Reflecting, Reconceptualizing, and Revising

Abstract

The goals of multicultural teacher education courses include increasing the awareness and consciousness of preservice teachers, promoting attitude change, increasing knowledge about diversity issues, and providing culturally relevant approaches to instruction. However, we know very little about the strategies and assignments that might help teacher educators accomplish these goals. Furthermore, researchers have not examined extensively the context wherein these strategies and assignments are developed, how they evolve over time, or how they influence preservice teachers' learning. Hence, in this article we focus on the development and evolution of a portfolio assignment in a course on multicultural issues in special education. In addition, we present qualitative data that describe students' learning and provide implications for future practice and research.