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Small Openings in Cyberspace: Preparing Preservice Teachers to Facilitate Critical Race Talk

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Critical Pedagogy and Teacher Education in the Neoliberal Era

Part of the book series: Explorations of Educational Purpose ((EXEP,volume 6))

Abstract

Since 2005, we have implemented the Web Pen Pals project, a university–middle school partnership pairing preservice English teachers with local middle school students in secure, online chat rooms to discuss young adult literature. The project is housed in the young adult literature course Susan teaches every spring semester at the University of Tennessee. While the course is mandatory for the English teachers enrolled in the postbaccalaureate secondary English licensure program that Susan coordinates, elementary teachers and teachers seeking middle grades licensure in language arts (grades 4–6) also take the course.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This site was made possible through the support of National Science Foundation grant REC 0106552 and the Teacher Bridge project directed by Dan Dunlap in the Center for Human-Computer Interaction at Virginia Tech.

  2. 2.

    In 2006, the Reading First program was the subject of a congressional investigation into whether top advisers improperly benefited from contracts for textbooks and testing materials they designed, and whether the advisers kept some textbook publishers from qualifying for funding. In 2007, Congress—citing mismanagement concerns—cut Reading First’s funding substantially. A 2008 impact study found that students in schools using Reading First scored no better on comprehension tests than their peers who attended schools that did not receive program money (see Toppo, 2008).

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Authors
  1. Susan L. Groenke
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  2. Joellen Maples
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Theory & Practice in Teacher, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Knoxville, 37996-3442, U.S.A.

    Susan L. Groenke  & J. Amos Hatch  & 

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Groenke, S.L., Maples, J. (2009). Small Openings in Cyberspace: Preparing Preservice Teachers to Facilitate Critical Race Talk. In: Groenke, S.L., Hatch, J.A. (eds) Critical Pedagogy and Teacher Education in the Neoliberal Era. Explorations of Educational Purpose, vol 6. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9588-7_12

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