Heather Coffey | University of North Carolina at Charlotte (original) (raw)

Papers by Heather Coffey

Research Anthology on Service Learning and Community Engagement Teaching Practices, 2022

In this chapter, the authors discuss the outcomes of a program evaluation of a university-middle ... more In this chapter, the authors discuss the outcomes of a program evaluation of a university-middle school service-learning partnership. The initial goal was to evaluate the extent to which three middle school teachers, our community partners, were satisfied with the volunteer experience their seventh grade students had with first-year university students. The evaluation came after a three-year partnership between undergraduates enrolled in a liberal studies course focused on citizenship and education and a team of middle school students and their teachers. Interviews revealed that this partnership enabled teachers to view their students through a different lens than they had prior to the partnership. Further, teachers suggested that the service-learning activities facilitated a deeper understanding of students' funds-of-knowledge and talents. This research supports the possibility that there are valuable unintended outcomes of service-learning partnerships between universities and...

Critical literacy has increasingly become a topic of research in education over the past twenty y... more Critical literacy has increasingly become a topic of research in education over the past twenty years. Implemented as national curriculum in Australia in the late 1980s, this form of literacy has gained popularity in both teacher education programs and classrooms throughout the United States since the mid-1990s. This study explores the experiences of one first-year English language arts teacher who facilitated the development of critical literacy with her Advanced Placement Language and Composition students by using critical pedagogy. The project seeks to demonstrate how one practitioner defines and implements a curriculum and teaching pedagogy to cultivate critical literacy skills with students in a low performing high school. At the heart of this case study are classroom observations, teacher and student interviews, and artifacts from teacher generated lessons that represent how teachers might develop critical literacy and how students respond to this form of critical pedagogy. Th...

This project presents findings from a study that combined service-learning with a university cour... more This project presents findings from a study that combined service-learning with a university course on Democracy and Education, which is part of the liberal studies curriculum. The authors present a rationale for offering a service-learning partnership with a high-poverty, urban middle school in order to facilitate the development of justice-oriented teaching dispositions in first year university students who demonstrated a predilection for education-related academic majors (i.e. teaching, counseling, administration). Drawing on extant literature in the fields of justice-oriented teacher education and service-learning, the authors propose this model has potential for preparing preservice teachers for working in urban school settings. Through analysis of surveys and weekly reflections, the authors discuss how a liberal studies course with an embedded service-learning component with an emphasis on major issues in urban public school education has the potential to transform how first y...

Culturally Engaging Service-Learning With Diverse Communities, 2018

Journal of Inquiry and Action in Education, 2017

Innovative Practices in Teacher Preparation and Graduate-Level Teacher Education Programs

Using case study method, this project examines the perceptions and practices related to developme... more Using case study method, this project examines the perceptions and practices related to development of self and cultural awareness among a cohort of 104 (n=104) first-year students, all aspiring to become future teachers. Over the course of one academic semester, first year students who planned to enter the teacher education program participated in readings, activities, assignments, field based observations, and discussions developed to facilitate self and cultural awareness. The findings from analyses of these artifacts indicate that pre-service teachers began to demonstrate deeper awareness of how personal opinions and biases influenced their interactions with others and the types of characteristics related to appreciating diversity (Akiba, 2011) in urban classrooms. This study has implications for engaging first year students in early field-based clinical experiences in order to develop self and cultural awareness in preparation for teaching.

Integrative and Interdisciplinary Curriculum in the Middle School, 2020

Teacher Education Quarterly, 2019

This article explores the impact that a liberal studies education course with an embedded service... more This article explores the impact that a liberal studies education course with an embedded service-learning component had on preparing pre-service teachers to teach in urban schools. Using a combination of descriptive and narrative analysis, college students’ reflection journal entries and class discussion notes were examined to determine whether deficit perceptions about urban schooling and students could be transformed over the duration of the course. Findings suggest that students of color and males, primarily those with non-urban schooling experiences, exhibited the greatest transformation in justice-oriented dispositions toward culturally and socioeconomically diverse students. Given this new insight, curriculum recommendations for teacher education programs are offered to help better prepare educators to teach in increasingly diverse school settings.

In an era marked by major political and social change, teachers of urban students must be prepare... more In an era marked by major political and social change, teachers of urban students must be prepared to engage and appreciate an ever-changing demographic of learners who come from backgrounds different from their own. In this chapter, we discuss the need for professional development embedded in culturally responsive teaching, multicultural education, and critical literacy, all of which have the power to incite social action. We posit that social action has the potential to empower and engage urban learners in meaningful ways. We believe this work fills the gap that exists in the literature regarding urban education and social and political movements

Numerous studies show that mainstream classroom teachers still remain inadequately prepared to te... more Numerous studies show that mainstream classroom teachers still remain inadequately prepared to teach diverse students and lack the knowledge base and skills to teach English language learners (ELLs). This has profound implications, particularly in the Southeast, where the rate of school-aged Latino immigrants has grown significantly. Thus, this study examined the perceived effectiveness of teacher-training programs and professional-development experiences of 157 content-area teachers in North and South Carolina. Specifically, researchers analyzed self-report questionnaire data from teachers to explore the role of academic course work, professional development, and multicultural experiences in preparing teachers to work with ELLs and other diverse learners. Overall, teachers overwhelmingly reported feeling underprepared to work with this population until they sought more substantive academic training and professional-development experiences. Teachers had diverse experiences but repor...

English Teaching-practice and Critique, 2021

Purpose The purpose of this study is to inquire into the effectiveness of authentic writing instr... more Purpose The purpose of this study is to inquire into the effectiveness of authentic writing instruction embedded in a critical service-learning project in a middle school English Language Arts curriculum. Design/methodology/approach This paper analyzes middle school students’ survey responses before and after their participation in a critical service-learning project designed to engage students in authentic writing. Specifically, the paper considers students’ perspectives of community and writing as a result of their participation in the project. Findings Participants’ perspectives fell into three categories: audience influence, empowerment or personal knowledge to act and confidence in ideas. Originality/value These perspectives suggest a deviation from common findings regarding the benefits of authentic writing instruction, as the presence of an audience in this study often hindered student confidence in their abilities as writers and community change agents. Authors draw from the...

Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education, 2021

Background American students represent diverse life experiences, languages, cultures, and communi... more Background American students represent diverse life experiences, languages, cultures, and community memberships. Given the relatively unchanged demographics of U.S. teachers (primarily middle-class, white females), it is important that teachers engage in culturally proactive pedagogy and design curriculum that both reflects their students’ culture and engages them in developing skills to be participants in a larger society. Purpose This chapter explores how three veteran eighth-grade English language arts teachers in a large middle school in the southeastern United States navigated Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) as a culturally proactive and socially just pedagogy and encouraged students to examine power, privilege, and oppression in literature, in informational texts, and in their local communities to identify ways they might change inequities. Research Design Findings from this qualitative study suggest that even veteran teachers often struggle to implement social just...

Middle School Journal, 2018

Abstract This work explores the potential of using a critical service-learning project with middl... more Abstract This work explores the potential of using a critical service-learning project with middle grades English language arts students to facilitate development of a social justice mindset. Through The Responsible Change Project, a curriculum designed by classroom teachers, students identified social justice issues of concern within their communities, conducted research about these issues, and developed a line of inquiry into the origin of these problems. Results from analysis of teacher observations and interviews indicated that participating students learned to use multiple sources and perspectives to develop an argument and write a cohesive, well-developed TED-talk style speech to an audience of their peers and community members. Data analysis also revealed that this curriculum facilitated strong writing skills and challenged middle school students to think deeply about social injustice in their communities and beyond.

Urban Education, 2018

The effects of professional teacher dispositions on student development have been widely document... more The effects of professional teacher dispositions on student development have been widely documented. Yet there is limited discussion of the impact of socially just dispositions. The present study critically examines the relationship between justice-oriented mind-sets in preservice teachers and their perceptions of teaching in urban schools. Using critical interpretive case study, we analyze a series of journal reflections from a diverse group of prospective teachers to determine whether exposure to service-learning opportunities within an urban school influenced their views about urban schools and students. As a result of the findings from the study, recommendations for teacher education are addressed.

Action in Teacher Education, 2018

ABSTRACT Drawing on a theory of program coherence, the establishment of an educational third spac... more ABSTRACT Drawing on a theory of program coherence, the establishment of an educational third space, and intentional clinical experience, the authors created a unique entry point in a teacher education program. The authors developed the Onsite Secondary Education Project (OSSEP) to connect relevant educational theory and discipline-specific pedagogy through intentional clinical placements for first-semester preservice teachers. Results from this exploratory research demonstrate that program coherence and structured clinical experiences can help preservice teachers orient themselves to the teaching profession and connect educational theory and practice. However, unintentional experiences were identified, suggesting that increased exposure to the classroom helped shape participants’ views toward the teaching profession. Findings offer evidence of a teacher education that balances the idealism of teacher education with the practicalities of the PK-12 classroom.

Adult Education, Museums and Art Galleries, 2016

Teaching and Teacher Education, 2016

h i g h l i g h t s We explore how one first year teacher navigates culturally responsive teachin... more h i g h l i g h t s We explore how one first year teacher navigates culturally responsive teaching. Findings indicate that Black teacher of Black students must evaluate perspectives of culturally responsive teaching. Novice teachers must learn to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Teachers from rural/suburban backgrounds might explore the lived experiences of urban students to be more effective.

Community Engagement Program Implementation and Teacher Preparation for 21st Century Education

Service-learning is commonly employed in teacher preparation within the bounds of discipline-spec... more Service-learning is commonly employed in teacher preparation within the bounds of discipline-specific methods courses. This chapter presents an overview of the Civic Minor in Urban Youth and Communities program, which takes an interdisciplinary approach to service-learning as an ethos rather than a limited experience bounded by content area or grade level. In this three-course sequence, students examine the relationship between education and citizenship, design and implement their own service-learning projects, and learn how to implement service-learning in their future classrooms. This immersive experience provides students with a de-centering experience that promotes an asset-based, service-oriented approach to diverse communities.

The History Teacher, 2015