Social Justice, Pedagogy and Multiliteracies: Developing Communities of Practice for Teacher Education

Abstract

(Wenger, 1998;Wenger et al., 2002

Ensuring student success: Establishing a community of practice for culturally and linguistically diverse preservice teachers

“…This study found that CALD pre-service teachers who experienced diversity and difference as obstructive to shared understanding and interaction failed to become members of a community of practice or achieved minimal membership. Participants of learning and teaching communities often did not operate on the central tenets of a community of practice: that is, through joint enterprise, mutuality and inclusion of novices (Wenger, McDermott & Snyder, 2002; see also Cumming-Potvin, 2009).…”

English Classrooms and Curricular Justice for the Recognition of LGBT Individuals: What Can Teachers Do?

“…The English classroom is an environment well-suited to prepare young people to engage as future citizens of a complex, challenging and constantly evolving community by 'truly engaging with difference' (Rennie, 2009, p. 13). Influenced by a 'multiliteracies' approach that acknowledges the need to prepare young people as informed citizens able to participate fully in an increasingly diverse and complex society (Anstey, 2002;New London Group, 2000), English teaching has clear potential to bring social justice into the classroom (Cumming-Potvin, 2009;Exley, Woods, Lunn, Walker & Whiteford, 2014). A multiliteracies approach that incorporates 'situated practice', with its emphasis on working with the kinds of texts the students use themselves (Cope and Kalantzis, 2015, p. 4), also has the potential to help every student feel they belong in the learning community and are connected to the content presented.…”

Countering a ‘Back-to-Basics’ Approach to Teacher Education: Multiliteracies and On-Line Discussions in a Community of Practice

“…As learners engage with contemporary literacy landscapes, the concept of multiliteracies suggests that human knowledge is constructed across social, cultural and material communities through existing and emerging practices (Cumming-Potvin, 2009;Mills, 2011). A multiliteracies framework (The New London Group, 2000) views literacy as more than technical skills but also as highly complex social, cultural and historical processes.…”