Reimagining Justice-Centered Teacher Preparation: Preservice Teachers’ Transformative Engagement with Multilingual Children and Families

• In Event: Preparing Educators to Work with Culturally Diverse and Multilingual Families

Abstract

Our study details how the World Explorers Club (WEC) — an afterschool program embedded in a Culturally and Linguistically Sustaining Pedagogy course—supports preservice teachers (PSTs) in engaging with multilingual children and families in relational, justice-centered ways. Developed as a third space (Moje et al., 2004; Gutiérrez, 2008), WEC provides PSTs with sustained, child-centered, and community-based experiences going beyond traditional teacher preparation. Informed by intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1989), this work immerses PSTs in the complex realities of culturally and linguistically diverse (C/LD) communities, as they participate in the university classroom and field setting. Findings indicate significant shifts in PSTs beliefs, confidence, and pedagogical approaches in their abilities to work with culturally and linguistically diverse students.

Authors

• Gumiko Monobe, Kent State University

• Jennifer Anne McCreight, Kent State University

• Bee Viton, Kent State University