Today’s schools are more culturally and linguistically diverse than ever before, prompting the need for teachers with the requisite expertise for work with emergent bilingual learners. As students grow in numbers and fill seats in classrooms spanning grades and disciplines, teacher educators must consider ways to prepare an increasing number of teachers, including those spanning licensure areas. This research probed one university’s efforts to prepare all teacher candidates for this growing subgroup of students through a field-based undergraduate teacher education program in the urban Midwest. Using artifact data from 29 program completers and survey and interview data from five focal teachers spanning licensure areas, this study investigated how particular facets of the field-based program promoted or deterred candidates’ learning across the 4-year program and into teachers’ first year of teaching. Implications center on how universities can leverage field-based teacher education to prepare future teachers for diverse classrooms.
As classrooms continue to diversify, teachers require preparation to serve emergent bilingual learners (EBLs). This requires a shift in traditional approaches to teacher education, embracing collaboration among faculty, candidates, educators, and students to design and implement programs that integrate this lens across licensure areas. Drawing from a longitudinal study conducted in one field-based program that integrates EBL content, this chapter explores one collaborative model of teacher education seeking to develop candidates' expertise through strategically designed curricula and field experiences. Drawing from artifacts of 29 candidates completing the four-year program, followed by surveys and interviews with focal cases one year after program completion, findings detail learning during the program and into the first year of teaching with attention to the efficacy of specific collaborative features. Implications inform collaborative efforts to prepare teachers for EBLs.
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