Preparing Preservice Teachers to Teach in a Culturally Responsive Way.

Abstract

A teacher education program designed to adequately prepare preservice teach-ers to instruct culturally and linguistically diverse students in their class-rooms is described. Under the supervision of a professor and a graduate assistant in a required methods course at a private midwestern Christian university, 24 preservice teachers, who use a culturally responsive teaching framework to teach reading to urban elementary children who scored be-tween low and intermediate levels on their state reading examination, par-ticipated in this study. Data were collected from the preservice teachers ' class and field experiences in the areas of (a) autobiographical poem and cultural artifact, (b) cultural diversity awareness inventory, (c) book discussion groups, (d) inquiry project, and (e) structured field experience. These data were dis-cussed and used to enhance their preparation for instructing culturally and linguistically diverse students. Implications regarding how teacher educa-tion programs can create a learning environment where future teachers can learn to welcome and support all students, specifically those from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, are discussed.