Critical Intercultural Competency and Special Education in Urban Education: Increasing Student voice, Visibility, and Motivation through Self-Reflection

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 9:50 am Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Exploring Intersectional Justice in Educational Research (Table 10)

Abstract

Today’s student interconnectedness leads to increased vulnerability in their personal and academic lives, such as growing blatant racism and discrimination based on factors such as socio-economic status, race, sexual orientation, learning and behavioral differences, and more. Students in areas of urban education experience the compounding effects due to ongoing experiences and traumas associated with the volatile and fragmented social context of our society. Therefore, teachers must learn to self reflect by using critical intercultural competency to better understand their own biases and prejudices in order to abate further negative effects of the systemic power dynamics at play in the U.S. education system.

Authors

• Kara Woodley, University of Wisconsin - Superior

• Jason N. Smith, University of Wisconsin - Madison