Community Connections: Integrating Community-Based Field Experiences Into Teacher Education to Strengthen Teaching for Diversity

• In Event: 16.035 - Community-Based Field Experiences in Urban and Rural Settings

Abstract

Community-based field experiences can provide preservice teachers with opportunities to consider issues related to community, education, and diversity in ways that strengthen teaching for diversity. This inquiry explores three preservice teachers’ interpretations of their community-based field experiences in a university education course. By narratively inquiring into participants’ lives, and through storying and restorying their course and student teaching experiences, it consider the ways in which community-based field experiences promoted and supported the development of responsive and inclusive teaching and learning practices. This inquiry addresses critical issues concerning the development of teacher education programs that successfully prepare teachers to work with diverse students, and responds to calls for additional research related to exploring community-based practices in teacher education.

Authors

• Christine Beaudry, Nevada State University

• Leslie M. Gauna, University of Houston - Clear Lake

• Jane Mcintosh Cooper, University of Houston