College A Good Place To Become What You Want To Become By Carol R. Rinke, Melissa E. Arsenie, & Suzanne Bell

Carol R. Rinke, Melissa E. Arsenie, & Suzanne Bell

99

Teacher Education Quarterly, Winter 2012

“College Is a Good Place

to Go to Become

What You Want to Become”:

A Collaboration

between Liberal Arts Undergraduates

and Urban Middle School Students

By Carol R. Rinke, Melissa E. Arsenie, & Suzanne Bell

Carol R. Rinke is

a professor in the

Education Department

at Gettysburg

College, Gettysburg,

Pennsylvania; Melissa

E. Arsenie is with The

Posse Foundation,

Boston, Massachusetts;

and Suzanne Bell is

with the Baltimore City

Public School System,

Baltimore, Maryland.

Introduction

In

the

United

States,

there

is

a

pressing

need

to

bridge

the

divide

between

the

higher

education

institu

-

tions

where

teachers

are

prepared

and

the

school

sites

where

they

work

with

students

(e.g.,

McDiarmid

&

Clevenger-Bright,

2008;

Zeichner,

2003).

Linking

the

theoretical

foundations

of

teacher

education

pro

-

grams

with

practical

experience

in

K-12

classrooms

offers

future

teachers

the

fundamental

opportunity

to

learn

both

in

and

from

practice,

developing

a

stance

of

inquiry

about

their

teaching

(Ball

&

Cohen,

1999;

Cochran-Smith

&

Lytle,

1999).

These

collaborations

are

particularly

critical

for

urban

classrooms

where

the

cultural

backgrounds

and

communication

patterns

of

students

so

often

differ

from

the

predominantly

mono-cultural

body

of

future

educators

(Banks,

et

“College Is a Good Place to Go to Become What You Want to Become”

100

al.,

2005;

Haberman,

1996)

and

where

schools

struggle

to

retain

a

stable

corps

of

highly-qualified

teachers

(Ingersoll,

2001;

Lankford,

Loeb,

&

Wyckoff,

2002).

Moreover,

with

growing

national

interest

in

alternative

certification

routes

(Zeich

-

ner

&

Conklin,

2005),

it

is

increasingly

important

that

higher

education

and

K-12

collaborations

reach

all

prospective

teachers,

those

currently

enrolled

in

teacher

education

programs

as

well

as

liberal

arts

undergraduates

contemplating

teaching

at

some

point

in

their

professional

future.

While

there

are

a

plethora

of

opportunities

for

post-graduate

students

to

engage

in

teacher

preparation

within

urban

contexts

(e.g.,

Berry,

Montgomery,

&

Snyder,

2008;

Veltri,

2008;

Villegas

&

Clewell,

1998),

few

opportunities

exist

for

undergraduates

interested

in

urban

education

to

explore

the

field,

particularly

those

students

enrolled

at

residential,

liberal

arts

institutions

located

far

from

urban

areas.

This

article

reports

on

the

development,

implementation,

and

outcomes

of

a

partnership

between

Garrett

College,

a

highly-selective

private

liberal

arts

college,

and

Worthington

Charter

School,

a

public

K-8

charter

school

in

Baltimore,

Maryland.

1

This

partnership,

which

was

initiated

in

2007,

launched

the

first

of

an

annual

series

of

College

and

Career

Institutes

for

middle

school

students

in

the

spring

of

2009.

2

Building

upon

the

strong

foundation

of

prior

school-university

partnerships

in

the

form

of

Professional

Development

Schools

(PDS),

service-learning

programs,

and

teacher

education

fieldwork,

this

collaboration

was

constructed

around

a

notion

of

shared

ownership,

in

which

college

students

and

middle

school

students

were

equally

engaged

in

the

construction

of

mutually

beneficial

learning

experiences.

Through

research

into

the

experiences

of

both

groups

of

students,

we

find

changed

perspectives

and

strong

relationships

resulting

from

participation,

each

mediated

by

the

individual’s

background

and

prior

perspectives.

We

conclude

that

there

is

considerable

value

in

bringing

together

individuals

from

disparate

backgrounds

as

co-owners

in

a

meaningful

and

joint

educational

endeavor.

The Partnership

This

partnership,

jointly

developed

over

the

course

of

two

years

by

Garrett

College

and

Worthington

Charter

School

administrators,

faculty,

and

students,

aimed

to

bring

together

college

and

middle

school

students

with

the

goal

of

better

understanding

the

realities

of

urban

schooling

for

the

former

and

the

college

experi

-

ence

for

the

latter.

This

program

was

grounded

in

prior

notions

about

high-quality

urban

teacher

preparation,

including

participation

in

meaningful

tasks,

dialogue,

and

mutual

engagement

(e.g.,

Oakes,

Franke,

Quartz,

&

Rogers,

2002).

Moreover,

it

accepted

the

notion

that

legitimate

peripheral

participation,

as

both

students

and

teachers,

can

lead

to

fuller

participation

and

even

identity

development

(e.g.,

Lave

&

Wenger,

1991;

Wenger,

1998).

The

long-term,

shared,

and

iterative

task

of

determining

student

needs

and

researching

possible

structures

ultimately

resulted

in

the

creation

of

the

College

and

Carol R. Rinke, Melissa E. Arsenie, & Suzanne Bell

101

Career

Institute,

a

week-long

after-school

program

in

which

Garrett

undergraduates

...