Adopting Hands-Off Approaches to Activism: Examining PSTs’ Experiences Navigating Visibility and Vulnerability as Teacher Activists

2020 ◽  
pp. 002248712097911
Author(s):  
Mike P. Cook
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Language Arts ◽  
English Language Arts ◽  
English Language ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Education Plan

This case study examines six English Language Arts (ELA) preservice teachers (PSTs) and the ways they recognize injustice and inequity in education, plan for addressing such issues, and engage as teacher-activists toward impacting the issues they recognize. This research was guided by the following two questions: In what ways do ELA PSTs use their own recognition of educational injustice/inequity to foster discussions of methods for addressing such issues? How do PSTs engage in the agentive work of activists to impact those issues? Findings point to the ways in which PSTs adopt hands-off approaches to activism, or what I theorize as passive activism, where they, perhaps unconsciously, shield and distance themselves from the visibility and vulnerability that accompanies activist work. After a discussion of findings, I offer implications for the field and the ways teacher educators can better scaffold PSTs as they work to “do” the work of activists both inside and outside their classrooms.

The Power of Digital Literacy to Transform and Shape Teacher Identities

2017 ◽  
pp. 1152-1166
Author(s):  
Janette Hughes ◽  
Lorayne Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Beginning Teachers ◽  
Language Arts ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
English Language Arts ◽  
Digital Literacy ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
School Students ◽  
Critical Media

In this chapter, the authors focus their attention on the case studies of three beginning teachers and their use of digital storytelling in their preservice education English Language Arts classes. They undertook this research to determine if preservice teachers who are exposed to new literacies and a multiliteracies pedagogy will use them in transformative ways. The authors examine their subsequent and transformed use of digital media with their own students in the classroom setting. One uses a digital story to reflect on past injustices. Another finds new spaces for expression in digital literacy. A third uses the affordances of digital media to raise critical awareness of a present global injustice with secondary school students. The authors explore their shifting perceptions of multiple literacies and critical media literacy and how these shifts in thinking help shape or transform their ideas about teaching and learning in English Language Arts.

Increasing LGBTQ+ Competencies in Preservice Teacher Training Programs

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Kevin B. Balius ◽  
Susan Ferguson
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Language Arts ◽  
Preservice Teacher ◽  
English Language Arts ◽  
English Language ◽  
Preservice Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teacher Training ◽  
Safe Spaces ◽  
National Conversation ◽  
Teacher Training Programs

As the national conversation forces LGBTQ+ rhetoric into the mainstream, some feel that the landscape is safe for those desiring to be open about their identity as well as for conversations and topics involving LGBTQ+ issues. Those who identify as LGBTQ+ and those who are familiar with or close to them might suggest a differing perspective—one that points to a deficit of safe spaces for discussing and being open about LGBTQ+ issues. While at times controversial, the English language arts classroom has been a forum for addressing issues that are difficult to discuss in other contexts, whether with literature as a backdrop for conversations or by utilizing written expression to work through concerns and questions. Since many educators seem unaware of the need for LGBTQ+ awareness, preservice teacher education is a place to begin. This chapter illustrates the need for equipping preservice teachers with the tools for introducing and discussing LGBTQ+ issues and topics through the context of the English language arts classroom.

scholarly journals Telling Our Story: Using Digital Scrapbooks to Celebrate Cultural Capital

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Clarice M. Moran
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Technology Integration ◽  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Language Arts ◽  
English Language Arts ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
English Language ◽  
Classroom Community ◽  
Online Tools

This design was intended to act as a template for technology integration for preservice teachers in an English language arts class. However, the unintended result was a celebration of cultural heritage and increased classroom community. Through the project, 23 preservice teachers used online tools to design digital scrapbook pages that reflected family ancestry and life histories. Participants from diverse ethnic backgrounds celebrated their unique names and cultural capital.

English Language Arts Case Study

2019 ◽  
pp. 157-178
Author(s):  
Sarah M. Bonner ◽  
Peggy P. Chen
Keyword(s):  
Language Arts ◽  
English Language Arts ◽  
English Language

scholarly journals Metaphors We Teach By: Examining Teacher Conceptualizations of Literacy in the English Language Arts Classroom

2013 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Connie Kendall Theado
Keyword(s):  
Education Reform ◽  
Language Arts ◽  
English Language Arts ◽  
English Language ◽  
Literacy Learning ◽  
Literacy Education ◽  
Arts Educators ◽  
Education Today ◽  
Pedagogical Goals

This case study used metaphor analysis to gain insight on the conceptualizations of literacy informing six English Language Arts educators’ understanding of the meaning and goals of U.S. literacy education today. While findings indicated literacy’s functional aspect as the most prominent metaphoric conceptualization employed, the teachers’ use of alternate metaphors to highlight the value of literacy learning beyond its pragmatic outcomes suggests that U.S. literacy education reform may be out of step with the pedagogical goals teachers have for their students. The article concludes with a discussion of the pedagogical implications suggested by the study findings.

Illuminating the dark side: A typology for preservice ELA teachers engaging in ideologies of digital texts

2020 ◽  
pp. 204275302098011
Author(s):  
Rick Marlatt ◽  
Mark A Sulzer
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Language Arts ◽  
Teacher Candidates ◽  
English Language ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Computational Thinking ◽  
Dark Side ◽  
Digital Texts ◽  
Critical Media ◽  
Recent Trends

Set in English Language Arts, this article takes up recent trends in literacy toward investigating ontological notions of digital texts. Two teacher educators recently implemented a series of readings and activities in their methods courses designed to help preservice teachers sophisticate their conceptions of texts beyond autonomous, neutral collections of information by considering digital age ideas such as software theory, textual ideology, and the algorithmic bias of the Internet. The authors review recent scholarship surrounding the integration of computational thinking and the humanities before illustrating a theoretical framework that combines software-driven interpretation and critical media literacy. Descriptions and applications of course texts and exercises precede a discussion on typological methodology. Through the analysis of semester-long writing reflections and course interactions, a typology of preservice teachers is then presented, illustrating three archetypes: Strategists, Hawkeyes, and Improvers. These archetypes are taken up to analyze the ways in which a range of teacher candidates considered ontological notions of digital texts to analyze instructional techniques, to sharpen their critical lenses, or to gain greater understanding of ELA as a discipline (or some combination of all three). This work demonstrates that as teacher educators and teacher candidates increasingly consider software-powered literacies, interrogations of who we are, who we are becoming, and what it all means requires attention to, and explicit practice with, the dark side of digital texts.

Minecraft and Elementary Literacy Learning

2022 ◽  
pp. 320-343
Author(s):  
Sam von Gillern ◽  
Carolyn Stufft ◽  
Rick Marlatt ◽  
Larysa Nadolny
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Language Arts ◽  
Video Game ◽  
English Language Arts ◽  
English Language ◽  
Literacy Learning ◽  
Teacher Preparation Program ◽  
Game Based Learning ◽  
Language Arts Instruction ◽  
Instruction And Learning

This research examines the perceptions and instructional ideas of preservice teachers as relates to using Minecraft, a popular video game, to facilitate game-based learning opportunities in their future elementary classrooms. The participants were 21 preservice teachers who played Minecraft as part of a teacher preparation program course and then completed essays on their experiences with the game and its potential to support student learning in the elementary English language arts classroom. These essays were coded and analyzed for themes. Three primary results were found in data analysis. First, three groups emerged from the data with each group indicating either no interest, some interest, or high interest in using Minecraft in their future teaching. Second, the preservice teachers illustrated various potential instructional strategies for integrating the game into the classroom, and third, participants identified a variety of ways that Minecraft integration can support English language arts instruction and learning.

The Power of Digital Literacy to Transform and Shape Teacher Identities

2013 ◽  
pp. 68-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janette Hughes ◽  
Lorayne Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Beginning Teachers ◽  
Language Arts ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
English Language Arts ◽  
Digital Literacy ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
School Students ◽  
Critical Media

In this chapter, the authors focus their attention on the case studies of three beginning teachers and their use of digital storytelling in their preservice education English Language Arts classes. They undertook this research to determine if preservice teachers who are exposed to new literacies and a multiliteracies pedagogy will use them in transformative ways. The authors examine their subsequent and transformed use of digital media with their own students in the classroom setting. One uses a digital story to reflect on past injustices. Another finds new spaces for expression in digital literacy. A third uses the affordances of digital media to raise critical awareness of a present global injustice with secondary school students. The authors explore their shifting perceptions of multiple literacies and critical media literacy and how these shifts in thinking help shape or transform their ideas about teaching and learning in English Language Arts.

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