Using Photovoice as a Teaching Tool to Explore Pre-service Teachers' Perceptions of Students from Impoverished Backgrounds

Shamaine Bazemore-Bertrand

doi:10.51830/jultr.18

Abstract

Despite the diversity of the American student population, the current teacher force and cohorts of future teachers are overwhelmingly white women from middle class backgrounds. In addition to the work around race, gender, and disability status, there is a clear need for us to help future teachers reconsider how they think about children experiencing poverty in urban schools and communities. Based on its use in an elementary education foundations course, this article provides a first-person accounting of how the pedagogical tool photovoice helped future teachers critically reflect on their perceptions of students from these backgrounds and offered their professor entry points for knowledge and skill development related to teaching students living in impoverished backgrounds.

Highlights

I’ve occasionally had the opportunity to overhear my pre-service teachers discuss their future plans
I wanted them to understand that not every student who attends an urban school is from an impoverished background, not every child in the suburbs lives in middle- or upper-class homes, and strategies that benefit students who live in poverty can benefit all students
Later work by Wang and Pies (2004) summarized the three overall goals of photovoice: (1) allow participants to photograph everyday phenomena that relate to a given question; (2) allow for group discussions of the photographs, giving special attention to issues that are of greatest concern; (3) connect the ideas and concerns shared in the discussions with decision makers

Summary

Introduction

I’ve occasionally had the opportunity to overhear my pre-service teachers discuss their future plans During one such conversation, I heard a student mention how she wanted to teach the “poor city kids” but worried she wouldn’t “survive” in a city school. My long-term goal was to identify pedagogical entry points to ensure the teaching and learning in my course helped them expand their understanding of students from impoverished backgrounds and gave them the skills and knowledge to support them. Pre-service Teachers’ Perceptions of Students from Impoverished Backgrounds Like my students, most pre-service teachers do not feel prepared to teach students from impoverished backgrounds (Bertrand, 2017; Cox et al, 2012; Milner, 2010) In some instances, they lack an understanding of how both poverty and their own negative influences play a role on student achievement (Bennett, 2008). I explain photovoice and my decision to use it to better understand pre-service teachers’ perceptions of students from impoverished backgrounds

An Understanding of Photovoice

Context of the Education Course and Action Research

Examples of the Photovoice Projects and Pedagogical Insights

Findings

Discussion and Conclusion