Developing a Teacher Education Collaborative in Language Diversity and Arts Integration

• In Event: Funds of Knowledge at the Center: A Co-Teaching Model for Arts Integration and Language Diversity

Abstract

1. Objectives:
This paper is an analysis of the planning and theoretical bases for the first two years of an ongoing undergraduate elementary teacher education option and research project at a large southwestern university. Designed by seven professors for a cohort of 14 elementary education majors seeking bi-lingual and TESOL credentials, this project aims to provide more opportunities for minority students to learn, express what they understand, and to share who they are, through the arts. The project was planned in cooperation with an elementary principal dedicated to community-based multilingual education and arts integration in a school serving a low-SES neighborhood offering bilingual (Spanish/English), English-only, and Navajo language and culture classes.

2. Theoretical Framework and Data Sources:
Fieldnotes, memos, interviews, four course syllabi, and individual narratives were analyzed to investigate how the group approached their collaboration (John-Steiner, 2000) and to arrive at common theoretical frameworks such as funds of knowledge (Moll, 1992), multiliteracies (Cazden et al., 1996), arts integration (Parsons, 2004), and co-teaching approaches (Bacharach, Heck, & Dahlberg, 2010). Multiliteracies approaches create a different kind of pedagogy using multimodal representational sources for various cultural purposes.

3. Methods:
Ethnographic methods (Strauss & Corbin, 1994), narrative inquiry (Alvermann, 2002) and collaborative investigation approaches (John-Steiner, 2000) were used to examine group interactions and individual roles throughout the research process. Inspired by John-Steiner and Vygotsky’s cultural-historical ideas, the group found that “generative ideas emerge from joint thinking, from significant conversations, and from sustained, shared struggles to achieve new insights by partners in thought” (p.1).

4. Results
Funds of knowledge (Moll, 1992) and multiliteracies (Landay & Wooton, 2012) emerged as generative theories for the group; thus the faculty asked all the students to read and use these frameworks in their fieldwork. Preservice students were asked to solicit the students’ home practices and knowledge and community-based knowledge to generate interactive, meaning-based teaching activities, incorporating multiliteracies. As part of their co-teaching the preservice teachers examined elementary students free-write journals to increase their understanding of the children’s home literacies. They also investigated funds of knowledge and used them to produce lesson plans to mathematize their students’ community-based experiences.

5. Scholarly Significance-
This paper describes the journey undertaken by professors in a teacher education program with expertise in literacy, math, social studies, and art education who collaborated to explore the need for pedagogical changes to improve teacher preparation. Incorporated into this narrative are the initial impetus for change within the university; the project vision, planning, and program design; the theoretical frameworks undergirding this program and research; and, an analysis of four course syllabi used during the first semester for the school-based methods’ courses, seminar, and practicum. Their transformative collaboration emphasized the exchange of diverse perspectives and the negotiation of differences, a commitment to authentic learning, valuing the benefits and risks of honest scholarly dialogue, and a commitment to a shared vision. Overall, the students responded enthusiastically to the challenges, and faculty enjoyed participating in an academic project focused on local community.

Author

• Nancy S. Pauly, University of New Mexico