Community Mapping by Teacher Candidates as a Method for Increased Understanding of Community Cultural Wealth

• In Event: Exploring Spatiotemporal Dimensions of Education and Inequity: Expanding Our Capacity to Build Equitable Educational Opportunity

Abstract

Purpose
The purpose of this study was to explore opportunities teacher candidates had to understand how place, space, and sociohistorical context impact students and their families. Participants participated in a year-long residency program in a large, university-based Educator Preparation Program in Texas. As part of the residency, teacher candidates engaged with the community in order to understand them more fully, shed deficit perspectives (Valencia, 2010), and produce social action.

Perspectives
For decades, recommendations for education include working with students’ families and communities (Guillen & Zeichner, 2018). Policies and large-scale projects have included community partnerships between various groups (i.e. universities, school districts, community organizations) with the belief that effective teachers know their students and their communities. And yet there has been little attention to teachers, families, and communities across colleges of education in the United States (Guillen & Zeichner, 2018), further separating teacher candidates from communities and contributing to racism in education. 
  A prevalent form of racism is evident in deficit thinking which blames students and their families for poor academic performance (Valencia, 2010) and fails to recognize the cultural knowledge, skills, and abilities possessed by communities of color (Yosso, 2005). Critical Race Theory, and the concept of Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) centers research, pedagogy, and policy on communities of color and rejects the status quo, opening up possibilities for educators to see the multiple forms of wealth present within communities of color, including aspirational, familial, social, navigational, linguistic, and resistant capitals (Solorzano & Delgado Bernal, 2001).

Methods and Data Sources
Community Mapping is a process of uncovering the resources in a given area or community. It is an inquiry-based data collection and communication tool used internationally in various fields to identify community assets and capacities, including languages, art, literacies, networks and opportunities (Amsden & VanWynsberghe, 2005; Jackson & Bryson, 2018; López, 2020).  This qualitative study uncovers how community mapping influenced the knowledge, understanding, and pedagogies of 13 teacher candidates (one Latina/Black woman, 12 white women) in elementary education. Data collected includes journal entries, assignments, and reflections from key assignments and activities including: Field notes from observations of the neighborhood and area around their school, documentation of languages and literacies on billboards, advertisements, and signs through various methods including field notes, photos, audio/video recording and sketches, and interviews of key community members/informants.

Results and Significance
At the beginning, the majority of the teacher candidates used language laden with fear, race neutrality (Myers & Ha, 2018), and/or lack of awareness when discussing the community in and around the school.  As they became more involved in the community and participated in guided, critical reflection, they began to describe and discuss the importance of sociohistorical context (ie segregation in schools and how it impacts present day realities), racial and ethnic disparities (disciplinary referral differences), and the various capitals that the students and their families possess. Many teacher candidates were able to trace and describe changes in their own thinking away from deficits towards viewing their students and the community as a place of great strength.

Author

• Minda Lopez, Texas State University