Developing Culturally Responsive Teachers Through Virtual Global Engagement

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

Abstract

This study explored the experiences of preservice teachers that participated in a Virtual Global Engagement (VGE) project and sought to better understand the potential of the VGE framework to foster culturally responsive teachers. We utilized a qualitative case study design. Data collection consisted of 5 focus group interviews and 18 semi-structured individual interviews, with a total of 39 preservice teacher participants. Through our inductive analysis approach, we found preservice teachers gained enhanced cultural awareness in 3 areas: (1) understanding of self (2) understanding of others (3) understanding of the influence of culture in the classroom, suggesting participants left the project better equipped to enter multicultural classrooms and to implement a culturally responsive teaching approach.

Authors

• Allison Hinds, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Lu Xu, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Aigul Rakisheva, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Nevine El Souefi, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign