Preparing Teachers of Color to Teach

Culturally Responsive Teacher Education in Theory and Practice

C. Gist

• Publisher: Palgrave Pivot
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781137430168
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education Curricula

A rich, comparative case study systematically exploring two program approaches for preparing teachers of color, Gist's work explores culturally responsive pedagogy as a strategy for organizing teacher education.

1

Finding the Path to Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

Abstract: This chapter employs the genre of testimony to explain the researcher’s teaching, learning, and teacher preparation experiences, all of which informed the design of the comparative case study that is the focus of the book. The reader is taken on a journey through the researcher’s pedagogical development in public school and teacher education classrooms in Brooklyn, NY, which eventually leads to a research interest in critical perspectives of teaching and learning in the field of teacher education. An explanation of how culturally responsive pedagogy emerged as a conceptual framework for investigating teacher educators’ instructional practices is also provided.

Gist, Conra D. Preparing Teachers of Color to Teach: Culturally Responsive Teacher Education in Theory and Practice. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. DOI: 10.1057/9781137430168.0002.

Teachers of color are a culturally and linguistically diverse group of innovative pedagogues. Over the past decade scholars have extensively focused on creating recruitment and retention pipelines to increase the number of teachers of color in schools (Gordon, 2000; Sleeter & Thao, 2007). Less attention, however, has focused on understanding how to effectively prepare teachers of color to teach. The field knows little about the pedagogical moves teacher educators employ for teacher candidates of color in coursework and field experiences, or the type of professional learning communities teacher candidates of color find most useful (Villegas & Davis, 2008; Villegas, Strom, & Lucas, 2012). To add to this small body of literature, I conducted a comparative case study exploring two program approaches for preparing teachers of color. Using multiple data sources of faculty/student logs, interviews, focus groups, classroom observations, and program documents, I took an in-depth look at the culturally responsive preparation experiences of candidates of color through the perspectives of administrators, faculty, and teacher candidates of color. It was clear to me that if we want to ensure teacher candidates of color are well prepared to enact the cultural and linguistic strengths the literature asserts they possess, scholars must begin to rigorously investigate the nature and quality of the preparation experiences of teachers of color in teacher education programs.

As I began exploring the practices of teacher educators at both institutions it became evident that the content knowledge and learning experiences of teacher candidates of color were enhanced by culturally responsive pedagogy that was couched in a critical analysis of inequality. Critically conscious teacher educators were more likely to integrate sociocultural consciousness into their pedagogy, which resulted in the following changes in teacher candidates of color: (1) facilitated among teacher candidates of color an empowered view of their academic abilities and resources; (2) equipped them with critical epistemology to be change agents in public schools; and (3) provided them with a cultural and linguistic toolbox for teaching students from diverse backgrounds. This book’s investigation of how the employment or absence of culturally responsive pedagogy for teacher candidates of color enhances or restricts their learning experiences in teacher education programs adds to the limited empirical literature examining the specifics of their content and instructional preparation. Also, from a broader perspective, the findings generated from the study provide the foundation for theoretical suppositions about aspects of culturally responsive pedagogy that are crucial to the preparation of high-quality teacher candidates of color.

This book is organized across six chapters to frame the case study narratives of teachers of color being prepared in teacher education classrooms. This first chapter employs the genre of testimony to describe my teaching and teacher preparation experiences, both of which informed the design of the comparative case study that is the focus of this book. Chapter 2 provides an overview of the research literature on teacher diversity in teacher education by making distinctions between diversity in teacher education in general and empirical research on the preparation needs of teacher candidates of color in particular. Chapter 3 explains the study rationale, including the choice of a comparative case study approach, the selection criteria, data collection and analysis, and validity criteria. Chapter 4 and 5 present the findings from both case study sites, and Chapter 6 explicates theoretical implications of the findings, and extends policy and practice recommendations for teacher education programs.

The following section describes how this book was conceptually developed from my phenomenological experiences as a teacher candidate of color in a teacher education program in Brooklyn, NY.

The void: being prepared to teach

From the beginning I always felt sincere compassion for my students. As a Black female teacher from the South, I was familiar with feelings of inadequacy and hopelessness in the classroom. I lived most of my schooling wallowing in it but never being overcome by it. Due to these educational experiences in my adolescence, I was committed to ensuring my fourth graders knew their value and potential and were provided every opportunity to succeed. The mantra that played on repeat in my head was, “My students will pass. I will close the achievement gap!” After six weeks of training, I was in an elementary classroom teaching nine and ten year olds from various locations and countries around the world, such as Puerto Rico, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Dominican Republic, Guyana, and China. I was no longer simply serving the Black community but a vibrant and richly diverse transnational multilingual student community.

Most of my summer training, and throughout the next two years in which I completed my Masters, provided little emphasis on the role and value of densely populated culturally and linguistically diverse communities in my local school neighborhood. My preparation coursework was more focused on the technical aspects of teaching. The only experience I had that acknowledged and built on the importance of viewing cultural and linguistic diversity as an asset and bridge to learning was a science immersion course I took in Puerto Rico. The experience enabled me to visit the homeland where a significant group of my students were born and provided insight about their cultural and linguistic heritage. I saw the places and symbols of the land and heard the language and music that gave life to the people. Although it was an enriching learning experience, I was still left with a desire to learn more about the pedagogical practices of Puerto Rican teachers and the focus of their mission in the school community. My work as a VISTA member prior to joining the New York City Teaching Fellows Program required that I invest time in communities by visiting homes and meeting with community organizers and local business owners. In contrast, my training as a teacher presented the work of teaching as confined to the four walls of my classroom. Still, I knew learning about the local school geographic community mattered to me regardless of what policy mandates teacher education programs were required to address in the curriculum.

In lieu of a consistent batch of courses that challenged me to consider the root causes of inequality in education and learn about the cultural and linguistic identities of my students, I found clues and perspectives on these issues in conscious hip hop. My sociopolitical consciousness was informed by the hip-hop lyrics of Talib Kweli that provided food for thought, such as “The Blacks and Latins in prison, numbers have risen, they’re victims. Lacking the vision and all they got is rapping to listen to, I let them know we are missing you, the love is unconditional, even when your position is critical, when the living is miserable. Your position is pivotal.” The following lines from Bahamedia were also posted on a file cabinet in my classroom:

No wonder generation X remains emotionless, misinformed then entertained on ignorance by hypocrites, circulating seediness validated by leadership whose primary motive is to make the public more obedient. Everybody plays the fool, sometimes the main ingredient is used in ploy confirming what was stated previous but if the anchor realizes his position is a gift he will truly honor what his mission is.

Although I lacked a critical framework and confident voice to analyze and express my lived experiences, I gravitated toward music that spoke to issues of oppression, was motivational, and conveyed a sense of hope. Now I can see in hindsight how some of the hip-hop lyrics I listened to scripted a limited view of the legacy of inequality, and at times often did so in ways that were problematic, derogatory, misogynistic, and lacked an intersectional analysis that conveyed the broader picture of systems of oppression. At the same time, I did not have a crew of teachers of color I connected and built with from an academic perspective. Our classes did not foster that type of learning community and the stratifying nature of our geographic placement in various school communities in NYC did not support consistent connection unless we were intentional about creating it. Regrettably, as a new teacher of color I deprioritized this sense of community with all the other mandates on my time.

Despite how I was socially situated and the choices I made from that positionality, I often recalled the warm demanders of my youth when I taught. The Black female teachers who inspired me and made me feel proud to be a Black woman. I began to question why culturally and linguistically diverse teachers were absent from the content typically taught by faculty. I realized later that while I undoubtedly gained useful content and instructional approaches in my teacher education program, there was a cultural, psychoemotional kinship void I felt by the absence of educators of color in my studies. It was as if we did not exist, as if we made limited contribution to the field of education.

It was not until I read Michele Foster’s Black Teachers on Teaching in my doctoral program that I began to understand my experiences as linked to the history of teachers of color in a critical way. I began reflecting on the value of culturally specific ways of teaching to diversity in teacher education programs. When completing course assignments in my teacher education classes I always spoke from a cultural and racial stance because it was a foundational way of knowing. I did not know my epistemological perspective was valuable, separate, distinct, and powerfully meaningful on its own. I was always looking at the technical approaches to teacher learning as right and the cultural and community approaches to teacher learning from a deficit perspective because I thought my experience was invalid. When considering the evolution of my thinking as a teacher, I wondered how I might have benefited from teacher educators that taught me in culturally specific ways. I questioned, how have other teachers of color benefited from such literature and perspectives? As I began to explore the historical legacy of educators of color it became apparent that I was taking part in a historical movement for social justice and uplift that persisted despite obstacles over the last century (Gist, 2014c; Siddle-Walker, 2005). It was exhilarating to identify a body of knowledge and ways of knowing from which I could conceptualize teaching for social justice in urban schools as a Black educator in the twenty-first century. It was refreshing to know there was a place for my story; that my path to teaching had been paved by revolutionary educators.

Problematizing the teacher education classroom

Ultimately, my doctoral journey prompted a research interest in faculty, in this case teacher educators, and how they craft responsive curriculum and instruction that addresses the cultural and racial/ethnic diversity of their teacher candidates. The framework of culturally responsive pedagogy captured the essence of those teachers who I fondly remembered and I was curious about how candidates of color might respond to the presence or lack of such pedagogical approaches. Being raised by parents who placed a high value on education helped to shape my belief that education should be empowering and transformational for all students at all educational levels (Perry, Steele, & Hilliard, 2004). Therefore, understanding how a frequently overlooked group of teachers are experiencing their teacher preparation programs was an important line of inquiry, especially considering the Black world I came from, and the subsequent academic experiences in higher education that marginalized nondominate perspectives and knowledge systems. Was there a community and context for learning that valued and built upon teachers’ cultural and linguistic diversity? Did anyone else think teachers of color, and their positionality in teacher education programs, should be considered?

Granted, the absence of such attention in my teacher education courses (e.g., explicit teaching of culturally situated ways of knowing and teaching from historical and sociological perspectives) did not result in my failure in teacher education courses or my students’ failure on end of year exams. But knowing the legacy and mission, as well as the often unacknowledged cultural and linguistic assets of teachers of color—in particular for a teacher of color like myself who lacked the language and framework to define and conceptualize my experience—could equip teachers of color with a standpoint and pedagogical heritage for effective teaching. Moreover, such pedagogical stances spotlight the richness of diversity in the cannon of teacher preparation, and the pluralistic and social justice perspectives we want our teachers to exhibit in the classroom. As a novice qualitative researcher, I needed to explore teaching environments where teacher educators had successfully inspired their teachers with deep sociocultural knowledge, perspectives, and mindsets to nurture teacher candidates’ cultural and linguistic assets—even if this approach was not prioritized in teacher quality research.

In my initial review of the teacher education literature it was apparent that the experiences of teacher candidates of color are often missing from teacher education research. Of the studies that do investigate their preparation, they frequently stop short of analyzing and synthesizing complex and hybrid experiences of teacher candidates of color in the teacher education classroom. White teachers comprise a majority of P-12 teachers in the United States (Goldring, Gray, & Bitterman, 2013), which privileges their preparation experiences in conscious and unconscious ways (Chapman, 2011). Given this racial marking in the professionalization of teachers, knowledge production geared toward the interests of teacher candidates of color is often devalued and viewed as a less viable research endeavor for researchers seeking advancement in the academy (Bernal & Villalpando, 2002). This also means that the body of work in teacher education that carries the most influence with policy makers and the public frequently fails to critically consider the racialized context of teacher education. Despite these challenges, because I knew this work was important for my actualization as a teacher of color and for future teachers of color, I was committed to pursuing this research project.

Culturally responsive pedagogy as an analytical framework

Because of the void I experienced during my teacher preparation journey, I decided to utilize culturally responsive pedagogy as an analytical framework to conduct a comparative case study of the preparation experiences of teachers of color. Culturally responsive teaching is a term that loosely refers to a teacher’s ability to incorporate knowledge of student background and culture into his or her teaching practice to improve academic achievement and teach for social justice (Gay, 2000; Ladson-Billings, 1994; Villegas & Lucas, 2002). Many scholars have addressed the importance of culturally responsive practices for enhancing the academic achievement of P-12 students of color; however, the conceptual framework of culturally responsive pedagogy can also be a powerful lens of analysis for exploring content and instructional practices enacted for teacher candidates of color.

Ladson-Billings (1995) described a study of exemplary teachers of African-American students, which allowed her to frame three overarching characteristics of how to define and recognize culturally relevant pedagogy in practice. For one, culturally relevant pedagogy was evident when teachers viewed teaching as an art form that ensured high academic achievement for all students as well as provided an opportunity to question the status quo and give back to the community. In this sense, culturally relevant pedagogues understood the value of affirming students’ cultural identities. Also, culturally relevant teachers maintained fluid social relations among students by developing a community of learners who are connected through collaborative work that makes them responsible for one another. Teachers exhibited passion for knowledge and learning by presenting content in multifaceted ways that allows it to be shared, recycled, and constructed. Building upon the work of other researchers (Foster, 1993; Irvine, 1990; King, 1991), the research was groundbreaking in that it linked classroom teaching to broader political and social contexts, arguing for teaching students to question the status quo and promote social justice. Most importantly, it provided fertile ground for conceptualizing what culturally responsive practices looked like for teachers and students in the field of education. In a similar manner, Gay (2000) explained culturally responsive teaching by arguing that such practices are a means for unleashing higher potentials of ethnically diverse students by simultaneously cultivating their academic and psychosocial abilities. In her literature review of culturally responsive pedagogy she contended that such practices often assigned teachers to the role of cultural brokers. Cultural brokers must have thorough knowledge of cultural groups in order to organize instruction; possess the courage and will to stop blaming and mediate conflicts; and use skills and tenacity to act in ways that incorporate cultural diversity into pedagogical practices and encourage student achievement.

Villegas and Lucas (2002) developed a comprehensive framework for preparing culturally responsive teacher candidates. Central to their curriculum approach is the belief that there is a certain set of knowledge, dispositions, and skills that culturally responsive teachers need to develop in teacher education programs. They propose a teacher education curriculum that aims to cultivate the following attributes among teachers: (1) a sense of sociocultural consciousness; (2) affirming attitudes toward students from culturally diverse backgrounds; (3) skills and commitment to act as agents of change; (4) an understanding of constructivist views of learning and the type of teaching needed to promote it; (5) skills for learning about students and their communities; and (6) cultivating culturally responsive teaching practices, which encompass instructional strategies that build bridges between students’ lives and what they are expected to learn in schools.

In response to the marginal position teacher candidates of color occupy in the teacher education literature, and in an effort to develop empirical research that lends itself to theorizing, analyzing, and improving the preparation experiences of teacher candidates of color, I hypothesized that teacher educators who enact cultur...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• 1  Finding the Path to Culturally Responsive Pedagogy
• 2  Placing Teacher Diversity at the Center
• 3  The Case Study Design and Implementation
• 4  Sunnyside Teacher Education Program Case Study
• 5  Mountain Range Teacher Education Program Case Study
• 6  Addressing Teacher Diversity in Theory and Practice
• Appendices
• References
• Index