The School Memories of a Bilingual Preservice Cohort: What Is Remembered and What Matters

• In Event: 16.057 - Roundtable Session 5
  In Roundtable Session: 16.057-26 - Bilingual Teacher Preparation: Critical Perspectives

Abstract

This study examined the school memories of a Hispanic cohort of bilingual preservice teachers, and contrasted those memories with a predominantly White and monolingual cohort. Through a narrative perspective, students enrolled in a foundational education course wrote about a memory of school and later used that memory to reflect on its future impact in the classroom. Based on a thematic analysis of the writing assignments, students’ memories were grouped into the five most robust categories: 1) school transitions, 2) embarrassing moments, 3) language barriers, 4) educational turning points, and 5) their call to teaching. Implications are offered for the importance of memory-work in teacher training programs, and the importance of recruiting a more diverse pool of teacher candidates.

Author

• Kyle Elizabeth Miller, Illinois State University