Community-Based Field Experiences in Teacher Education: Examining the Intersection of Content-Area Learning With Community-Based Spaces

• In Event: 16.035 - Community-Based Field Experiences in Urban and Rural Settings

Abstract

This paper describes a community-based field experience initiative that spanned the course of five years. In this qualitative study, community-based field experiences are framed as alternative field placements where teacher candidates learn to teach outside of traditional classrooms, contributing to their learning in significant ways. Following a cohort of prospective teachers, and examining data from their writing and interview transcripts, three themes emerged: Teaching and Learning as a “Reciprocal Transformation”; Re-framing of Dominant Curricular Models in English language arts; and Re-thinking Characterizations of Youth. Results of our study indicate that community-based field experiences urge prospective teachers to purposefully re-negotiate the relationship among “teacher,” “student,” and “curriculum,” and contemplate what benefits such a re-negotiation has to their future position as classroom teachers.

Authors

• Heidi L. Hallman, The University of Kansas

• Melanie Nichole Burdick, Washburn University