The role of cross-cultural experiencein art teacher preparation.

Current research indicates that within the United States, many preservice teachers are not prepared to work with a rapidly changing student population that includes an increasing number of immigrant students with limited proficiency in English (Giambo & Szecsi, 2005/2006; Janzen, 2008; Latta & Chan, 2011). This article presents findings from a longitudinal qualitative study that examined the semester-long experiences of preservice art education students who participated in The University of Georgia Studies Abroad in Cortona, Italy program from 2003 to 2006, providing sequential art instruction to Italian children who were not English speakers. In 2010, we conducted follow-up interviews to better understand the potential long-term effects of this experience. Our findings indicated this experience gave the art education students increased cultural understanding and greater confidence in their teaching, and provided a foundational experience that they believed would help them be more successful in working with English Language Learners (ELLs) in the future. IJEA Vol. 16 No. 3 http://www.ijea. org/v16n3/ 2 Introduction Current research indicates that within the United States, many preservice teachers across the disciplines are not adequately prepared to work with a rapidly changing student population that includes an increasing number of immigrant students who do not yet speak English1 (Giambo & Szecsi, 2005/2006; Janzen, 2008; Latta & Chan, 2011). Latta and Chan (2011) see the arts as “hold[ing] much potential” in this area because of the nature of the arts themselves; the arts function as forms of communication “enabling translation and fostering understandings of abstract and complex concepts” (p. xviii) and in that way are often able to transcend other more standard forms of communication. This article presents findings from a longitudinal qualitative study2 that examined the experiences of preservice art education students who participated in The University of Georgia Studies Abroad in Cortona, Italy program between 2003 and 2006, providing sequential art instruction to Italian children who were not English speakers. The art education students were enrolled in a semester-long elementary theory and methods course offered as part of the studies abroad program and cotaught a unit of art lessons within the local Italian school as a component of the course. In 2010, we conducted follow-up interviews to better understand the potential long-term effects of this semester-long experience. While we acknowledge that there are substantial sociocultural differences that exist between educational contexts in the U.S. and in Cortona, our findings indicated this experience gave the art education students increased cultural understanding and greater confidence in their teaching, and provided a foundational experience they believed would help them be more successful in working with English Language Learners (ELLs) in the future. Preparing Teachers for Diverse Classrooms Today’s educational climate is increasingly more diverse. According to Villegas and Lucas (2002), more than one in seven school age children speak a language other than English at home. While a number of states, such as those that border Mexico, have experienced immigration for some time, the populations of other states have also become increasingly more diverse in the last decade with immigration from many parts of the world including Asia, the Middle East, Central America, the African continent and Eastern Europe. Some of these population changes have been quite dramatic. For example, within Georgia, population changes included more than a quarter of a million immigrants moving to the state between 1 Some portions of this article first appeared in Henry, C. (2007), “Teaching in Another Culture: Preparing Art Educators for Teaching English Language Learners (ELL)” in Art Education, 60(6), 33-39, which documents the pilot study conducted in 2001. 2 This research project was supported by funding from a 2006 University of Georgia Research Foundation Grant. Henry & Costantino: The Role of Cross-Cultural Experience in Art Teacher Preparation 3 2000 and 2009. During the same time period, the Hispanic population of Georgia nearly doubled with nine school systems reporting 10% or more of their student population as having limited English proficiency (State of Georgia Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget, 2009). The 2010 U.S. Census Bureau figures show that Georgia’s Hispanic population has continued to grow by 96% since 2000 (2010 Census Data, n.d.), with important implications for teacher preparation programs in the state. In 2003-04, over 5 million children in the U.S. were identified as limited in English proficiency with ELLs comprising approximately 10% of the preK-12 population, a 44% increase from a decade earlier (Giambo & Szecsi, 2005/06). Many of these children receive only limited English as a Second Language (ESOL) classes (Fillmore, 2000). According to Latta and Chan (2011), an increasing number of school systems are “mainstreaming” ELL students, now providing English instruction through regular curricular classes rather than funding stand-alone ESOL classes. Stress and anxiety are common as the children, having recently left their friends and their homes, enter classrooms where they lack proficiency in the dominant language. Many of the children are also expected to speak English in school and their native language at home (Miller & Endo, 2004) and to serve as “translators” for their parents in conversations with doctors, attorneys, and school personnel. Adding to those issues are the increasing calls for immigration reform in the U.S., with stark, and often inflammatory, political messages that affect how immigrant children, legal or illegal, are perceived by others, as well as how they perceive themselves. Better understanding of the emotional, as well as the cognitive needs of ELL students is crucial to their educational success in a new country. ELLs and Art Education Because art is considered by many to be a visual (Arnheim, 1954; Dewey, 1934; Eisner, 2002; Feldman, 1982) or “alternative” language (Mezirow, 2000), children who speak languages other than English are frequently placed in art classes soon after they enroll in a school. Eubanks (2002) explained that “the art classroom may be the first place that immigrant students feel comfortable and capable in school”(p. 44), adding that art teachers often must quickly adapt curricula and pedagogy on an individual basis. Understanding the needs of ELLs and developing teaching strategies that are successful should be crucial components of art teacher preparation programs today. Studies of preservice dispositions toward cultural diversity have indicated that teacher candidates, while “open to the idea of cultural diversity. lacked confidence in their ability to do well in diverse settings” (Hollins & Gutzman, 2005, p. 483). Experiences with students who speak other languages during teacher preparation can better prepare future art teachers for the diversity within the contemporary classroom (Henry, 2007; Latta & Chan, 2011). IJEA Vol. 16 No. 3 http://www.ijea. org/v16n3/ 4 Professional organizations recognize the challenge of this “demographic imperative” (Banks, Cochran-Smith, Moll, Richert, Zeichner, LePage, et al., 2005, p. 242), as in the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education Standards (NCATE), which require that all “candidates. acquire and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and professional dispositions necessary to help all students learn” in preparation for “working with diverse populations . in P-12 schools” (NCATE, 2007, n. p.). Specifically mentioning the needs of ELLs, the target goal for Standard 4: Diversity is that candidates are able to “challenge students toward cognitive complexity and engage all students, including English language learners” (NCATE, 2007, n. p.). The National Art Education Association’s Standards for Art Teacher Preparation (2009) also specify that study “in the artistic, cognitive, emotional, moral, physical, and social development . of English language learners” among other “special populations” (including “special needs” and “gifted”) and “of teaching strategies appropriate to these populations”(p. 4) be included in art education teacher preparation programs. The question becomes an issue of how these goals can become educational reality within the confines of often competing institutional expectations and curricular demands. Art teacher preparation programs vary widely within the US in terms of both content and course offerings (Beudert, 2006). While scholars in the field (Blocker, 2004; Chalmers, 2002; Desai & Chalmers, 2007) have articulated the need to address issues of culture and diversity in contemporary art education, research focusing on how this is actually being accomplished is needed. Beudert (2006) attributes the lack of scholarly research focusing on art teacher preparation programs in general to the interest of faculty and doctoral students in more theoretical issues and urges such research to make our work as teacher educators more visible. There has been progress in the last decade in recognizing the practitioner research of teacher educators as a viable and important endeavor (e.g., Cochran-Smith & Donnell, 2006; Hamilton & Pinnegar, 2000). This work can inform the development of self-study, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and other forms of practitioner research in art education as appropriate methodologies for studying art teacher preparation programs. Conceptual Framework Scholars have long been aware of the problems inherent within teacher education in connecting theory to practice. The practice of critical reflection, in which preservice teachers relate their classroom experiences to theoretical and philosophical concepts they encounter in their studies, is a crucial means to bridge that potential