Engaging and Working in Solidarity With Local Communities in Preparing the Teachers of Their Children

Abstract

This article analyzes a programmatic effort in teacher education, “The Community Teaching Strand” (CTS), to engage local community members as mentors of teacher candidates (TCs) in two postgraduate teacher preparation programs in a large research university. Three different conceptions of the nature and purpose of teacher–family–community relations frame the analysis: involving families and communities, engaging families and communities, and working in solidarity with families and communities. Three primary research questions are explored in this article: What do TCs learn through their participation in the CTS? To what extent and how do TCs bring community teaching into their classrooms during the program and as first-year teachers? What programmatic features encouraged and/or constrained TC learning from the community mentors? After describing Mountain City’s “Community Teaching Strand,” the article identifies a set of TC learning and practice outcomes as well as a number of tensions that arose in the programs in the attempt to implement engagement and solidarity approaches to working with families and communities. Finally, the implications of this work for teacher education are discussed.

The Power of Community Partnership in the Preparation of Teachers

“…In addition to the work being done at the University of Washington (Zeichner, Bowman, Guillen, & Napolitan, 2016) is that being carried out at Illinois State University, under the auspices of their Chicago Teacher Education Pipeline (Lee, Nelson, Auffant, & Perveiler, 2012;Lee, Pacione-Zayas, Bosch, Blackwell, & Pawlicki, 2013). Alongside and integrated with its redesigned course experiences, this program features school-and community-based experiences, along with home stays with families who live in the neighborhoods where teacher candidates work the summer prior to their student teaching.…”

The Research We Need in Teacher Education

“…Zeichner, Bowman, Guillen, and Napolitan (2016) analyze a programmatic effort to engage local community members as mentors of teacher candidates in two postgraduate university-based programs with a focus on addressing the needs of children living in poverty. Also in this issue, Sharkey, Clavijo-Olarte, and Ramirez (2016) share findings from a case study involving a school-university professional development partnership focused on how teachers develop, implement, and interpret communitybased pedagogies (CBP) in Colombia.…”

Promoviendo la Justicia Social y la Democracia en la Formación del Profesorado: Preparación del Profesorado 1.0, 2.0 y 3.0

“…El artículo original se publicó en: Zeichner, K. (2016). Advancing social justice and democracy in teacher education: teacher preparation 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0.…”

“…A pesar de aislados ejemplos para preparar a los maestros para involucrar a las familias en la educación de sus hijos (es decir, para conseguir que se escuche más lo que la escuela tiene que decirles), hay aún menos ejemplos de esfuerzos para comprometer o trabajar en solidaridad con las familias y las comunidades (Zeichner, Bowman, Guillen y Napolitan, 2016).…”

“…Una vez que los socios de la universidad, la escuela y la comunidad están unidos en modos de colaboración equitativa, la cuestión de la pedagogía en sensibilidad cultural de la formación del profesorado comienza a hacerse más visible en los programas y su presencia o ausencia en diferentes partes del programa se convierte en un tema de discusión (Zeichner, Bowman, Guillen y Napolitan, 2016).…”