Teacher Dispositions and Culturally Responsive Practice

• In Event: Preparing Culturally Responsive Teachers for Equity-Oriented Classrooms: How Do We Evaluate Their Effectiveness and Our Own?

Abstract

Purpose
This poster will encourage discussion of the relationship between teacher dispositions and culturally responsive practice (CRP).
Perspectives
Prominent scholars view teaching as a perceptual activity (Combs et al., 1974; Nias, 1987; Katz, 1993a) involving the filtering of experiences and judgment. Katz & Raths (1986) argue that dispositions are not mindless habitual behaviors but represent trends in actions that are, at some point, intentional on the part of the teacher in a particular context and at a particular time. If teaching is a responsive craft that is situated and culturally constructed (Carroll, 2007), then unintentional habits of mind can be detrimental to a student’s success if not confronted during teacher preparation (King, 1991; Osguthorpe, 2008). Teacher preparation programs can support the development of teaching responsiveness and habits of mind through liberatory praxis (King, 1991) and the inclusion of asset-based pedagogies such as Ladson-Billings’ (1994, 2009) culturally relevant teaching.
Method
A qualitative meta-analysis was employed to describe the relationship between teacher dispositions and CRP. Aggregated analysis of the primary findings used adapted constant comparison techniques associated with a grounded theory meta-analytic approach (Levitt, 2018). Integrity of contextualization of data was maintained (program, subjects, data source, original research team).
Data Sources
The analysis examined three independent studies from the one teacher preparation program (see Table 3). The teacher education program was a one-year alternative certification program in a large southeastern urban university that targeted training and support specific to urban schools through strong school university partnerships. The program used Ladson Billings’ The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Students (1994, 2009) as an anchor text and framework throughout all experiences, but chose to use the term culturally responsive pedagogy in its coursework with PSTs.
Preliminary Findings
PSTs connected teacher dispositions to teaching practice, and the need to be responsive to students (see Table 4). This responsiveness appears to focus on two CRP tenets (& associated dispositions): academic success (flexibility, equity, high expectations) and cultural competence (learner care, authentic practices and connections). Implementation of CRP in schools (actual and envisioned) appeared as three interrelated areas: 1) Professional identity (as change agents; generalizability; resilience); 2) reflectivity; and 3) sociopolitical awareness.
Significance for Teacher Preparation
This study found that emerging teachers recognized that their beliefs and tendencies are directly tied to the instruction. Knowing is about grasping and understanding the relationship between our actions and their consequences (Biesta, 2007). Reflectivity is part of the process of that grappling (AUTHOR, 2013; Rodgers, 2002). Teachers have little time to think about underlying assumptions influencing their decisions (Schussler, 2006), therefore, teacher preparation programs must make space for PSTs to do so (Grant & Gillette, 2006). It is through this process (doing/experience, new knowledge, reflection) that dispositions arise as habits (Dottin, 2009; Katz, 2002, 1993; Sockett, 2009). A well-articulated teacher education program with attention to the significance of culture and diversity offers great hope for moving PSTs intentionally toward an in-depth understanding of urban teaching, and learning (Causey, Thomas, & Armento, 2000).

Authors

• Diane M. Truscott, Georgia State University

• S. Mia Obiwo, The University of Memphis