"Dude Ur Gunna Be a Great Teacher": Introducing Preservice Teachers to Urban Youth Through Technology

• In Event: 33.078 - Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: 33.078-7 - Representing, Positioning, and Designing Through Digital Literacies

Abstract

This paper is an extension of a larger study (Author 1 and Author 2, in press) that uses the figured world framework (Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner, & Cain, 1998) to explore how social interactions with urban youth using digital tools shaped the actions and identities of 16 preservice teachers. Using discourse analysis (Gee, 2010), this paper examines how the dialogue between two of the preservice teachers and their high school partners in online chatrooms shaped their relationships. We conclude by pointing to the potential virtual spaces offer for empowering the very youth who often feel powerless in school by positioning them as experts on their cultures and for helping middle-class preservice teachers understand contexts different than their own.

Authors

• Robyn Seglem, Illinois State University

• Antero Garcia, Colorado State University