Putting Critical Pedagogy Into Practice: The Challenges and Opportunities of a Racially Diverse Student Teaching Placement

• In Event: Roundtable Session 73
  In Roundtable Session: Race, Racism, and Teaching for Social Justice

Abstract

This qualitative study examined the critical perceptions and interpretations of power discourses in schools by three student teachers who were placed in a racially-diverse setting. Prior to their placement, teacher candidates participated in a capstone course focused on critical and culturally-responsive pedagogy for Native Americans. Student teaching journals and transcribed interviews were analyzed for themes associated with critical pedagogy. Themes supported by the data include: a) conscientization, b) dimensions of hegemony, c) conceptions of a counter-hegemony and e) threats to the teacher as a transformative intellectual. The results suggest that focused coursework prior to student teaching may enhance a teacher candidate’s ability to name and frame inequity in schools.

Authors

• Paul J. Brawdy, Saint Bonaventure University

• Anne-Claire Fisher, Saint Bonaventure University