Critical Place-Based Learning in Early Childhood and Elementary Teacher Education
Melissa Sherfinski is an associate professor of early childhood and elementary education at West Virginia University. Sharon Hayes is an associate professor of elementary education at West Virginia University.
Contents Foreword Christopher P. Brown ix Acknowledgments xiii Introduction 1 The Bubble 2 Place-Based Education and Its Potential 4 A Dynamic Charge for Teacher Education 5 Chapter Summaries 5 1. The Need for Place-Based Teacher Education 7 Contexts for the Book 7 Three Challenges Connecting the Places 9 Why We Need Place-Based Teacher Education 11 Neoliberal Challenges to Place-Based Teacher Education 13 Reclaiming Accountability 16 Challenges of Reclaiming Accountability 18 Questions for Reflection and Discussion 20 Whats Next? 20 2. Theoretical Framework 21 The Nature of Meaning-Making 21 Three Approaches to Place-Based Education 22 Humanizing Place-Based Education in School Classrooms 23 Place-Based Teacher Education 29 Negotiation: Sensing and Resisting Neoliberal Policies 32 Questions for Reflection and Discussion 37 Whats Next? 37 3. The Narrative Portfolio Project 38 Context of the Teacher Education Program 38 The Narrative Portfolio as a Counter-Narrative to Failure 44 Questions for Reflection and Discussion 56 Whats Next? 56 4. Resisting Neoliberalism Through Place-Based Narrative Portfolio Work 57 Getting Lost in Places 58 Vignette 1. Critical Reflection on Place 61 Vignette 2. Dialogism With Place in Mind 65 Vignette 3. Transforming I-It to I-You 71 Vignette 4. Diffraction: Bending Around Barriers 75 Conclusion 80 Questions for Reflection and Discussion 81 Whats Next? 81 5. Pairing Our Place-Based Approach With Racial Justice 82 Antiracist Education 83 COVID-19 and Antiracist Teaching 87 Place-Based Education Post-Graduation 99 Conclusion 105 Questions for Reflection and Discussion 106 Whats Next? 106 6. Practice and Policy Implications 107 Teacher Education Program Assessment in the Cluster 108 Transforming Teacher Education Assessment 112 The Change Process 114 Suggestions for Practice 118 Conclusion 123 Questions for Reflection and Discussion 123 Whats Next? 123 Appendix A. Methodology: Capturing Meanings of Place-Based Education and Assessment 125 Background for the Study 125 Method 125 Appendix B. Lenses of Teacher Education and Revised 10 Characteristics of the Novice Teacher for PDS Mentors and Faculty Professional Development 133 Appendix C. A Portrait of Becoming 137 Our Places 138 Learners and Teachers 139 Beginning the Year: Looking and Seeing as an Ethnographer 139 Exploring the Literature: Disrupting the Commonplaces 140 Our Journey 141 Our Learning 141 A Reflective Pause With an Eye to the Future 142 Final Thoughts 143 Appendix D. Destinys Book Club: Stamped by Reynolds & Kendi (2020) (Abbreviated Version) 145 References 147 Index 163 About the Authors 175