An Exploration of a Preparatory Course That Engages Students in Readings and Discourse to Address Issues of Marginalization and Oppression in Schools

• In Event: 31.050 - Transformative Teaching for Social Justice

Abstract

Research has demonstrated the need to better prepare pre-service teachers to work with students who are racially, ethnically, and culturally different than themselves. The adoption of “diversity” standards by national accreditation agencies like TEAC and NCATE, competitive federal programs like Race to the Top, and new requirements for financial resources such as the Local Control Funding Formula in California have contributed to incremental changes in policy and practice in teacher education (Grant & Gibson, 2011). Yet, there still remains disparity in the ways Teacher Education Programs prepare their teachers to meet challenges difference brings. This paper offers an exploration of one undergraduate education minor course and students’ responses to both challenging content and instruction using a dialogic process.

Author

• Rema Ella Reynolds, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign