A Novice Bilingual Teacher's Journey in South Texas: Teachers' Noticing as a Call for Action

• In Event: 14.045 - Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: 14.045-8 - Pedagogical Practices for Teachers of Bi- and Multiliterate Students

Abstract

This longitudinal case study investigates a fourth grade novice bilingual teacher repertoire of practice during her first year teaching, and how she engages in negotiating prevailing and contested bilingual education discourses (Rogoff, 2003; Thompson, Windschitl and Braaten, 2013). Situated in South Texas, the study shows how the teacher ability to notice became a key element in her possibility –or not-- to bridge her understandings about teaching and being a bilingual teacher –her critical pedagogical discourse-, and the contextual contradictory discourses predominant in her school about bilingual education. Two key themes are discussed: how this novice teacher embraced the bilingual teacher practice while questioning practices and policies, and how she negotiated contradictions through multiple attempts to redefine her teaching practices.

Author

• Sandra I. Musanti, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley