Becoming "a Listener to Students": Examining a Preservice Teacher's Experiences in Community-Based Youth Participatory Action Research

• In Event: Toward Culturally Sustaining and Social Justice–Oriented Teaching and Learning

Abstract

This paper provides insights into the experiences of a PST (Author 2) who collaborated with a teacher educator (Author 1) and the youth director at a subsidized housing community to design, facilitate, and research high school students’ experiences in an on-going Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) initiative throughout the 2019-2020 academic year, and into the summer. Although not part of a formal university-based Teacher Preparation Program (TPP) field placement, Author 2’s experiences in the community-based YPAR project informed her understandings of what it means to teach and learn alongside students from diverse cultural backgrounds who experience limited access to economic resources. Findings point to opportunities for supporting PSTs in building with students’ experiences as strengths across school and community contexts.

Authors

• Joanne E. Marciano, Michigan State University

• Hannah Claire Rosemurgy, Michigan State University

• Ji Soo Lee, Michigan State University