Developing a Critical Community Identity in Preservice Teachers: Shifts in Identity Based on Community Influence

• In Event: 29.082 - Roundtable Session 9
  In Roundtable Session: 29.082-22 - Decentering School: Exploring Community Spaces as Rich Sites for Teaching and Learning

Abstract

With 83% of teachers identifying as white middle- class females, there is a disconnect between the backgrounds of teachers and the students and families in the urban communities in which they are training to become teachers (Milner, 2009; National Center for Education Statistics, 2011b, Sleeter, 2001). Teachers tend to learn about children through their student roles, though children have more to their identities. Through community field based experiences, pre-service teachers learn about children and their multiple roles in settings outside of the classroom (Burant & Kirby, 2002; Cooper, 2007; Zeichner, 2010). It is through these experiences that pre-service teachers also learn about their own identities, and how they situate themselves within new communities. It is where they come to understand that children and families are incredible sources of knowledge and that community knowledge is a valuable asset (Zipin, Sellar & Hattam, 2012).

This empirical study focuses on two community field based experience courses for pre-service teachers. Students in the course volunteer at urban, community based organizations that serve children. However, for a few students in the course, the curriculum is modified, as they are paraprofessional educators in another teacher education pathway. This distinction between the two different placements provided different experiences regarding community knowledge gained for the students in the course. Using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), student documents (assignments, reflections and online written discussions) were analyzed to see if the experiences in their field placements created shifts in their emerging identities as educators and whether their understanding of community shifted during their field experiences. Identity theory (Stryker, 1987) is used to analyze these emerging teachers in relation to the community space in which they become the learners, not the experts or the knowers. Third space (Soja, 1989) is the arena where the shifts for these pre-service teachers take place.

Findings suggest that students in community organization placements were more apt to refer to youth as children and discussed the social interactions between children and adults. Students also broadened their own definitions of community, where shifts in identity were signaled through their gradual use of the term family and earning the respect of the children. They did not elude to themselves to being in a position of power. Those those placed in schools referred to youth as students, discussed their relationships with youth by referring to behavior management, and referenced themselves in a position of power with children, though feeling at the mercy of administration. The findings of this study support the need for community field based experience courses in urban education programs as critical shifts in pre-service teacher identities emerge.

Author

• Lisa Silverstein, University of Colorado - Denver