Empowering Teacher Candidates of Mexican Descent: Adapting Artificial Intelligence for Science of Teaching Reading in the Southwestern United States

Abstract

The present study examines teacher-candidate preparation in the Southwestern United States, and how AI usage can be adapted and shared for optimal learning outcomes in a manner that maintains academic integrity and intercultural competencies for learning among historically stigmatized minorities. Participants for this study include teacher candidates of Mexican descent enrolled in literacy education classes and preparing for the Science of Teaching Reading examination as a requirement for teacher certification. The present study takes place along the border between Mexico and the United States in the Laredo region. Public-school performance in literacy has been in decline post-covid quarantine among the mostly Hispanic/Mexican American public-school population. The need for professionally trained and knowledgeable literacy teachers to address the present literacy crisis has never been greater. Data collection is ongoing and implements reflective narratives and assignment artifacts as exemplars used to illustrate and examine how AI usage is influencing teacher candidates. Initial results reveal how participants share mixed attitudes about AI usage. The present study examines how AI can be adapted for successful retrieval of lesson plans that correlate with Texas state standards for instruction and for scholarly teacher articles pertinent to Science of Teaching Reading. In contrast, teacher candidates engage innovative assignments that purposefully circumvent the use of AI as a substitute for practical knowledge and skills related to teacher-candidate preparation. Educators who seek to examine innovative applications for AI usage among culturally-diverse populations should be interested in this study.

Presenters

Heriberto Godina
Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, Educational Programs; Literacy and Bilngual Education, Texas A&M International University, Texas, United States