Disruptive Teaching: A Focus on Barriers or Ready for Action?

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 7
  In Roundtable Session: Identity Exploration for Humanizing Pedagogy in Teacher Education

Abstract

Teacher educators must prepare preservice teachers (PSTs) to become equitable practitioners who honor the voices and experiences of their future students. In this proposal, we advocate for centering equitable teaching in literacy education courses and making explicit how to disrupt traditional perspectives of teaching diverse students. This qualitative study investigated PSTs’ perceptions and attitudes about teaching diverse students after a series of modeled lessons. Analysis revealed that over the course of the semester PSTs either continued to focus on barriers related to equitable teaching, began to discuss new possibilities for teaching or were ready to enact the practices they learned. This study revealed the importance of moving PSTs beyond surface-level teaching to affirming and inclusive practices.

Authors

• Christy Howard, East Carolina University

• Anne Swenson Ticknor, East Carolina University

• Mikkaka Overstreet, The Hunt Institute