Using Culturally Responsive Teaching to Enhance the Curriculum: An Examination of Preservice Teachers' Instructional Choices

• In Event: 32.082 - Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: 32.082-3 - Multicultural/Multiethnic Education: Culturally Responsive Teaching and Instruction

Abstract

The promise of an “equitable” educational opportunity must address schooling and teaching approaches that meet the needs of those students who have been historically underserved and/or excluded. Culturally and linguistically diverse students bring with them different perceptions on education, economies, as well as language, literacy, and learning styles. Yet, many educators are ill prepared to support students from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. This study examines pre service teachers’ instructional choices as they implement culturally responsive teaching. The evidence suggests that in order to support culturally and linguistically diverse students, teachers need to provide students with more authentic connections to different literacies, scaffolding, more time to formulate oral and written responses, and more opportunities to connect to their own culture.

Authors

• Tabora A. Johnson, Medger Evers College - CUNY

• Salika A. Lawrence, Medgar Evers College, City University of New York