Urban Cohort - College of Education - University of South Carolina

! EARLY CHILDHOOD
EDUCATION ASSEMBLY OF
NCTE .........................1
! FROM THE AFFIRMATIVE
ACTION COMMITTEE:
HONORING
DIVERSITY................2-4
! MEMBER PUBLICATIONS
LIST………………...5-6
ISSUE 1 VOLUME 1 2009
News
EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION ASSEMBLY OF NCTE:
THE AUDACITY OF CHANGING THE FACE OF EARLY LITERACY EDUCATION!
Supporting teachers of young children, with a strong emphasis on
promoting thoughtful practices that enhance the teaching and learning
of young children within and across diverse communities.
Early Childhood Education Assembly of NCTE
At the end of a very exciting Day of
Early Childhood at the NCTE
convention in November 2008, the
proposed Early Childhood Education
Assembly (ECEA) held a special
interest group meeting to vote on
various aspects of the assembly.
Since that meeting, the ECEA
leadership worked diligently at
submitting the necessary paperwork
required to complete the process of
gaining assembly status. In February
2009, the NCTE Executive Committee
voted to award this status.
The 2009 NCTE Annual Convention
marks our first time to participate as
an assembly! To commemorate this
event, together with members of the
Board, we have put together a
powerful set of presentations that we
hope will push your thinking and
create spaces for much needed
conversations regarding literacy
learning and teaching with young
children.
Thank you for your encouragement
and support! We look forward to
hearing from you, working with you,
and supporting your needs!
Vivian Vasquez
(ECEA Chair)
Mariana Souto-Manning
(ECEA Assistant Chair)
Announcing The First All-Day NCTE Workshop
For Teachers Of Young Children
Join An Array Of Early Literacy Educators To Explore A Variety Of Issues:
Writing, Talking, and Playing Between the Lines
Anne Haas Dyson and Celia Genishi
Writing that Matters: First Grade Authorship
Maria Paula Ghiso
Building from Young Children’s Home and
Community Literacies
Susi Long and Dinah Volk
Teaching African American Speakers
Gloria Boutte and George Johnson
Literature Circles: Involving English Language Learners
Julia Lopez-Robertson
Critical Literacies in Early Childhood Classrooms
Mariana Souto-Manning and Vivian Vasquez

Changes in Early Childhood Teacher Education
at the University of South Carolina:
New Visions for Urban Education
By: Erin Miller, Gloria Swindler Boutte, Saudah Collins, Susi Long,
Julia López-Roberston, Beth Powers-Costello
I chose to sign up for this cohort because facing a diverse classroom was
the one thing that concerned me the most as a prospective teacher! I
wanted to make sure that I was adequately prepared for this challenge!
!
I tried every day over the summer to snag a spot in this section, and I’m
glad I did. Embracing social justice is something that many do not
understand, or want to understand. I want to be prepared to work in
any kind of school with all different children… I want to be able to reach
all children. I want my children to know that I care and that they are
valued and important. This cohort has already helped shape me into
the teacher I want to be, and I know that there is so much to be learned.
!
These comments from two Early Childhood pre-service teachers reflect a growing concern in
teacher education: pre-service teacher education students need more opportunities to learn
how to honor and understand diverse ways of knowing. Scholars concerned about teacher
education assert that it is imperative that pre-service teachers “experience a more accurate
picture of what it means to live and work in a multi-cultural and democratic society” (Ladson-
Billings, 2005, p. 231). To meet these challenges, a group of faculty members at the University of
South Carolina (USC) developed an Urban Cohort Strand, a unique way to engage students
through a series of courses designed specifically to better prepare our pre-service teachers to
teach in diverse settings.
As six Early Childhood instructors who teach junior and senior pre-service teacher
education courses at USC, we came together to collaboratively explore how we could better
address the national and local issue of an inadequately prepared teaching force. We were
inspired to engage in such an effort for many reasons, and designed the cohort to address those:
Creating an Urban Cohort (UC):
Beliefs That Motivated Faculty
a)!Children of Color in our state are not achieving in our
public schools because of structural and societal
inequities.
b) Having a homogenous teacher force has an impact
on young children’s first experiences in schools.
c) A small community of faculty might be able to work
through issues that could then be considered in larger
contexts. Together we might come to understand and
respond to the demands of teaching “against the
grain” (Cochran-Smith, 2004).
d) Naming the strand Urban Cohort, while rife with
complexities, is important if we want to legitimize
explorations of equity and justice as foundational to
educational methods courses.
e) Learning about social justice is an ongoing process.
We are committed to deepening our professional
knowledge as we continuously consider how to most
effectively synthesize and organize key aspects of our
learning for our students.
Framework for Program Design
a)!Diversity is seen as a resource and an asset
rather than a deficit.
b) Skills and strategies are taught in a way that
build on home and community knowledge and
literacies.
c) Critical examinations of oppressive (e.g.,
structural, cultural, institutional) dynamics that
impact historically marginalized students are
explored.
d) Strategies are developed for tackling institutional
practices that reinforce inequitable practices.
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Share your
Experience
As part of the ECEA
newsletter the Affirmative
Action Committee has
created a section to
highlight and share the work
early childhood educators
are doing to honor the
diverse cultural and linguistic
resources of young children.
We would like to invite the
ECEA community to write us
and share--through a short
essay, pictures, quotes,
poetry, etc--the work of
children, teachers and/or
teacher educators in
supporting social justice,
equity and diversity. If you
have a story to share you
can contact Carmen
Medina:
Carmen_liliana_medina@
hotmail.com
! !When we opened up the invitation for students to join
the urban cohort, we explained that there would be possibilities for outof-class
learning experiences; such as field trips, relevant conference
attendance, and film viewing. Our goal for these activities was to help
build a community of learners who could not only support one another
but who could also push each other’s thinking in a safe and trusting
environment. We later found that this component proved to be one of
the incentives for students to join the UC. Students also shared other
reasons for participation. Many students reported that they saw a clear
need for knowing how to teach “all different children”; others reflected
they wanted to challenge their ideas about children from backgrounds
other than their own. And some described rationales that were laced
with a “missionary appeal” we hoped to counter. For example, Olivia
wrote:
I chose the Urban Cohort Strand for several reasons. I
have grown up in a lower-middle class family.
Through my early childhood and middle school years,
I grew up down the street from a largely African
American population . . . I have a close friend who
became my friend as I spent time thinking I was
helping her. In turn, I have gained so much from her
friendship and life and, really, she has helped me. I
guess what I am trying to say is that somehow in my
‘whiteness’ in my past, I thought maybe I can help to
rescue someone from their poverty or circumstances.
This was one of the perspectives we hoped to help our students
examine: that teaching for equity was not about becoming a “great
White hope” or “rescuing” students; it was about engaging in ongoing
dialogue about the existence and impact of unexamined
discrimination on teachers’ day-to-day decisions and children’s
opportunities as learners.
Implementation
Approximately 40 students initially expressed interest, and more than 50 ultimately
registered for the cohort sections. Although the project is early in its implementation, the feedback we
have received from the students has been overwhelmingly positive. In addition to taking two Early
Childhood methods courses (Language and Literacy, and Integrated Curriculum) with foci on diversity
and issues of equity in education explored through readings, class discussions and class activities, the
students also have opportunities to meet on campus with the six Urban Cohort instructors. The first outof-class
event was to view and discuss the 2007 film, The Great Debaters. This film explores the racism
experienced by the Wiley College African American debate team as they were successfully led to win
the National Debate Championship in 1935. Following the film, students reported an early shift in their
thinking, reminding us of the lack of prior exposure many university students have had to historic and
current oppression. One student responded, “I knew about prejudice but I never knew the level of
violence that African American people suffered in the past.” Another student reflected on the strict
discipline style that Denzel Washington exhibited in the movie. She shared that although his insistence
on excellence could have appeared to be overly stern, it was what the students needed to succeed.
This helped the group to consider the fact that effective teaching requires consideration of students
and their context, not simply using recipes for teaching. Next month the students and professors plan to
attend the film Good Hair , which explores the cultural significance as well as critical implications of
issues surrounding hairstyling in African American communities. The following month we will view the
CNN series Latino in America through a critical lens. We feel that these out-of-class activities are
essential to developing the skill set needed to have thoughtful, open, and critical dialogue with others
centered on issues of diversity and justice.
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! !As we write this piece, we are only halfway into the first semester of
this endeavor. Our students were asked to fill out mid-semester evaluations
reflecting on their experiences thus far. Many claim that they are being
pushed to think in new ways about their own cultural backgrounds and the
lens with which they view the world. For example, Rebecca explained,
“This section has made me think about my future teaching and also dug
deep into my cultural identity.” Danielle added, “I am looking at shows,
children, news, movies, everything, differently now because of the things
that we talk about in class. I feel like this cohort has not only helped me
with being a better teacher, it has helped me to become a better global
citizen.” Although the students largely acknowledge being brought up in
environments that discouraged them from seeing racial and cultural
diversity, through course discussions and readings their views are shifting.
Marcelle writes, “I now see that it is OK to ‘see color’ and embrace each
child for who they are.”
! Other students feel that the Urban Cohort Strand is helping them
embrace the concept of diversity. Michael wrote, “Diversity is one of the
most beautiful aspects of our country. How boring life would be if everyone
was the exact same. This cohort has taught me the importance of valuing
each child as a deeply unique being.” Others are beginning to question
why they have not heard more of this information before. Makaya writes,
“[The cohort] is about information that I have not heard about here at
Carolina.” In addition, the Urban Cohort is providing an essential place to
support the students of Color in our program. In a one-to-one conference,
an African American student shared, “When I heard about the chance to
be in the Urban Cohort, I called my mom and told her I made the right
decision to get my teaching degree from Carolina. There is a reputation
that students will only learn how to teach White kids in this program, but
when I heard about this opportunity, I knew that it wasn’t going to be a
biased perspective.”
While we know that every perspective cannot avoid bias, we move forward with the
Urban Cohort Strand as a place where biases and their impact on teaching and learning are
constantly examined. We seek ways to refine our process, and continue to meet the needs of our
students at USC and the needs of children across our state. We are driven and inspired by the call
from Sonia Nieto (2003) for teachers “to elaborate a more critical approach to education so that
they may understand the context in which their work takes place and learn to think strategically
about how to change not only the context of their own classroom but also the broader context of
teaching” (p. 20).
!
References
Cochran-Smith, M. (2004). Walking the Road: Race, Diversity and Social Justice in Teacher Education. New York:
Teachers College Press.
Ladson-Billings, G. (2005). Is the Team All Right? Diversity and Teacher Education. Journal of
Teacher Education; 56 (3): 229-234.
Nieto, S (2003). What Keeps Teachers Going? New York: Teachers College Press
Affirmative Action
Committee
Carmen Medina, Chair
Indiana University
cmedina@indiana.edu
Rochelle, Dail
University of Alabama
rdail@bamaed.ua.edu
Erin Miller
South Carolina
dmiller118@sc.rr.com
"#$%&!'()!*+,-!.((/0$%!1!2#+!34+0+%2$56!7+89(%!72++5-%:!;(00-)??(52!(=!2#+!3$546!;#-4/#((/!3/)8$9(%!@>>+0,46!A!
Carmen Tisdale
South Carolina
Tisdale_carmen@yahoo.com
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4

Share your
Publications:
As part of the ECEA we want
to highlight the work being
done by our members. This
way we can all learn about
the great work we are doing
and hopefully find synergies
and people we would like to
connect with.
If you have a recent
publication related to early
childhood education we
want to let the rest of our
membership know about it.
Please send your citations to:
jwood@laurentian.ca
Articles and Chapters
Recent Publications of our ECEA Members
Books
Genishi, C. & Haas Dyson, A.(Eds.). (2009) Children, Language, and Literacy:
Diverse Learners in Diverse Times. New York: TC Press.
Gregory, E., Long, S., & Volk, D. (Eds) (2004). Many pathways to literacy:
Young children learning with siblings, peers, grandparents, and communities.
London, UK: Routledge Falmer.
Long, S., Abramson, A., Boone, A., Borchelt, C., Kalish, R., Miller, E., Parks, J.,
Tisdale, C. (2006). Tensions and triumphs in the early years of teaching: Real
world findings and advice for supporting new teachers. Urbana, IL: National
Council of Teachers of English.
Souto!Manning, M. (2010). Freire, teaching, and learning: Culture circles
across contexts. New York: Peter Lang.
Vasquez, V. (2004). Negotiating Critical Literacies with Young Children.
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Vasquez, V. (2010). Getting Beyond I Like the Book: Creating Spaces for
Critical Literacy in K-6 Classrooms 2 nd Edition. Newark, DE: International
Reading Association.
Albers, M., Vasquez, V., Harste, J. (2008) A Classroom with a View: Teachers, Multi-modality and New
Literacies. Talking Points. Urbana, IL, National Council Of Teachers Of English.
Allen, J. (2009). Effective home-school communication. Family Involvement Network of Educators Newsletter,
v. 1 (1), Harvard Family Research Project.
Allen, J. (2009). Family partnerships that count. In M. Scherer (Ed.), Engaging the whole child: Reflections on
best practices in learning, teaching, and leadership. ASCD e-book (reprint of article in Educational
Leadership, 2008). http://www.shop.ascd.org/productdisplay.cfm?productid=109103E4
Allen, J. (2009). Diverse families, welcoming schools: Creating partnerships that support learning. In C.
Compton-Lilly (Ed.), Breaking the silence: Recognizing the social and cultural resources students bring to the
classroom. International Reading Association, 122-137
Boutte, G. S., Hopkins, R., & Waklatsi, T. (2008). Perspectives, voices, and worldviews in frequently read
children's books. Early Education and Development, 19 (6), 1-22.
Boutte, G. S., & Strickland, J. (2008). Making African American culture and history central to teaching and
learning of young children. Journal of Negro Education, 77 (2), 131-142.
Boutte, G. S. (2008). Beyond the illusion of diversity: How Early Childhood teachers can promote social justice.
The Social Studies, 99 (4), 165-173.
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Boutte, G., & Johnson, G. L. (2008). No one can make you feel inferior without your consent? Examining
Systems of Inequity in Classrooms and Schools, International Journal of Equity and Innovation in Early
Childhood, 6 (1), 11-25.
Boutte, G. S. (2008). Believing in possibilities: The Center of Excellence for the Education and Equity of
African American Students (CEEEAAS). The State of Black South Carolina. Columbia, SC: The Urban League.
Cahnmann!Taylor, M., Wooten, J., Souto!Manning, M., & Dice, J. (2009). The art & science of educational
inquiry: Analysis of performance!based focus groups with novice bilingual teachers. Teachers College
Record.
Dooley, C. M., Matthews, M., Matthews, L., & Champion, R. (2009). Emergent comprehension: Preschool
children’s learning and intentions. National Reading Conference Yearbook, 58, 261-276.
Dooley, C. M. & Matthews, M. (2009). Emergent comprehension: Understanding comprehension
development among young literacy learners. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 9(3).
Evans, A. C., & Souto!Manning, M. (2009). “I gotta touch the book!”: Reading aloud with young toddlers. In S.
Israel (Ed.), Literacy breakthroughs. San Francisco, CA: Jossey!Bass.
Long, S., Anderson, C., Clark, M., McCraw, B. (2008). Going beyond our own worlds: A first step in envisioning
equitable practice. In C. Genishi & A. L. Goodwin (Eds.). Diversities in Early Childhood Education: Rethinking
and Doing. New York, NY: Routledge.
Medina, C. (in press, 2010). Reading across communities in biliteracy practices: Examining translocal
discourses and cultural flows in literature discussions. Reading Research Quarterly, 45(1), 40-60.
Medina, C. & Costa, M del R. (in press, 2010). Collaborative voices exploring culturally and socially
responsive pedagogy in teacher preparation. Language Arts
Souto!Manning, M. (2009). Syncretic home literacies: Learning to read in two languages and three worlds. In
G. Li (Ed.), Multicultural families, home literacies, and mainstream schooling*. Charlotte, NC: Information Age
Publishing.
Serebrin, W. & Hedrich, L. (2009). Renewing Teacher Education: Educational Responsibilities and Relationships
in a Pluralistic World. M.A.S.S. Journal, 10(2), 34-38.
Souto!Manning, M. (2009). Negotiating culturally responsive pedagogy through multicultural children’s
literature: Towards critical democratic literacy practices in a first grade classroom. Journal of Early Childhood
Literacy,9(1), 53!77.
Souto!Manning, M. (2009). Educating Latino children: International perspectives & values in early education.
Childhood Education, 85, 182!186.
Souto!Manning, M. (2009). Teachers search and reSearch: Questioning educational practices. Childhood
Education.
Stephens, D., Mills, H., Short, K., and Vasquez , V. (2008) An Interview with Jerome C. Harste and Carolyn
Burke. Language Arts . Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of EnglishB!!
Vasquez, V., and VanderZanden, S. (2009). Critical Moves in Literacy Education. In Cooper, K. Critical
Literacies in Action: Social Perspectives and Teaching Practices. New York: Springer Publishing Company.
Wood, J. (2008). The teacher as researcher. In Provenzo, E. (Ed.). Encyclopedia of the Social and Cultural
Foundations of Education. New York: Sage.
!!
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You are invited to join the newly formed
Early Childhood Education Assembly
Of NCTE
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