Problem Identification and Task Engagement Using the LIBRE Problem Solving Tool: A Case Study of Three Bilingual Teacher Candidates

Abstract

Bilingual Latino students engage multiple languages, cultures and environments as they pursue educational and professional goals. For this underrepresented group, pursuing a post-secondary degree is a "lucha" (fight) to negotiate the complex interplay of historical, educational, and cultural variables and achieve academic success. Because Bilingual Latino teacher success is incumbent upon successfully negotiating and overcoming linguistic, cultural and educational challenges, examination of problem solving and goal setting is necessary to provide insight into the types of barriers and facilitators that this group experiences and the ways in which they overcome obstacles. An in-depth case study of three bilingual teacher candidates illustrates the use of the LIBRE problem-solving tool as a culturally responsive activity involving a sequence of problem identification, analysis, solution generation, and evaluation to facilitate problem resolution. The case studies examined herein illuminate self-reported social-cultural contextual challenges, solutions, goals, and engagement through explicit problem solving and shows the primacy of familia and cultura in these women's lives, problem-solving, and decision making. Implications for teacher educators and bilingual Latino teacher candidates are discussed.

An examination of monolingual preservice teachers’ set-up of cognitively demanding mathematics tasks with emergent multilingual students

“…Although the number of EBs and the racial and ethnic diversity in the U.S. continues to increase, the majority of teachers in the U.S. remains White, middle class, and monolingual women (Sable & Plotts, 2010). Guerra, Castro-Villarreal, Cheatham and Claeys (2014) stated "this mismatch is seen as problematic for the learner and for the teacher as navigating cultural and linguistic diversity is complex" (p. 78). The complexities of the rapid change of student demographic in conjunction with the sustaining White-dominant teacher group suggest the need for preparing teachers to understand how to effectively teach EBs.…”