Troubling Curriculum: Critical Awakenings in Social Foundations for Ethnic Studies Teachers

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Five
  In Roundtable Session: Culturally Relevant Teaching (Table 6)

Abstract

This paper will present findings from a study of awareness levels among pre-service teachers in a social foundations course designed for ethnic studies teaching. We take up practitioner inquiry to examine two student assignments, one set of midterm discussion posts and one set of final papers. Our findings indicate multiple levels of awareness of self and of the role of teachers in schools, shifting understandings of criticality, and challenges in bridging racialized, gendered, and colonial frameworks among pre-service teachers. Our findings suggest a need for explicit instruction devoted to epistemological and ontological frameworks as well as attention to scaffolding and creating space for “critical awakenings,” with attention to diversity among teachers of color.

Authors

• JC Lugo, University of California, Los Angeles
  Presenting Author

• Lorena Guillén, University of California - Los Angeles
  Presenting Author

• Sara Jasmin Diaz-Montejano, University of California - Los Angeles
  Presenting Author