Practicing Teachers Narrating the Politics of Funds of Knowledge in Schools

• In Event: Collaborations in Advocacy: New Research on Advocacy Work for Equitable Education of Immigrant-Origin Youth

Abstract

It is widely recognized that teachers can serve as advocates for emergent bilinguals by using classroom pedagogy that validates and builds upon their lived funds of knowledge (FOK)—"historically accumulated and culturally developed bodies of knowledge essential for household or individual functioning and well-being “(Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez,1992, p. 133). While previous research has shown how pre-service teachers can learn to ethnographically examine and make sense of students’ funds of knowledge (Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez, 2005), little is known about how practicing teachers develop understandings of FOK teaching. Addressing this gap, this study examines how practicing teachers in an MA in TESOL program learn to identify students’ FOK to serve as classroom resources.
Informed by Barkuhuizen’s (2011) concept of ‘narrative knowledging,’ this paper examines how practicing teachers engage in a process of ‘narrative (funds of) knowledging’ as they share stories about their students’ funds of knowledge in oral interactions and written assignments. Drawing on Ochs and Capps (1996) approach to narrative analysis, the study examines how practicing teachers make linguistic choices in their narratives that index their beliefs and understandings about funds of knowledge and their students.
This project represents a narrative analysis of the ways in which public school teachers in Connecticut enrolled in a TESOL program made sense of their students FOK as they discussed and implemented action research projects. The projects required teachers to conduct ethnographic case studies of routine cultural events in the lives of their PreK-12 students for the purpose of identifying funds of knowledge that would serve as resources for classroom engagement. Data collected includes audio-recordings of interactions in university classes and completed action research projects.
The findings demonstrate how the practicing teachers drew from understandings of their students to identify FOK embedded in events such as classroom playtime, breakfast club, and church services, to narrate the sociopolitical context of teaching and ‘recontextualize’ (Rymes, 2012) FOK as neutral themes in units. As they reflected in class and assignments about their students’ FOK, teachers made decisions about which, and in what ways, the rules and norms of the districts allowed them to access and utilize their students FOK. For instance, while teachers framed technology, cooking, and language as acceptable funds of knowledge in school districts, they positioned religious funds of knowledge as controversial and subject to a process of neutralization whereby religious practices or stories could not be mentioned but morals could be extracted and recontextualized for learning purposes.
The research contributes theoretical understanding of the way in which FOK pedagogy is subject to a politicized recontextualization process. By highlighting the insight that practicing teachers provide on their students, school communities, and sociopolitical barriers to the design of FOK-focused action research projects, the study suggests the need for district-wide professional development that facilitates collaboration between administrators and teachers to navigate barriers and implement similar projects.

Author

• Meredith McConnochie, University of Saint Joseph