What Analysis Reveals About Culturally Responsive Instruction During Literacy Coursework in an Undergraduate Teacher Education Program

• In Event: 63.046 - Shifting Teacher Education for Social Justice

Abstract

This critical participatory action research (Morrell, 2018) study utilized a multi method research design to gain insight into how the undergraduate PreK-4 teacher education program operationalizes key pillars of CR pedagogy. Teacher educators completed a survey, content analysis of literacy course syllabi, and an interview to identify concerns about teaching efficacy and to engage in ongoing cycles of collection and analysis (Nixon, 2016). Findings reveal that teacher educators must focus their efforts on challenging the mono-cultural curriculum and developing programs that better prepare future teachers for the realities of 21st-century classrooms. Teacher candidates and teacher educators must examine their own culture, power, privilege, and bias, and investigate how this impacts how they work with others who are different from themselves.

Authors

• Dana Reisboard, Widener University

• Katia Ciampa, Widener University