Building Culturally Sustaining Practices With Refugee Youth: An Interdisciplinary Approach for Middle-Level Preservice Teachers

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 9:50 am Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Middle Level Research on Teacher Preparation (Table 3)

Abstract

Almost 75% of classrooms in the United States include at least one emergent bilingual student. However, many middle level teacher preparation programs do not provide training or experiences for teaching culturally and linguistically diverse students. This research examines how middle level preservice teachers engage with culturally sustaining pedagogies (CSP) to co-plan and co-teach an interdisciplinary summer learning camp for local refugee young adolescents. Using critical ethnography, the research examines the impacts of preservice teachers’ planning and implementation of CSP. Findings suggest that utilizing CSP in a community teaching experience can increase preservice teachers’ confidence and teaching skills, as well as reflexively confront their implicit biases. This research offers insights into how CSP can be integrated to prepare middle level educators.

Author

• Amy Walker, Kent State University