Chapter 11: Leveraging Languagerich Classrooms As A Resource For Fostering Critical And Creative Global Citizenship: Reflections on a Research-Practice Partnership

This chapter outlines how the development of a research-practice partnership (RPP) with the Office of Global and Multilingual Education of the Madison Metropolitan School District puts the Wisconsin Idea into practice. The genesis of this partnership was a local school principal and parent council’s desire to build a sense of belonging and community in a school that served an increasingly culturally, linguistically, and socially diverse school population. Collectively, we explored a central question of inquiry, “How can teaching and learning be reshaped to leverage diversity, particularly linguistic diversity, as a resource for all?” This chapter articulates how practice drove theory-building to foster linguistic and cultural collaboration within the microcosm of the classroom and school, and its impact in developing young students’ self-awareness and preparedness to engage as global citizens. We highlight examples of how through this RPP, the team supported and expanded opportunities for student and family engagement, as well as how learning from this partnership reaches across wider international contexts.