Another Perspective: Exploring Implications for In-Service Teachers

• In Event: Community-Engaged Teacher Preparation: Issues and Insights From Teacher Educators

Abstract

Recently, teacher preparation courses and/or programs, such as those described in this session, increasingly support teacher candidates’ development of community-engaged and culturally sustaining teaching practices. Additionally, several of the other contributions for this session explore the dispositions and actions that are prerequisite for teacher educators and/or teacher candidates. This presentation leverages one additional perspective – that of an in-service teacher – and explores a related question: how can the work being done in spaces dedicated to community-engaged teacher preparation inform practice for in-service teachers? The proposed presentation will:
• Compare research findings from two very different community-engaged contexts
• Connect research on community-engaged pedagogy and my own teaching practice via critical reflection
• Posit guiding principles for in-service teachers interested in developing community-engaged praxis
Compare

For Study 1, I joined a research collaborative (University of Delaware, local elementary school, and Philadelphia-based non-profit Need in Deed) dedicated to supporting teachers in the implementation of Need in Deed’s critical community-based service-learning framework My VOICE. I served as a researcher-participant and provided professional development for teachers, co-planned and co-taught lessons, interviewed students, engaged with community partners, and observed the day-to-day development and enactment of community-engaged teaching practices.

For Study 2, I joined another research collaborative (University of Galway, Irish, Spanish, Greek, and Cypriot primary schools, and Greek tech partners) established to co-create a digital game for learning mathematics and history. Again, I served as a researcher-participant. In this project, much of the work had been done before I joined the collaborative. Teachers had worked with community-partners to gather cultural and historical information that the game-developers then used to create the digital landscapes within which the mathematics games would be played. I supported data collection for beta testing of the digital game and traveled with the participating Irish primary students and their teachers to meet with participating teachers and students from the other countries at the cultural and historical sites used in the game.

Connect
Prior to engaging in either study, I taught secondary mathematics in a diverse public high school. I read about culturally relevant pedagogy and spoke about equitable access. However, I lacked concrete and practical approaches to improving my practice. Then, I supported Study 1 as a doctoral student and Study 2 as a postdoctoral researcher. Through my involvement with both projects, students, teachers, and community partners showed me how to be a culturally relevant, and even culturally sustaining educator. During Study 1, I learned how to seek out community partners and create space for meaningful collaboration that benefitted classroom and community. During Study 2, I learned how community-engaged practices can function both within and across communities. Now, I will take what I learned back into the classroom as I return to teaching secondary mathematics during the 2023-2024 academic year.

Posit
The proposed presentation will conclude with new learning that is the result of ongoing critical reflection and self-study. Synthesis of prior research and new learning will lead to the development of guidelines for in-service teachers interested in developing community-engaged praxis.

Author

• Sara Gartland, University of Delaware