“We Were All on Edge”: Living and Dreaming in the Teacher Education Gap

• In Event: Sunday Roundtable Session 11:25 am
  In Roundtable Session: Narrowing Our Understanding of Initial Teacher Preparation Through Multifaceted Considerations (Table 30)

Abstract

This paper considers the lived experience of teacher educators attempting to fill the “teacher education gap” (Love, 2019). The authors use autoethnography and inductive thematic analysis of students’ course evaluations to analyze their experiences teaching culturally relevant pedagogy at a predominately White institution in the South. Their experiences are explored through the lens of Feminist Theory, Black Feminist Thought, and Endarkened Feminist Epistemology. This paper explores findings of student resistance to culturally responsive pedagogy and unconscious bias towards their instructors. Through sharing this experience, the authors hope to create a community of teacher educators willing to dream of ways to close the teacher education gap and imagine a better future.

Authors

• Kiana Willis, University of Georgia

• Lisa Hamilton-Rajaram, University of Georgia