Future Teachers of Color at Critical Junctures: Centering Equity in Teacher Preparation in Community College

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 11:45 am - Gold 1
  In Roundtable Session: The Politics of Becoming: Subjectivity, Power, and Teacher Formation

Abstract

This qualitative study examines the experiences of 20 community college Students of Color enrolled in a teacher preparation program in Los Angeles County aimed at diversifying the teacher force and centering humanizing pedagogy. This paper utilizes the framework of transformative expectations (author) that emphasizes lived and institutional knowledge in developing dispositions grounded in empowering curriculum development, caring teacher-student relationships, community-knowledge, and resistance to inequitable schooling and societal systems. Data includes interviews, literature circle dialogue recordings, self-reflective journaling, and observations, with findings related to examining the ways that aspiring Teachers of Color perceive their own racialized identities and experiences, and their commitments as future equity educators. The paper also has several implications for the role of community colleges in teacher preparation.

Author

• Leticia Rojas, Pasadena City College