Urban Teachers’ Online Dissent Produces Cultural Resources of Relevance to Teacher Education

Abstract

This paper explores urban teachers' published responses to education reform. These compositions published online are examined as sources of cultural knowledge that are relevant to teacher education. Using sociolinguistic theory and method, the compositions' arguments and rhetorical moves are analyzed to interpret the use of digital compositions to respond to education reform initiatives in the United States. The patterned speech contained in these compositions demonstrates forms of agency important to the pursuit of professional autonomy. This finding has implications for teacher education and raises questions about whether and how cultural resources being developed by urban (and other) teachers through online composition may be ethically appropriated to benefit pre-service and in-service teachers.

Urban Youth Scholars: Cultivating Critical Global Leadership Development through Youth-Led Justice-Oriented Research

“…Praxis gained at the global level as articulated by Ginwright and Cammarota (2002), is the culmination of when youth understand the centrality of race and racism in societal contexts, the unique commonality of the experiences that they bear, and the commitment that they have for working towards socially just outcomes in their communities (Akom 2009). However, contemporary educational approaches to "teach to the test", leave little room to alter curriculums (Stewart and Boggs 2018) that invite renditions of everyday life and critical social analysis into academic settings. However, Akom (2009) asserts that this form of restructuring is necessary for "eradicating racialized opportunity gaps in achievement and for creating educational spaces that ameliorate the life and death issues that many of our youth face on a daily basis" (p. 53).…”