Using the Community as a resource in language teacher education

Amparo Clavijo OlarteUniversidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, BogotáColombia

Judy Sharkey,University of New HampshireManchester, NH USA

Roots of the Bogotá-Manchester Collaboration: City as Curriculum

Multiyear project

Question: How do we promote knowledge of/in local communities as rich resources for language teaching and learning and integrate community-based pedagogies into our teacher education programs?

Question: How might sharing this work across our contexts be mutually beneficial? Insightful?

Community-based pedagogies

Curriculum and practices that reflect knowledge and appreciation of the communities in which schools are located and students and their families inhabit. It is an asset-based approach that does not ignore the realities of curriculum standards that teachers must address but emphasizes local knowledge and resources as starting points for teaching and learning.

(Sharkey & Clavijo Olarte, 2012, p. 41)

Judy’s contextManchester NH Pop 108,000; @ 15,000 K-12 students

Growing immigrant/refugee population (70+ languages)

40% + ELL pop in one school; 20% in some other schools

The most CLD schools have highest poverty rates (85% at one)

These schools have the lowest scores -and facing punitive actions

Universidad Distrital Francisco Jose de Caldas. MA Applied LinguisticsBogotá pop: @7 millionLarge number of displaced children in the poorest publicSchools. Many don’t speak Spanish as their first language(L1). MA students work in variety of settings: public &private schools, language schools, and universities. They are all in-service teachers.

Amparo’s context

Similar challenges, different contexts

• Poorest schools are the most cult/ling diverse

• Over reliance/ emphasis on scripted, imposed curriculum & testing

• Practices/policies devalue/ ignore the cult/ling identities of our students/families

• Teachers don’t know how to use ss’ knowledge/experiences in curriculum

Local realities reflect larger narratives

Transmigrant reality of the 21st century

Demographic imperative

Restrictive national language policies: Colombia Bilingüe; NCLB

Increased standardization in testing and curriculum

Key concepts

• Community Teacher (Murrell, 2001; 2003): “Possesses contextualized knowledge of the culture, community, and identity of the children and families he/she serves and draws on this knowledge to create core teaching practices necessary for effectiveness in diverse settings” (2001, p. 51)

• Community-situated pedagogies (Schecter, Solomon, and Kittmer, 2003): Posits community as curriculum resource and challenges teachers to design and implement pedagogies based on community knowledge

Community Based Pedagogies in LTE Researc

hObservation of

community practices Community scanning

/mapping

Investigating Community Knowledge and practices

Funds of Knowledge

Examining how Curriculum is constructed, for whom?

Developing research projects that address

community issues in the language classroom

Teaching

Understanding Learning as a social practice within a

community

Reflecting andIdentifying key aspects of

community literacy practices

Establishing possible Connections with the Curriculum content

Reflecting upon the implications in their

teaching

Seminar on Literacy:Investigate the city

libraries

Intro to Research:CommunityMapping

Integrating activities at various points in courses & experiences

Community Projects with Teachers in Bogota

Community investigationsCommunity

mapping using photographs

1

Links with the curriculumStandards

2

Planning the pedagogical units

using the community assets

3

Implementation of the projects

4

Sharing the outcomes with a wider audience

5

Mapeo en la comunidad escolar.

Explorar los activos y las ventajas de la comunidad, Identificar los aspectos positivos del entorno

•Espacios Físicos: Parques, jardines. Zoologicos, areas verdes, vias peatonales, paradas de bus etc.• Asociaciones: grupos sociales; grupos Educativos; asociaciones caritativas; grupos ambientales, clubes culturles, sindicatos• Individuos: Diferentes tipos de personas en el barrio, familias, lideres en la comunidad, ancianos.• Instituciones: Bibliotecas publicas, iglesias, hospitales, colegios, policia, bomberos.• Economia Local: Todos los defferentes tipos de negocios existentes. •Ahora miremos si tenemos de estos beneficios en nuestro entorno. Encontremos de las 5 categorias

Conexiones con los estándares

Ciencias

Naturales Lenguaje

Sociales Inglés

Recursos & conocimientos de la

communidad

Lenguaje (grado 6 a 7)Identifico en situaciones comunicativas auténticas algunas variantes

lingüísticas de mi entorno, generadas por ubicación geográfica, diferencia social o generacional, profesión, oficio, entre otras.

ESTANDARES:

Ciencias naturales (grados 6-7)

Identifico recursos renovables y no renovables y los peligros a los que están expuestos debido al desarrollo de los grupos humanos

ESTANDARES:

Linguistic landscaping: how are languages/images used? For what purpose? Who’s the audience?

Planning the language project 8th gradeSemana Descripción Objetivo Estándares Recursos de

la comunidadProducto

2- 6 de septiembre/13

Registro fotográfico de grafitis de los barrios donde viven los estudiantes de 802

Identificar grafitis en los barrios mediante registro fotográfico y envío al correo de la profesora

Comprendo e interpreto textos, teniendo en cuenta el funcionamiento de la lengua en situaciones de comunicación, el uso de estrategias de lectura y el papel del interlocutor y el contexto.

Grafitis de los barrios

9-13Septiembre/13

Presentación de los grafitis, asignación de nombres

Reconocer los grafitis de los lugares cercanos a la comunidad y hacer interpretaciones iniciales de los mensajes expresados allí.

Grafitis de los barrios (ppt)

Presentación, nominación, interpretaciones iniciales

Implementation

• Foto Michelle (paro agrario)• Video corto de lenguaje? Química?

Results & Significance

Positive:Increased and/or changed awareness of local resources and the neighborhoods

Making new connections with students and families in out of school contexts

Becoming more critical

Generating Curricular ideas/possibilities

Conclusions

ReferencesAlbuja, S. & Ceballos, M. (2010). Urban displacement and migration in Colombia. ForcedMigration Review, 34, pp.10-11.Barton, D., Hamilton, M., & Ivanic, R. (2000). Situated literacies: Reading and writing in context.

New York: Routledge.Block, D. (2006). Multilingual identities in a global city: London stories. New York: Palgrave

MacMillan.Delanty, G (2010). Community (2nd Edition). New York: Routledge.Freire, P. (1988/1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed . New York, NY: Continuum.Gee, J. (2004). Situated language and learning . New York: Routledge.González, A. (2007). Professional development of teachers in Colombia: Between colonial and

academic practices. Íkala, revista de lenguaje y cultura , 12 (18), 309-332.Gruenewald, D. (2003a). The best of both worlds: A critical pedagogy of place. Educational Researcher, 32, (4), pp. 3–12Gruenewald, D. (2003b). Foundations of place: A multidisciplinary framework for place-conscious education. American Educational Research Journal. 40, (3), pp. 619–654Moll, L., Amanti, C., Neff, D., & Gonzalez, N. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory into Practice , 31 (2), 132-141.Murrell, P. (2001). The community teacher: A new framework for effective urban teaching. New

York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Sharkey, J. & Clavijo-Olarte, A. (2012). Community-based pedagogies: Projects andpossibilities in Colombia and the US. In Honigsfeld, A. & Cohen,

A. (Eds). Breaking the mold of education for culturally and linguistically diverse students: Innovative and successful practices for 21st century schools. Lantham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield.Wright, W. (2005). Evolution of federal policy and implications of No Child Left Behind or language minority students . (EPSL-501-101-LPRU). Tempe, AZ: Arizona State University.

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