They call me maestra: Preservice teachers’ interactions with parents in a reading tutoring program
Abstract
Our community university, located along the Texas-Mexico border, in cooperation with a local elementary school campus is involved in a project focused on working with elementary students and their families in relation to early literacy development. The project provides preservice teachers with a structured opportunity to work directly with Latino families. Two years of data, collected and analyzed from preservice teachers' reflections about their experiences, revealed positive benefits and concerns. Benefits include development of preservice teachers' skill and confidence in working with parents, their ability to build relationships with families, and their capacity to form partnerships for children's literacy development. However, preservice teachers may fail to recognize that all families possess cultural capital or funds of knowledge. We recommend that university programs consider family involvement as a necessary component of the curriculum to build preservice teachers' capacity to involve all.
Reference
Abrego, M., Rubin, R., Sutterby, J.A. (2006). They call me maestra: Preservice teachers' interactions with parents in a reading tutoring program. Action in Teacher Education, 28 (1), 3-12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01626620.2006.10463563
Journal
Action in Teacher Education
Analysis
Is this article part of a larger project or series of studies?
no
Does this study draw on a large, preexisting data set?
no
Research Approach
Geographic Setting
Institutional Context
Certification Level
- early childhood to 12th grade special education
- early childhood to 4th grade bilingual
- early childhood to 4th grade ESL
Programatic Focus
- Bilingual
- early childhood education
- Elementary
- ESL
- Secondary
- Special Education
Research Location Context
- Elementary school
- Family literacy nights
- University
Preservice Participants
- Undergraduates (university based program)
Preservice Sample Size
127
Duration of Data Collection
Data Sources
- Course evaluations
- fieldnotes
- weekly reflections
Data Analysis Tools
- Collaborative analysis
- Triangulation
Researcher Positionality
- Inside (studying their own programs)
Research Questions
"The weekly reflections focused on the pre-service teacher interactions with the children an their families" (p. 6)
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Yes
End of course reflections asked about preparation to work with students' parents and role parents might play in the classroom.
Is this research question explicit from the manuscript? Unknown