Preservice Teachers’ Diverse Content Area Text Selections and Considerations for Classroom Use

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 5:25 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Navigating Tensions in Social Justice-Oriented Teacher Preparation: Multilingual Pedagogies, Critical Frameworks, and Antiracist Practices (Table 6)

Abstract

Although more university teacher preparation courses (TPC) include critical frameworks, pre-service teachers (PSTs) still rely on neutral language to bypass discussions around issues of diversity, racism, and social justice. This paper highlights PSTs’ responses for a content-area text-set literacy course assignment. Through a curricular noticing framework, we examine which social justice topics PSTs select and how they anticipate enacting these texts in their future classrooms. Findings reveal that while including diverse representations in content-area text-sets, PSTs applied avoidance language to circumvent naming diversity or systemic inequity. PSTs also feared critique regarding text selections from school stakeholders. This study highlights the need for continued work to develop PSTs’ ability to select and enact social justice texts in classrooms.

Authors

• Sarah E. Jerasa, Clemson University

• Tobi Pirolla, Clemson University

• Brandi Vaughn Chapman, Clemson University

• Bailey A. Kaufman, Fordham University