Defeating Deficit Thinking: Graduate Students’ Perspectives of Avoidance of Deficit Thinking

• In Event: Poster Session 5
  In Poster Session: Examining Teacher Research and Classroom Practice

Abstract

Abstract
This qualitative study explores graduate students’ perceptions of how to avoid deficit thinking in public school classrooms. Questionnaires were given to graduate students’ and written responses were collected over three semesters in order to observe graduate students’ methods, strategies and activities with public school students. The results of this study suggest that graduate students’ need specific teaching and differentiation strategies modeled by their mentors and other experienced teachers. The authors of this study make recommendations for preparing teachers for working with students of different backgrounds, cultures and races. Research should also focus on the specific teaching practices taught within education programs that have the potential to highlight aspects of power, privilege, and issues of inequity.

Authors

• Dawn Tracey Lambeth, Valdosta State University

• Ann Marie Smith, The University of Texas - Permian Basin