Journal of Curriculum Studies Research https://curriculumstudies.org E-ISSN: 2690-2788 December 2020 Volume: 2 Issue: 2 pp. 170-188 Pathways to Becoming a Culturally Responsive Teacher: Narrative Inquiries into a Translanguaging Read Aloud Stephanie M. Moody 1 & Sharon D. Matthews2 1. Corresponding author Towson University, Department of Early Childhood Education, Towson, MD, USA E-mail: smoody@towson.edu 2. Texas A&M University, Department of Teaching, Learning, & Culture, College Station, TX, USA Article Info Received: May 21, 2020 Revised: September 4, 2020 Accepted: September 25, 2020 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 International license. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 ) How to cite Moody, S. M. & Matthews, S. D. (2020). Pathways to becoming a culturally responsive teacher: Narrative inquiries into a translanguaging read aloud. Journal of Curriculum Studies Research, 2(2), 170-188. https://doi.org/10.46303/jcsr.2020.15 ABSTRACT The increasing mismatch between the cultural backgrounds of teachers and students has caused teacher education programs (TEPs) to scramble to identify effective pedagogy that will prepare preservice teachers (PSTs) to work with diverse populations. One unexamined technique is the use of translanguaging books, which intertwine two languages for a myriad of social, emotional, and cognitive benefits. The present narrative inquiry follows two PSTs, Kathleen and Laura, who engaged in shared readings of translanguaging books within an after- school literacy program for struggling second grade English language learners (ELLs). Data include journal reflections and individual interviews. Results show that the translanguaging books shattered their perceptions of the linguistic boundaries between English and Spanish, and illustrated how language can be used to alienate students. However, Kathleen and Laura had contrasting views about the purpose of the translanguaging read alouds which illustrate implications for TEPs: a) authentic experience is essential to enable PSTs to challenge current monolingual ideologies; b) PSTs must be given the opportunity to engage in tasks that challenge their underlying assumptions; and c) TEPs should focus on the importance of cultural responsiveness, so that PSTs develop a prominent belief system that can be quickly recalled and enacted in the classroom. KEYWORDS Narrative inquiry; Translanguaging; Read Alouds; Preservice Teachers 10.46303/jcsr.2020.15 https://curriculumstudies.org/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://doi.org/10.46303/jcsr.2020.15 171 INTRODUCTION The number of English language learners (ELLs) in United States (U.S.) classrooms has steadily increased over the past few decades, totaling approximately 4.8 million, or 9.5% of the student population (National Center for Education Statistics, 2015). Making up the bulk of these learners are native Spanish speakers, who account for 3.8 million of the students (Lam & Richards, 2020). However, there is a paucity of bilingual teachers available to teach these ELLs, as well as a lack of general education teachers who are certified to teach English as a Second Language (ESL) (Lam & Richards, 2020). Colleges of education have tried to rectify this disparity by requiring ESL methods coursework for general education teachers to enable them to also receive ESL certification, and focusing heavily on culturally responsive teaching practices, including the use of the first language to support the acquisition of English (e.g. García et al., 2016; García, 2020; Moody et al., 2020). However, one technique that remains unexamined within ESL methods courses for general education students is the use of translanguaging books, or those which seamlessly intertwine two languages to tell a story. These books can be used to build cultural awareness and empathy, validate the students’ heritage language, and as a tool to aid in the acquisition of the second language (Alamillo & Arenas, 2012). However, translanguaging has only recently begun to become accepted as a legitimate literacy strategy for all learners (e.g., García et al., 2016), and most current research has focused on how it can be applied to support comprehension within traditional reading activities (e.g., Pacheco & Miller, 2016; Zapata et al., 2015), without a specific examination of the use of translanguaging books. Coupled with the fact that most general education teachers are required to use specific, often scripted, literacy curriculum that mandates the use of particular texts, the unfortunate reality is that translanguaging books are unlikely to be used by general education teachers (e.g., Alamillo & Arenas, 2012). Thus, there is an urgent need to make preservice teachers (PSTs) aware of the existence and utility of translanguaging books. We began this inquiry out of a desire to see how monolingual PSTs would story (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000) the experience of conducting a shared read aloud of a book written partially in a foreign language in front of native speakers of that language. We wondered if this experience would provide PSTs with any insights into the ELL experience, and if it would force them to confront any personal insecurities or predispositions that they may have around using an unfamiliar language. We were also curious how this experience would alter or enhance any existing beliefs related to teaching ELLs (Hutner & Markman, 2016). Therefore, this narrative inquiry explores the lived experiences of two PSTs, Laura and Kathleen (names are pseudonyms), as they read a translanguaging book to ELLs, with a specific focus on the similarities and divergences in their beliefs about the utility of the books. It is our hope that this inquiry will highlight the necessity of experience in general education teacher training, particularly if it is coupled with supplemental ESL training (Dewey, 172 1938), and will provide a lens into the different pathways undergraduate education majors take on their journey to becoming culturally responsive. Additionally, perhaps this study will ignite an interest in the use of translanguaging books as a culturally responsive strategy for working with ELLs, including as a method for developing cultural awareness in PSTs. REVIEW OF LITERATURE There are two understandings that are key to this study, which will be explored in more detail below. Briefly, they are: 1) culturally responsive teaching, and 2) the use of the first language in the second language classroom as a tool for learning, including bilingual books. Culturally Responsive Teaching Culturally responsive teaching, as defined by Gay (2002), involves “using the cultural characteristics, experiences, and perspectives of ethnically diverse students as conduits for teaching them more effectively” (p. 106). A culturally responsive educator must counteract traditional hegemonic views (Bergeron, 2008) through becoming knowledgeable about, and responsive to, diversity, and creating an environment of care within the classroom (Gay, 2002). One way this is accomplished is by providing PSTs with methods for identifying high-quality pedagogy and materials for students of a variety of backgrounds. For teachers of ELLs, culturally responsive practices may include teaching and using materials that incorporate translanguaging. Translanguaging is the flexible use of an entire linguistic repertoire, where meaning is constructed through the application of multiple languages, in order to facilitate comprehension and remove the stigmatization of first language use (e.g., de Oliveira et al., 2016; García et al., 2016). Unfortunately, there is a paucity of opportunities for PSTs to engage in, and reflect upon, culturally responsive teaching practices like translanguaging (Gay & Kirkland, 2003). A study by King and Butler (2015) showed that out of 14 universities examined, only 4 incorporated a multicultural component into 20% of their courses; these findings show that the extent to which multiculturalism is incorporated across teacher education programs varies greatly, and may not be enough to enhance cultural competence in the classroom. Research also shows that typical student teaching field experiences fail to interrupt stereotypes or underlying beliefs that the PSTs may hold (Selland, 2017). To counteract this, Bergeron (2008) suggests that PSTs must be provided with “powerful learning experiences that are designed to bring about a profound and personal transformation that is needed to truly become culturally responsive” (p. 9). Part of this learning experience should include deep and critical reflections by PSTs on their goals for teaching, and how their ideals have evolved from their own class, racial, and linguistic positions (Gay & Kirkland, 2003; Gomez et al., 2004). 173 First Language and Bilingual Books in the ESL Classroom Various educational policies in the U.S. have made clear that the ultimate goal of ESL education is to have students become proficient in English as soon as possible (Menken, 2010). This has led to many classroom policies which either discourage the use of the native language, or allot specific times of day for the first and second languages, without allowing them to be mixed (Worthy et al., 2013). However, much research has demonstrated that using the first language in ESL classrooms is a culturally responsive approach that promotes academic achievement and positive self-concepts (e.g. Rodriguez-Valls, 2009). Recent research has focused on the use of translanguaging, in which the student is able to use their full linguistic repertoire to negotiate meaning, as a learning tool (Garrity et al., 2015). Translanguaging has been positioned by researchers as a socially just way to increase learning of the target language (Baker, 2011), to develop collaborative skills (García et al., 2016), and to allow all students to feel valued and knowledgeable (Garrity et al., 2015). García et al. (2016) provided a comprehensive overview of how translanguaging can be enacted within all types of ESL classrooms, including those with monolingual teachers, however did not specifically address the potential of translanguaging books. Bilingual texts of all varieties are critically important, chiefly because they provide bilingual students with representations of themselves; in this way, bilingual books are mirrors into the home language practices of bilinguals and situate bilingual students as a natural part of the human experience (Bishop, 1990; García et al., 2016). This is particularly true of translanguaging books, where two languages are seamlessly woven together to tell a story. These books can be used as culturally responsive tools in the ESL classroom (Gay, 2000), as they allow all students to demonstrate expertise in different areas, and help to normalize natural languaging practices (de Oliveira et al., 2016). THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Our inquiry is guided by Dewey’s notion of experience (1916; 1929), and Hutner and Markman’s (2016) operational definition of belief. Dewey (1929) contends that experience is central, and allows hidden depths to come to light. For Dewey (1938), there are three commonplaces of experience: temporality, place/situation, and sociality. In narrative inquiry research, the idea of temporality means an acknowledgment of the fact that experience changes over time (Dewey, 1938). Place and situation play a role in narrative inquiry, as not all locations and situations are the same, within stories (Dewey, 1938) . Finally, sociality is the milieu in which the experience occurs, as well as the researcher- participant relationship (Clandinin & Huber, 2010). The examination of these commonplaces will allow us to “study the complexity of the relational composition of people’s lived experiences both inside and outside of an inquiry and, as well, to imagine the future possibilities of these lives” (Clandinin & Huber, 2010, p. 3). 174 Hutner and Markman (2016) contend that teacher beliefs mediate cognition, and cognition is evidenced within teacher practice. However, instead of assuming that beliefs are directly related to teacher practice, Hutner and Markman argue that “a specific belief only influences cognition if that belief is active” (p. 679). Thus, teachers are more likely to enact beliefs that are salient to them, either because of constant use or because they align with other beliefs that are of importance to the teacher. Part of this definition also assumes that teachers may fail to take action in certain situations because the corresponding beliefs are not active enough to be recalled and applied (Hutner & Markman, 2016). For the purposes of this inquiry, we use this operational definition of beliefs to tease apart how prominent beliefs drive Kathleen and Laura’s enactment of the read alouds. We also use this definition to examine how inserting students’ native language (Spanish) into their English-only curriculum will activate a belief system that can be used in their future teaching. NARRATIVE INQUIRY: A RESEARCH TOOL Narrative Inquiry is the “experiential study of experience” (Xu & Connelly, 2010). It is research about people, understanding that they exist in relationship to other people, places, and things (Clandinin & Connelly, 1995; 2000). It is not a method for answering specific questions, but instead a pathway towards understanding the actions and events that become stories (Xu & Connelly, 2010). In this study, narrative inquiry is used to examine the development of PSTs, to understand how the “stories to live by” (Connelly & Clandinin, 2000, p. 317) of teachers unfold in relation to the experiences and events around them. PST development is not linear, but uneven and subject to much uncertainty (Britzman, 2007). Likewise, the beliefs of PSTs are constantly changing due to the interactions they have with professors, mentor teachers, parents, principals, students, and others (Huber et al., 2014). Connelly and Clandinin (1999) posit that all teachers constantly renegotiate and form knowledge about what it means to be a successful educator, outside of the pedagogical and theoretical information learned in educational programs (Clandinin, 1993). Thus, the narrative inquiry method will be used in this study to “illuminate human experience” (Craig, 2018, p. 302), while acknowledging that these stories may change, and the spoken truths may be only so for now (Bruner, 1986; 1987). As a method, narrative inquiry intentionally does not have a prescribed set of guidelines (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000), in order to privilege the participant as the full knower. To garner an understanding of participant stories, narrative inquiry uses three key tools: broadening, burrowing, and storying and restorying (Connelly & Clandinin, 2000). Broadening, as explained by Craig (2018) is how researchers “situate their studies in context” (p. 302). For this study, we enter through the lens of the PSTs, who exist in this halfway point between being professional educators and university students. The second tool, burrowing, is when the researcher closely examines a particular situation or lived experience (Craig, 2018). In this study, we dig deeply 175 into the interview and journal entries of two PSTs, as they relate to two classroom read aloud experiences. Finally, we use storying and restorying (Craig, 2018) to conceptualize the shift in perceptions and perspectives experienced by the PSTs. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY The Context of the Study This study took place during Spring 2018, when Laura and Kathleen were working as volunteers in an after-school program called Becoming Teachers of ELL Writing (BTEW). BTEW is an extracurricular program designed to prepare PSTs for ELL writing instruction, a subject which is not addressed at any point within their teacher education program. Thus, Laura and Kathleen volunteered to participate in BTEW to enhance their content and pedagogical knowledge for ELL writing, but did not receive any sort of credit for coursework for their participation. In BTEW, Laura and Kathleen spent approximately 85 minutes a day, two days a week, for 10 total weeks teaching narrative writing at Fremont Elementary to second grade students who had also volunteered to participate in the program. These students were offered free writing tutoring in exchange for their participation in research. BTEW specifically targeted struggling ELLs, and selected Fremont Elementary as the site of study because of its majority ELL population. Total student enrollment in BTEW consisted of 16 second grade students, with 14 native speakers of Spanish and two Black native speakers of English. The two native speakers of English were admitted into BTEW because: 1) the principal had identified them as struggling with writing and in need of intervention, and 2) the enrollment of BTEW was relatively low during this semester, and thus there were open spots available for the native speakers of English. In the context of BTEW, the first author served as the lead teacher and mentor to the PSTs, which included Laura and Kathleen. A central goal of BTEW was to empower each PST by allowing them autonomy over the activities and lessons for each week, and by emphasizing their role as equal teaching partners. Within the lesson planning for each week, the first author served as a guide and resource, providing the PSTs with new ESL teaching techniques and exposing them to innovative pedagogical approaches, including culturally responsive pedagogies. After each day of instruction, Laura and Kathleen were asked to reflect on their teaching experiences via a teaching journal, which were reviewed by the first author who would then engage Laura and Kathleen in critical conversations about beliefs, identity, and pedagogy. In this way, BTEW became a space where Laura and Kathleen could begin to formulate their own teacher beliefs (Huber et al., 2014) and develop efficacy for classroom teaching. Ultimately, we hoped that the BTEW experience would give the PSTs an arsenal of tools to disrupt the many hegemonic ideologies that comprise the curriculum (Huber et al., 2014). 176 The Participants Laura. At the time of the present study, Laura was a 21 year-old elementary education major at a large public university in the southwestern U.S. It is relevant to note that Laura is White, a native English speaker, and grew up in a homogeneous middle-class suburb about two hours away from the university in which she was enrolled. Laura elected to participate in BTEW to gain firsthand experience working with ELLs, and had been part of the program for approximately one semester at the time of this study. Laura’s path to becoming a teacher began in seventh grade, when she was a teacher’s aid for a class of students struggling to learn math. Through this experience, Laura formed a strong bond with her mentor teacher, and began to see how relationships between students and teachers can ignite change. This sparked a desire within Laura to help struggling students, and was the driving factor behind her decision to pursue education. Initially, Laura hoped to teach in a homogeneous suburban district similar to the one she grew up in; however she stated that the experience of working with ELLs in BTEW had changed her mind. At the time of this study, she hoped to become ESL certified and work with ELLs. Kathleen. During this study, Kathleen was a 20-year old elementary education major at the same university as Laura. She is also White and a native speaker of English, however she grew up in a large urban city about three hours north of the university, in which she attended a culturally, economically, and linguistically diverse public school. Kathleen comes from an upper-middle class family and was raised partially by two Spanish-speaking nannies, so she considers herself to be more comfortable with the Spanish language than Laura. Kathleen was recommended to participate in BTEW by an education professor, who described Kathleen as an excellent and highly motivated student. Kathleen first began to work as a summer tutor on another department research project, and was so successful that she was recruited into BTEW. At the time of this study, Kathleen had been participating in BTEW for approximately two semesters. As a child, Kathleen had difficulty in school and was eventually diagnosed with ADD. When this occurred, she formed a very close bond with two teachers who helped her develop strategies to circumvent the limitations of her ADD. Much like Laura, these relationships, and the idea of changing students’ lives through teaching, is what inspired Kathleen to pursue a career in education. Kathleen expressed that she had always wanted to teach in a Title I school, but after working as a teaching assistant in BTEW, she now hopes to specialize in ESL education. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS The Read Alouds When we conceptualized the idea of engaging PSTs in a translanguaging read aloud, Laura and Kathleen were approached to see if they would like to be readers. At that time, they both had seven weeks of classroom practice conducting English-only read alouds, so we believed that 177 they were familiar with the procedures for read alouds and could handle the additional challenge of reading a book in both Spanish and English. During a weekly planning lesson meeting, the first author presented Laura and Kathleen with the task, and they enthusiastically agreed to participate. Laura and Kathleen gushed over the translanguaging books, which they had never seen before, and negotiated between themselves who would read what, and which day they would read. Laura chose Oh No, Gotta Go! by Susan Middleton Elya, in which the main character, a small child, desperately needs to go to the bathroom while on a long car ride with her family. The story uses simple language, and most of the Spanish words are accompanied by their English translation within the same line. Laura elected to read this book because she perceives herself as less proficient in Spanish, having only taken the required Spanish courses in high school, and thus the lower-level verbiage appealed to her. She also chose to be the first one to do the reading with the class. Kathleen chose to read the book Little Roja Riding Hood, which is also by Susan Middleton Elya, because she felt that she could handle the increased complexity of the Spanish words. Roja is a remake of the classic Little Red Riding Hood story, however its main character is a Latinx girl who wears a capa to go visit her abuela with some sopa (Elya, 2014). Laura and Kathleen read their books to the BTEW students on two different days, during the time that is reserved for sharing mentor texts. For the students, these translanguaging texts were to be used as an introduction to translingual writing (e.g., Canagarajah, 2011), to normalize and validate the use of more than one language within writing. Before each reading of the translanguaging books, the students were told that the books would have Spanish words, and that their teachers may need some help with the words; they responded to this request with undisguised enthusiasm. During Laura’s reading, the students were very eager to interrupt the reading to correct her pronunciation or provide definitions. On the second day, Kathleen asked that the children wait until they are prompted before calling out, so that everyone could hear and enjoy the story. Journals and Interviews After each read aloud, Kathleen and Laura were asked to record their reflections about the experience in a journal. They were provided with a few guiding questions to get them started, but it was emphasized that they could write about anything that came to mind and did not need to follow a particular format. Each completed two entries, one after they completed their own read aloud, one reflecting on the read aloud of their peer. Laura and Kathleen also participated in an individual, open-ended interview with the first author, which lasted approximately 45 minutes. The process of burrowing was utilized to examine the interview transcripts and journal entries of Laura and Kathleen. Burrowing supports a deeper dive into the PSTs experiences with the read aloud, their resulting beliefs, and how their past stories influenced their actions. 178 Commonalities in Experience Through journal reflections and interview transcripts, we were able to see commonalities in Kathleen and Laura’s book reading experiences. For both, the bilingual books shattered some of their perceptions of the linguistic boundaries between English and Spanish. Additionally, both demonstrated cultural responsiveness in their concern for one monolingual English student named Chandra. Breaking Linguistic Boundaries Possible challenges were at the forefront of consideration when Kathleen and Laura were first approached with the idea of reading bilingual books to the students. Kathleen, a fearless, goofy, eager student, wholeheartedly embraced the chance to step out of her comfort zone, but Laura, who was much more reserved, fostered a greater sense of concern. However, while there were a few seconds of initial hesitation, she ultimately accepted the task without reservation. In perusing their interview transcripts and journal reflections after the readings, we immediately noted how Laura and Kathleen’s self-perceptions shifted through this experience, including their images of themselves as educators. Before the book reading, Laura’s story was one of linguistic intimidation, in which she was uneasy about speaking Spanish aloud. She mentioned that Spanish is “kind of a struggle” (Interview transcript, March 2018, p. 6) for her, particularly the pronunciation, because she has not practiced it since high school. After the read aloud, her nerves had changed to excitement about the potential of the bilingual books. In the interview, she discussed how it was refreshing to finally have an authentic reason to use Spanish, even mentioning that her observations of Kathleen’s book reading motivated her to practice Spanish more. Thus, reading the translanguaging book had changed Laura’s story from one of fear and hesitation to an interest in using the language more. When Laura read Oh No, Gotta Go!, many of the students called out to correct her pronunciation, or to provide English alternatives to the Spanish words. As observers, we were curious about how the students’ behavior affected Laura’s self-perception. Was she uncomfortable because of their behavior? Was she feeling insecure about her position as an “all-powerful teacher”? In her journal reflection, she wrote From the beginning of the story I noticed that every time I read a Spanish word, they would correct me or tell me what it meant in English. At first, it made me a little uncomfortable, because I was already not confident going into it, and hearing them correct me every time validated how terrible my Spanish speaking is. Then I realized that they weren’t correcting me because I was really off, but they were saying the words along with me because they were excited that it was in their first language and they knew exactly how to read and pronounce it, (Journal, March 2018, p. 1). This journal entry reflects an important epiphany, in which Laura pushed past her ego and feelings of insecurity, and realized the larger purpose of the book reading. Laura came to see 179 that the student’s were not focusing on her pronunciation to poke fun at her, but because they were eager to help their teacher in an area where they were, for once, the experts. Kathleen’s extensive experience with Spanish meant that she was not as nervous to read Little Roja Riding Hood as Laura had been, however she was worried that “my students would think I was infringing on their culture, and not doing it justice,” (Journal, March 2018, p. 1). Instead of fretting about her own personal linguistic inadequacies, she was more concerned about her representation of Latinx culture. She was hesitant to put herself in the role of the “White expert”, and wanted to ensure that she was accurately portraying the students’ culture. After reading Roja, Kathleen realized They did not care that my pronunciation was imperfect. In fact, they were ecstatic that their English speaking teacher was branching out and trying to connect with their culture. I think the students felt more known, and interpreted this read-aloud as a celebration and appreciation of their language and culture, (Journal, March 2018, p. 1). Kathleen realized that her fear was unfounded, that the students were simply happy to have their culture and language represented within a classroom of monolingual teachers. Reading Roja also boosted Kathleen’s confidence with the Spanish language, and her own linguistic abilities. She stated, “I realized I can speak Spanish a lot more than I thought. And I can comprehend more Spanish than I thought,” (Interview, March 2018, p. 1). The book reading began a new story for Kathleen, one in which Spanish was no longer perceived as a barrier. Laura and Kathleen felt so strongly about the potentiality of translanguaging books that they both expressed the desire for all PSTs to have a similar experience. In this way, their beliefs of what is necessary for teacher preparation had changed. Likewise, Kathleen mentioned her attempt to insert translanguaging books into a charity event run by her sorority, replacing the standard Dr. Seuss stories with more culturally relevant material. She said, “...then I was like, you know what? I think that Roja is way better than Green Eggs and Ham, because Pre-K and Kindergarteners, they don’t understand that book,” (Interview, March 2018, p. 7). Kathleen’s story changed from one in which she casually accepted classic children’s literature, to one in which she was eager to use authentic texts for ELLs. These stories of Kathleen and Laura demonstrated how their conceived linguistic boundaries between Spanish and English were broken down. Kathleen and Laura challenged the dualistic positioning of language (Creese & Blackledge, 2015), within which they viewed themselves as English-only speakers, and began to see themselves as emergent Spanish speakers. They were able to story themselves as capable educators of Spanish-speaking students, who could successfully enact culturally responsive strategies (Dewey, 1916). Kathleen’s desire to include translanguaging books within the charity event indicates that the read aloud activated a belief in the benefits of using the first language within the classroom; if this belief remains prominent, it will be recalled and enacted in her future teaching (Hutner & Markman, 2016). 180 Focus on Chandra A culturally-responsive curriculum can rarely be implemented without some form of resistance (Chan, 2007); this was certainly the case when Laura and Kathleen read their bilingual books to the class. As mentioned earlier, 14 of the 16 students were ELLs, and the other two Black students spoke only English. When Laura was reading Oh No, Gotta Go! we immediately noticed that Chandra, one of the African-American students, was sitting with her head down, playing with her shoelaces, and even rolling her eyes at certain points. Based on our previous experiences with Chandra, this was very uncharacteristic; she was typically highly engaged and motivated, and enjoyed pleasing the teacher and following directions. We wondered how Kathleen, who had also witnessed Chandra’s dismissive attitude, would modify her book reading to more fully engage Chandra. We also wondered if Laura had noticed Chandra’s reaction, and how that made her feel. In Laura’s journal, she expressed a deep worry over Chandra, and a feeling of failure that she had not done enough to accommodate her needs. Laura reflected on how she could have done a better job to prepare the book reading to meet the needs of Chandra, such as by pointing out the context clues about the Spanish words and teaching cognates. Later, when Laura wrote about Chandra’s experience listening to the second bilingual book, she said, I paid close attention to Chandra because she is one of the students who had mentioned not liking the bilingual book on Tuesday. I noted that she was the most disengaged, and was looking around the room at other things. This story was a little more in-depth and required more to comprehend, so I thought she might not be excited by it” (Journal, March 2018, p. 3). Laura noted that Roja was likely to be more challenging than the first book, and seemed unsurprised by Chandra’s continued distaste for bilingual books. Her concern for Chandra was evident in how she paid particular attention to her experience. Kathleen, too, was concerned about Chandra. When preparing to read Roja to the class, Kathleen mentioned that she very carefully practiced her pronunciation, intonation, and rhythm, so that all children would be able to follow the flow of the story. She also formulated questions to ask throughout the story to enhance comprehension. Despite this, Chandra remained disengaged. Kathleen later reflected on some strategies that she could have used to increase Chandra’s participation, including building a connection between Chandra and the main character. Kathleen also attempted to build a connection between herself and Chandra: I think she felt a little isolated...so later, I remember I walked up to her and was like “I don’t know any Spanish either...you and I are on the same page, I don’t know Spanish”. And she was like “Oh”. I think she felt better that she wasn’t the only one who didn’t know Spanish (Interview, March 2018, p. 6). In this story, Kathleen believed she could use her shared monolingualism to build camaraderie with Chandra. She recognized that the translanguaging books, which were so empowering for 181 the ELLs, were the exact opposite for Chandra. What Kathleen may not have realized was that reinforcing her monolingualism may have connected her to Chandra, but disconnected her from the 14 ELLs in the class; in this way, her attempt to build camaraderie may have resulted in a bifurcation between language groups. Instead, Chandra and the other students may have benefited more from a classroom environment that valued the knowledge of all students. Within such an environment, Kathlen could have positioned the reading as an opportunity for Chandra to learn from her classmates, and then given Chandra the opportunity (within another assignment or during a different shared reading) to be the knowledge holder. The story of Chandra and the translanguaging books demonstrated to Kathleen and Laura some of the obstacles to culturally responsive teaching (Gay, 2002). They came to realize that culturally responsive teaching does not just mean incorporating materials written in English and Spanish, but creating an environment in which all students feel safe and valued (Gay, 2002); this means responding to the needs of all learners (Brown, 2004). Thus, the incorporation of Spanish- English translanguaging books is not a ‘magic cure’; teachers need to share many different genres of literature that include representations of students from a myriad of cultural and linguistic backgrounds. By normalizing this type of literature, students of all language backgrounds will become comfortable with, and accepting of, a variety of languages (Moody et al., 2020). Including literature that encompasses a multitude of cultures and languages will also allow each student to become an expert, and to share their experiences. By only privileging the dominant culture of the classroom, which in this case was Spanish-English bilingualism, the shared readings may have actually caused Chandra to withdraw from her peers and resent the translanguaging. Perhaps the researchers in the present study made the mistake of introducing two Spanish-English translanguaging books without also sharing books that represented the Black culture. While this outcome was unforeseen and certainly unintentional, it did present a good lesson for Laura, Kathleen, and us as researchers; sharing translanguaging books is insufficient without also fostering a classroom climate where all students are positioned as knowledge holders. DIFFERING PURPOSES FOR THE READ ALOUDS While Kathleen and Laura both demonstrated a caring approach to teaching and a willingness to break linguistic boundaries, their beliefs about the purpose of the translanguaging read alouds were fundamentally different. For Kathleen, the books were a way to enhance the academic success of ELLs, whereas Laura perceived them to be a useful tool for developing empathy. These contrasting viewpoints provide a glimpse into the complexity of teacher development, which will be discussed further below. Laura: Developing Empathy As discussed earlier, Laura was initially nervous about reading aloud in Spanish. She knew that she did not have native-like pronunciation, and she was worried about how the students would 182 react to her speaking. Perhaps this experience, in which she challenged herself to step outside of her comfort zone, is why Laura later framed the books as a powerful tool for developing empathy, both within herself and other speakers of only English. Throughout her journal reflections and interview, Laura continuously stressed the idea that translanguaging books are a tool for student empowerment through “role reversal”. She felt that her lack of knowledge about Spanish actually benefited the students, as they were able to become the experts in a context in which they are usually at a linguistic deficit. When discussing this role reversal, Laura focused primarily on the student experience, mentioning how excited they were during the book reading, and how they had so much fun being the ones “in control”. For Laura, the best part of reading Oh No, Gotta Go! was seeing how much the students had loved becoming the teacher. Laura’s struggles with reading the Spanish words caused her to reflect on her prior experiences in classrooms with ELLs. She stated, ...I’ve seen teachers...get frustrated when kids don’t..share...or during popcorn reading...when kids don’t want to…if they were in that same situation, like if they were asked to do a popcorn reading in Spanish, they would probably be the same way, not wanting to in front of people...they’d be way more understanding, and it should make all teachers way more understanding of where their students are, and maybe why they don’t talk out loud, or read out loud to the class...cause I got to practice, which made me more comfortable, so maybe allowing students practice time before they have to read out loud, it would kind of take away the anxiety and the nerves (Interview, March 2018, p. 4). By storying herself as a language learner, Laura became more empathetic towards the challenges that ELLs face. She became critical of educators who push ELLs to engage in activities such as “popcorn reading”, in which students are forced to read aloud to the entire class, and began to develop a sense of herself as a culturally responsive educator. Laura also addresses the idea of building empathy within all general education teachers that are certified to work with ELL students by exposing them to a similar book reading experience, so that they can be exposed to the struggles that their students face. The development of empathy was something Laura mentioned continuously throughout her interview and journal reflections. She shared, “I mean, I was nervous. But I liked having to feel that, because that’s what they feel” (Interview, March 2018, p. 6). For Laura, reading in Spanish provided her with the incredible opportunity to step into the shoes of her students, so that she can now “be more understanding and compassionate towards their worries” (Journal, March 2018, p. 2). She knew that the book reading was the first step in her journey towards becoming a more caring, understanding, culturally sensitive educator. Laura also mentioned that she felt the bilingual books would be a useful tool for developing empathy within her English-only students. While she was concerned about Chandra’s negative reaction to the stories, she also thought it would be an excellent opportunity 183 for Chandra to become aware of how her ELL peers feel every day. Laura discussed her concern that the English-only students may feel superior to the ELLs, and believed that they too could benefit from a role reversal. In the interview, Laura said ...usually the English speakers are going to have the advantage, naturally, in the classroom, so it kind of gives them the advantage over their English speaking peers, which I think is also important to show...how they feel...cause sometimes they might get frustrated if they’re partners with a Spanish speaker (Interview, March 2018, p. 9). In this dialogue, Laura expresses a desire to ensure that every student in her future classroom be positioned as equals. She wants the English-only students to understand the lived experiences of the ELLs, and believes that bilingual book reading would foster this empathy. However, this situation is also more complicated than native versus non-native speakers of English; teachers need to consider the complexity of how students who exist outside of the White majority (culturally, ethnically, or linguistically) may consistently feel left out of the school or classroom culture. In the context of Fremont Elementary, where the majority of students were ELLs, Chandra may have felt that the translanguaging books were simply another way that she was left out of the school culture. Neither Laura or Kathleen seemed to understand the implications of this, which stresses the critical need for extensive multicultural education courses - not just ESL methods (e.g., King & Butler, 2015). After Kathleen read Little Roja Riding Hood, Laura expressed some disappointment in how Kathleen had restricted student participation. She wrote, “...the read aloud is a great time to allow listener participation...students should feel comfortable getting excited about the story, and I think that her speech may have limited some student involvement,” (Journal, March 2018, p. 3). While Laura believed that Kathleen did a wonderful job reading, she was worried that the students were not able to interact as much with the story as they had during her read-aloud. Once again, she is emphasizing her belief that the translanguaging read alouds should be student-centered activities, in which the ELLs are seen as knowledgeable individuals. Kathleen: A Focus on Academics Kathleen, unlike Laura, was not overly concerned about her Spanish pronunciation during the book reading. Her extensive experience with Spanish while growing up enabled her to feel more comfortable and confident with speaking and reading Spanish. It is possible that this level of familiarity is what led Kathleen to focus more on the academic benefits of the translanguaging books. From the beginning, Kathleen’s story of the book reading focused more on the students’ comprehension of Little Roja Riding Hood than any other aspect. She prepared quite extensively for the read aloud, even going so far as to ask her two English-speaking roommates to pretend to be second graders so that she could stop and check for comprehension. Of utmost concern to her was maintaining the correct rhythm, stopping and asking questions, pointing out tricky 184 vocabulary, and ensuring that the Spanish words did not detract from the overall meaning of the story for English-only speakers. Kathleen said, I also practiced it a lot more because...I wanted to make sure I was stopping at the right points, and making sure they understood the plot, and terms, and stuff like that...I needed to make sure everyone, ESL and monolingual students, understood (Interview, March 2018, p. 5). Kathleen’s story of the experience reflected her belief that student understanding should be the foremost goal of the book reading. She was not worried about her own experience as a monolingual teacher reading in Spanish, but was more concerned that mixing both Spanish and English into a text would be too confusing for all of the students. Afterwards, she stated, It impressed me how well they understood. I thought maybe that switching back and forth between English and Spanish would be confusing for our bilingual students...because maybe they’ll have to, like, set off both parts of their brain, and it would get kind of mixed up in their head, and I was surprised by how smoothly it went...they were able to comprehend it really well (Interview, March 2018, p. 7). Before reading, Kathleen believed that the combination of Spanish and English would impact the students’ ability to achieve the overall goal of reading: comprehension. When she determined that this was not, in fact, an obstacle for the students, Kathleen was impressed at the potential of bilingual books for developing strong readers. She later wrote in her journal, “...it could actually be more beneficial to acknowledge the fact that they know Spanish because it can be used as a tool for learning” (Journal, March 2018, p. 2). For Kathleen, the incorporation of the first language within instruction is primarily beneficial for academic development, and she views it as a strategy that she can employ to improve comprehension, vocabulary knowledge, problem solving, and higher order thinking. Kathleen’s focus on the first language as a tool for learning was also echoed in her journal reflections of Laura’s read-aloud. She wrote, “Personally, I would have told the students beforehand that they were not allowed speak out unless I called on them...they became distracted because they were shouting translations” (Journal, March 2018, p. 2). Her criticism of Laura indicates that Kathleen approached the book reading from a teacher-centered perspective, in which she framed student interruptions as harmful to understanding. While she was not ignorant of, or adverse to, the socioemotional benefits of the bilingual books, Kathleen’s main goal for the read-aloud was increased academic achievement. Complexity of Purpose Hutner and Markman (2016) posit that prominent beliefs drive cognition, which then results in action. Using this theory, we posit that active beliefs underscore the teaching practices of educators. The stories of Kathleen and Laura reflect commonalities in their beliefs, such as their desire to be culturally responsive teachers to all of their students. In this way, both Laura and Kathleen are both child-focused, and subscribe to a culture of care (Gay, 2002). However, their 185 enactments of care stem from fundamentally different belief systems, which reflect the complexities of teaching. Laura is focused on teaching for socioemotional growth and the development of empathy, whereas Kathleen views teaching more traditionally, for the purpose of developing academic skills. Kathleen’s focus on comprehension during the read aloud shows that she privileges the academic benefits of a culturally responsive curriculum. For Kathleen, care takes the form of academic success, and the translanguaging books are tools to increase achievement. This aligns with research on the benefits of shared reading (e.g. Auerbach, 1989) and translanguaging for reading comprehension (e.g. Song, 2015). Conversely, Laura demonstrates care through her willingness to challenge the hegemonic ideologies present in the curriculum (Martinez et al., 2015). For example, even though Laura was concerned about Chandra during the read aloud, she also realized that the books could be a tool to develop new understandings about other cultures (Hildebrand, 2016), and thus foster empathy within monolingual students like Chandra. The read aloud was also a mechanism for Laura to to reflect upon and challenge her own ideologies surrounding language use in the classroom, through which she was able to start envisioning a linguistically diverse teaching style. Gay and Kirkland (2003) posit that educational equity is impossible if PSTs do not engage in deep reflection about what is considered “truth”, and so Laura used the read aloud as a way to confront her perceptions of linguistic truth, thus developing a more empathetic and culturally responsive approach to teaching (Gomez et al., 2004). Laura also chose to position the read aloud experience as a way to step back from her position of power and allow the students to become the experts. In this way, she was affirming the knowledge of all students in the classroom (Garrity et al., 2015). CONCLUSION The read aloud stories of Kathleen and Laura highlight how teaching actions are influenced by individual beliefs (Hutner & Markman, 2016), which are precisely what makes teacher development so complex. Kathleen’s belief that culturally responsive education is primarily for academic achievement influenced her approach to the read aloud. On the other hand, Laura believed that the translanguaging books were an effective way to challenge educational injustices and foster empathy within herself and the students. While their approaches to the reading were fundamentally different, they both demonstrated a belief in culturally responsive teaching and a desire to create a caring environment through privileging the students’ native language and culture (Gay, 2000). This study has several implications for education. First, experience is essential; without authentic experience, PSTs will not challenge the hegemonic ideologies present within the curriculum (Dewey, 1938). Gay and Kirkland (2003) posit that reflecting on authentic culturally responsive experiences is equally as important for pre-service teachers as mastering educational pedagogy; pre-service teachers must be given the opportunity to engage in tasks 186 that challenge their underlying assumptions. 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