to their development as socially just educators.

In this article, the authors present (Lortie's, D. C. (1975) construct of the apprenticeship of observation--what people learn about teaching from having been students in school--as fundamentally conservative. Students, see teachers "front stage and center like an audience viewing a play," thus learning about teaching in a manner that is "intuitive and imitative"--learned implicitly through osmosis--rather than through "explicit and analytical" instruction in teaching methods that are presumably different from those learned through uncritical observation. In contrast to describing their teachers as exclusively authoritarian, the teachers in this study named a variety of teaching models from both the conservative and progressive pedagogical traditions, reflecting on and critiquing teachers from their past and projecting visions of their own teaching according to largely constructivist principles. The authors used in-depth interviews with volunteer participants from two secondary English Education programs and one elementary education program with the focus on Language Arts instruction and described their approach to studying these teachers' apprenticeships of observation.

I present a two-year case study of one pre-service teacher (PST), Johnny, as he moved through his education-based coursework at a large, public university in the US Southeast. In his final year of college, Johnny chose to forego the remainder of student teaching and not to receive a teaching certificate. To better understand Johnny's choice to leave teaching, as well as the tension between Johnny's developing conceptions of care and teaching and those of his Mentor Teacher, I draw on sociocultural approaches to teacher identity development and literature on care in teaching. Findings from this study could inform the ways that school-based experiences preceding and during teacher education are structured to encourage PSTs to develop identities as caring teachers and to become members of communities of practice.

This article looks across two teacher education programs to review the tensions and benefits of critical, project-based (CPB) clinical experiences. The first study examines a project embedded within a methods course focused on secondary English language arts (ELA) preservice teachers (PSTs) engaging with youth around a shared writing activity. In the second study, PSTs partnered with local high school students to consider the relevance of writing in and out of schools. We consider how CPB clinical experiences served as mediating spaces that address the disconnect between universities, schools, and communities (Zeichner, 2010). Data analysis suggested there are numerous tensions and benefits associated with CPB clinical experiences for PSTs, teacher educators, and school-based teachers and students. We draw on the findings from this study to make recommendations for future iterations of such work.

In this article I problematize the reasons for and methods through which I incorporated an opportunity for experiential learning, via a Community Inquiry Project, into my own teaching. I take the stance of a teacher-researcher to closely analyze the specific documents and tasks used to introduce pre-service teachers to the project. I draw on sociocultural approaches to teacher development and literature on experiential education in teacher education to provide a background for the project and the self-study and offer critical whiteness studies as an appropriate lens through which to analyze the various elements of the project. Findings from this study suggest that the project limited the pre-service teachers' characterizations of community, understandings of sociocultural approaches to learning, relationships to the community, and perceptions of the role of community in teaching. I draw on these findings to suggest that teacher educators share their reflective practices with their students and learn about the diverse experiences of the pre-service teachers themselves to better prepare them to inquire into and draw on knowledge of communities as they work with diverse populations of students.

To prepare preservice teachers (PSTs) to work with diverse populations of PreK-12 students, teacher educators are incorporating a variety of field-based experiences into teacher preparation. Service-learning courses can provide PSTs with additional field experiences beyond formal student teaching. This study is concerned with the experiences of a group of undergraduate PSTs as they tutor in an alternative school as part of a service-learning course. To make sense of their experiences at the alternative school, these PSTs compared their own PreK-12 experiences and those of the students they tutored. In this study, the students at the alternative school served as the most influential contributors to PSTs' developing conceptions of teaching and of schools--a finding that has implications for teacher preparation.

This study investigates the learning reported by a set of volunteer participants from three university teacher education programs: from one Southwestern U.S. University, the program in secondary English/Language Arts Education and the program in Elementary Education; and from one Southeastern U.S. University, the program in secondary English/Language Arts Education. Based on interviews conducted between the end of coursework and the beginning of student teaching, this study uses a sociocultural perspective to consider not only the manner in which the teacher candidates' learning was mediated by a host of factors, including formal teacher education courses and mentor teacher guidance, but also a wide range of factors that introduced competing conceptions of effective teaching. The interviews were analyzed collaboratively by the two authors, who relied on a sociocultural analysis attending to the pedagogical tools, attribution of learning to specific sources and the settings in which they were located, the areas of teaching in which the tools were applicable, and goals toward which the pedagogical tools were deployed. Findings suggest that even with the three programs having radically different structures and processes, the teacher candidates reported very similar learning, yet with variations conceivably following from their program structures. Furthermore, teacher education emerged as one of several sites of learning named by teacher candidates, rather than serving as their sole or even primary source of learning. The study concludes with a consideration of the many factors that contribute to teacher candidates' conceptual understanding of effective teaching and the role of teacher education programs within this vast complex of goals, epistemologies, and practices.

Reflection is an increasingly essential component of experience-based learning in higher education to encourage students to draw connections between theoretical and practical knowledge and experiences. This qualitative study examines the reflections of undergraduate students in a service-learning course for secondary English teacher candidates. The authors use Fink's taxonomy of significant learning as a lens through which to examine the learning within and critical natures of students' reflections. Findings from this study suggest that to consider and extend students' academic content knowledge and to move students toward new and critical understandings of their service work, reflections should direct students toward more explicit considerations of academic course content over a period of time. To help students write critical reflections that achieve both academic and personal growth learning goals, the authors recommend explicitly teaching the reflective mode, introducing students to Fink's taxonomy, and instructing students to include course content in their reflections.

The article focuses on the Hybrid Learning approach which allows adolescence to select their reading material for English literature curriculum and subsequent response methods in the class room. It discusses challenges which affect characterizations of adolescents in the implementation of such approach including student interest, shared power between teacher and student, and student-generated questions. It reports on the development of a sense of solidarity in students by literary text.