Teacher Candidates' Perspectives on Their Arts-Based Teacher Preparation and Fieldwork in a Linguistically Diverse School

• In Event: 54.049 - Transforming Teacher Preparation Through Arts Integration and Language Learning in a Bilingual Community School

Abstract

Objectives
This paper addresses the following question:
What experiences and/or understandings do teacher candidates (TCs) participating in a cohort integrating art, identify as most useful or salient to their learning?

2. Theoretical framework
A multiliteracies approach for teaching and learning “focuses on modes of representation much broader than language alone. These differ according to culture and context, and have specific cognitive, cultural and social effects” (New London Group, 1996, p. 64). Multiliteracies mirrors everyday life experiences and focuses on the ways modes of communication intermix to make meaning (Jewitt, 2006). At the same, the likelihood of this perspective to become generative “depends on when and how teachers become part of the decision to initiate change” (Moll, 1992, p. 229). As such, teacher preparation presents a great potential for promoting lasting changes especially through a multiliteracies and arts-integrated approach.

Participation in arts-based education programs yields promising outcomes for children. Catterall et al (2012) found that 71% of students who had high arts involvement attended college in comparison to 48% of students with low arts involvement. 78% of low-arts students graduated from high school in comparison to 96% of those with high-arts participation.

3. Methods
Through an ethnographic approach (semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and participant observation), this study aims at understanding how a teacher education program focused on language diversity and arts-integration impacts teacher candidates. The data corpus was catalogued, transcribed, and analyzed (Stake, 1995; 1998). Through thematic analysis (Holsti, 1969) of the data, we examined teacher candidates’ (TCs) perceptions of their work and preparation in the program and methods courses.

4. Results
Teacher Candidates’ responses yielded four major themes about their experiences in the redesigned teacher education program: (1) Immediate access to working in the field “forced” TCs to learn, TCs asserted that the co-teaching made them feel responsible to improve teaching and pay attention and apply what they learned. The teaching load, aside from their coursework, challenged TCs, especially during second semester. (2) Consistent messages across methods courses served as a platform, while the assignments across courses seemed overwhelming, TCs argued that these became an initial step towards developing new ideas. The process of generating new ideas was supported through the community that TCs developed. (3) As arts integration became naturalized, the feeling of teaching readiness grew, during the last semester, TCs asserted that arts-integration in their lessons became second nature after seeing the levels of student investment. TCs strived to continue promoting this integration; which in turn contributed to their feeling prepared to teach. (4) Much more to do, TCs highlighted the need to coordinate better TCs’ preparation activities, so intensity can continue, but anxiety levels can be reduced.

5. Scholarly significance
Results provide an initial attempt to identify successful program features, so that during the second implementation, they can be controlled and improved, and an emergent model of teacher education can be drafted.

Authors

• Carlos Alfonso LopezLeiva, University of New Mexico

• Rebecca M. Sanchez, University of New Mexico