“Equitable Schooling Starts With Us, Future Teachers”: Examining Preservice Teachers’ Considerations of Culturally Relevant Teaching

• In Event: Cultivating Culturally Responsive Teaching: Insights From Preservice Teacher Experiences and Reflections

Abstract

This paper examines whether and how preservice teachers (PSTs) in a Midwest US teacher preparation program (TPP) envision culturally relevant teaching in their future classrooms. Data analyzed include student work PSTs submitted while enrolled in the course that asked PSTs to engage in critical reflection about how their identities and schooling experiences influence their ideas about their future teaching. Findings generate new insights into teacher education, including possibilities and challenges in engaging in critical self-reflection as they seek to enact culturally relevant educational practices. We provide examples of considerations to enhance the specificity of culturally relevant educational practices with PSTs within and beyond TPPs.

Authors

• Rachael E. Rudis, Michigan State University

• Seungwoo Hwang, Michigan State University

• Mary McConnaha, Michigan State University

• Joanne E. Marciano, Michigan State University