Tourist or Traveler? Unpacking Informal Conversations Between Teachers and Young Children Across Diversity

• In Event: Early Childhood Teacher-Student Interactions

Abstract

To address the needs of an increasingly diverse student population amid the context of scripted curriculum in schools, considerable research has examined the effects of teacher-child relationships and inter-cultural communication. This convergent, mixed-methods study used autophotography to garner and explore teacher-child conversations about young children’s photos of their home context. Twenty-five teacher-child conversations were analyzed using Gee's Discourse analysis to examine the ways in which first grade teachers, in an at-risk diverse school setting, interacted with their children coming from diverse racial and cultural backgrounds. Findings illuminate a way to reorient teachers’ approaches towards conversations from a tourist orientation of seeking knowledge, to engaging in the work of conversing for new understanding while enjoying the process as a traveler.

Authors

• Raeshell L. Foster, The Pennsylvania State University - Harrisburg

• Martha J. Strickland, The Pennsylvania State University - Harrisburg