Reframing Resistance: Student Perspectives on Discomfort and Dissonance in Critical Multicultural Education

• In Event: 51.065 - Cultivating Culturally Responsive Schools and Teaching

Abstract

This paper explores student resistance across five critical multicultural teacher education classrooms from the perspective undergraduate preservice teachers. Using a participatory case study approach (Reilly, 2010) we examine the insights that prospective teachers trained as co-researchers brought to their peers’ resistance over the course of one semester. Our preliminary findings indicate that term “resistance” can indicated a variety of processes (including grappling, discomfort, dissonance, etc.) and can be misleading as applied to learning processes in multicultural education. Additionally, we identify three themes related to different types of resistance: 1) a solutions discourse, 2) teacher pleasing behavior, and 3) challenges to professor credibility. We argue that positioning students as agents in teacher education research yields important insights for multicultural education researchers.

Authors

• Eric Ruiz Bybee, Brigham Young University

• Erin Feinauer Whiting, Brigham Young University

• Ramona Maile Cutri, Brigham Young University

• Hannah Woolley, Brigham Young University

• Carina Whiteside, Brigham Young University

• Emma Holdaway