Evading and Resisting Whiteness: Interrogating Preservice Teacher Responses to Case Studies

• In Event: Decentering Whiteness in Teacher Education

Abstract

Research shows that P-12 teachers are primarily White, female, and middle-class (Leonardo & Boas, 2013; Will, 2020), so it remains important to study how preservice teachers (PST) are shaped by Whiteness norms (Leonardo, 2009; López, 2006) and what education preparation programs can do to help them meet the needs of all students. This qualitative analysis is part of a larger research project exploring the use of case studies in required education classes to promote the development of skills necessary to enact social justice in classroom practice. Using a Niceness framework (i.e., Castagno, 2014), we demonstrate how PST demonstrate or resist Whiteness when working with others, in their assignments, and in their own personal awareness.

Authors

• Sarah Chase, Iowa State University
  Presenting Author

• Alyssa Emery, Iowa State University
  Presenting Author