Amplifying Historically Marginalized Voices Through Texts and Tools: Toward Decentering Whiteness in English Teacher Education

• In Event: Critical Practices in English Teacher Education: Challenging, Refining, and Reimagining Teacher Learning

Abstract

This paper reports on a teacher education course that prioritized amplification as a method to decenter whiteness in English education. We demonstrate how teacher educators engaged in designing a course that used digital technologies and multimodal texts to amplify racially and ethnically marginalized voices in ELA preservice education. Design principles that facilitated amplification included saturation of the learning environment with mediational resources and tools, and the provision of “low floor and wide walls.” Analysis suggests that course design supported engagement with culturally sustaining pedagogies and the amplification of authors, literary characters, and preservice teachers (PSTs) from historically marginalized groups. We specify design elements that opened opportunities for PSTs to foreground identities related to race, ethnicity, language, and gender/sexual orientation.

Authors

• Jennifer Higgs, University of California - Davis

• Steven Z. Athanases, University of California - Davis

• Alexis Patterson Williams, University of California - Davis

• Danny C. Martinez, University of California - Davis

• Sergio L. Sanchez, University of California - Davis