Rural, White Preservice Teachers' Understandings of Diversity

• In Event: 30.080 - Roundtable Session 10
  In Roundtable Session: 30.080-10 - Promoting Teacher Candidates' Cultural Awareness and Understanding of Diversity

Abstract

The proposed paper explores the ways in which pre-service teachers in a multicultural education teacher preparation program in rural New England understand ideas of “diversity”. These pre-service teachers, who are largely white college students from Vermont, engage in multicultural curriculum throughout undergraduate coursework and classroom field placements. This paper is based on qualitative research with pre-service teachers throughout their final semester of teacher training before their student teaching semester as they negotiate multicultural curriculum, in theory and practice. By focusing on language that pre-service teachers use to represent the students, schools, and families with whom they interact as well as their understanding of diverse “others”, the paper exposes the ways in which colorblind ideology shapes students’ interpretations of multicultural curriculum.

Author

• Emily Gleason, Castleton University