Tools that come from within: Learning to teach in a cross-cultural adult literacy practicum

We report on a study of preservice teachers who tutored adults learning English in a free evening class while simultaneously taking a course titled Community Literacy. Exploring their participation, we wondered in what ways pedagogy developed within this context. Drawing on a close discourse analysis of preservice teachers’ written work, we found that each preservice teacher constructed pedagogy differently but in ways that drew on students’ funds of knowledge, interests, ways of learning, and political interests. Moreover, through reflections on practice, preservice teachers sedimented their identities as teachers who see diversity as a resource in teaching.

► Elementary preservice teachers in an adult ESL practicum built tools for teaching. ► Their tools were based on students’ funds of knowledge. ► Tools included mentor texts, relationships, and political texts. ► Identities as responsive teachers were sedimented in their reflective writing. ► The adult ESL practicum prepared teachers for the changing conditions of teaching.