Abstract
This article examines how a group of elementary and secondary preservice teachers engaged in understanding “culture” and culturally responsive teaching while enrolled in an early program course. We analyze how culturally-related experiences, emotions, and perspectives contribute to the overall understanding of cultural competency training in teacher education. Preservice teachers varied in their use of individual- and structural-orientations, in isolation and in combination, as they developed and progressed as socially just teachers. These findings reveal that despite attempts to develop and shift toward asset-based perspectives, far more culturally embedded coursework and practicum experiences are necessary. This paper includes a reflection on the effectiveness of posing meaningful, reflective questions for preservice teachers as they experienced the concept of “culture” based on their own funds of knowledge.
Recommended Citation
Gomez Johnson, Kelly M.; Karabon, Anne E.; and Nero, Derrick A.
(2018)
"Examining Culturally Responsive Understandings within an Undergraduate Teacher Education Program,"
Journal of Curriculum, Teaching, Learning and Leadership in Education: Vol. 3:
Iss.
1, Article 6.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/ctlle/vol3/iss1/6
Included in
Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, Community-Based Learning Commons, Curriculum and Instruction Commons, Educational Sociology Commons, Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education Commons, Sociology of Culture Commons