In Praise of Early Field Experiences: Impacts on Urban Students and Suburban English Preservice Teachers

• In Event: 46.087 - Poster Session 8
  In Poster Session: 46.087-1 - Division K Section 6 Poster Session. Field Experiences: Student Teaching, Supervision, School/Community Collaborations, and Approaches in Teacher Education

Abstract

This paper explores what happened when a free, after-school urban SAT-Verbal preparation course was taught by 35 first- and second-year undergraduate English teacher candidates. In this early field experience, teacher teams (11.4% people of color; 14% low-income) taught simultaneously in classrooms attended by 98 high school students (83.5% people of color; 75% low-income). Findings from quantitative analyses demonstrate that the students’ PSAT-to-SAT changes varied considerably with respect to course attendance and that English teacher candidates’ attitudes toward diversity improved. Qualitative analyses of teacher candidates’ narratives revealed patterns in how candidates perceived teachers’ work, public education, and urban schools and in how they practiced teacher Discourse. An argument is made for the importance of such experiences early in educators’ preparation.

Author

• Deborah A. Bieler, University of Delaware