Culturally Responsive Pedagogy in Higher Education: A Collaborative Self-Study

In this article we discuss findings from a collaborative self-study of how seven teacher educators define, enact, and navigate their roles as culturally responsive educators across various programs within a higher education institution. All participants conducted an individual interview with another team member and engaged in prolonged team meetings in order to understand and conceptualize culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP). Findings include the participants' difficulty with defining CRP in higher education; the importance of modeling and building relationships with students when enacting CRP; tensions related to students and institutions; and professional and personal opportunities to continuously evolve. The findings begin to fill in a void for an articulated framework of CRP beyond P-12 classrooms and illustrate the type of support and professional development higher education institutions need to provide for teacher educators to actualize this work.     

Biculturalism 101: A Self-Study Exploring Culturally Responsive Practice

ABSTRACT

There has been strong advocacy for teacher educators to be culturally responsive in their teaching, but less attention has been focused on the process and journey of becoming more culturally responsive. In this self-study, two teacher educators enrolled in a year-long, foundation-level Māori language course to learn the indigenous language of their country. Putting themselves into roles as students in a bicultural context was a powerful way to learn about Māoritanga and culturally responsive pedagogy, which they then applied in their own teaching. Data were generated through regular reflective journal entries, with significant moments being identified, discussed, and shared with their critical friend. Discussion highlighted that interactions in a bicultural context generated a great deal more than rudimentary language skills. By incorporating aspects of their experiences into their teaching, Dawn and Alan were able to examine the rationale for their actions as an important commitment to modelling culturally appropriate pedagogy for their students. They acknowledge that their status will always be as “other” but they have respectfully navigated paths to ensure that they practice in ways that are sensitive and appropriate to their rich bicultural context.     

In Search of Ways to Improve Practicum Learning: Self-Study of the Teacher Educator/Researcher as Responsive Listener

Abstract

Teacher education programs that appear to be more successful work to thread practicum experiences and on-campus courses with an eye to achieving overall program coherence. As part of a funded research project centred on understanding how teacher candidates perceive quality in their practicum experiences and, by extension, in their professional learning, focus groups were recruited for a series of discussions that extended over an academic year. I undertook this self-study in an attempt to examine the conditions for learning that made these focus groups so successful by virtue of participants’ commitment, engagement, focus and drive to become the best teachers they could possibly be. Self-study was an avenue for me to develop insights into my practice and to identify ways to move forward to become a more effective teacher educator who could model and scaffold responsive listening and relationship-building for future teachers. The two questions driving this self-study were “How does adopting and promoting a listening perspective improve participants learning?” And “What is transformative about responsive listening?” Identifying and challenging my assumptions were initial steps in understanding what a listening perspective entails, the importance of authorizing student perspectives and developing their pedagogical voices. Responsive listening became a means to interrogate my practice, to reframe my experience, to work in and from action, and to become more comfortable with the uncertain spaces where deep learning can occur – for myself and for those whom I teach. In so doing, I came closer to appreciating the possibilities for transformation.     

Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices and Critical Pedagogy: The Fifth Moment in a Teacher Educator's Journey

In order to research and improve her practice, a teacher educator examined her life history and its relation to the ethical and moral discourses of society using autobiography as a self-study methodology. This critical reflection provided the basis for contextualizing praxis-oriented teacher education in an urban school. Based on the transformative framework of critical pedagogy coupled with a self-study of teacher education practices, this article explores how a teacher educator engages in research relating to the self, professional practice, and the analysis of the tensions surrounding otherness and oppression. Critical pedagogy provided the means and the methods to facilitate reflection upon her own earned and unearned privilege in society and paved the way for an agency of change in her practice.     

Democratic Education and Critical Pedagogy

Critical pedagogy wraps itself in the mantle of democracy, but in six generally accepted attributes of democracy (equality, important knowledge, nature of authority, inclusiveness, participatory decisionmaking, and rights and a seventh, not normally considered but one that has been the essence of the democratic dream—an optimum environment for everyone), critical pedagogy offers no direction. In fact, critical pedagogy, despite its unrelenting assault on the oppressiveness of schooling, may be guilty of diversion, division, illusion, and confusion, which are the major thrusts of oppression in a democratic society. Unlike critical pedagogy, a general theory of education informed by the seven aforementioned attributes of democracy provides multiple avenues for initiation of significant and realistic educational reform in existing public school sites.     

Walking the Roads as Immigrant Mothers and Teacher Educators: A Collaborative Self-Study of Three Korean Immigrant Early Childhood Educators

Offering an analysis of our multifaceted experiences as three Korean immigrant early childhood teacher educators in the United States, this critical collaborative self-study examines how positions as immigrant mothers and teacher educators interplay with each other. This study also explores ways in which the intersectional experiences influence our teaching pedagogy and practices. We found that we as immigrant mothers have challenges pertaining to parental involvement and maintaining our heritage language, meet tensions when advocating for diversity, and experience role-model pressure as teacher educators. Keeping these challenges in mind, the interactions between our two roles benefitted our students as our teaching became more critical and deeper. This collaborative self-study unpacks the intersecting positions of immigrant mother and teacher educator insightfully and reveals the development of pedagogical practices. It also suggests directions for classroom teachers and future researchers in relation to immigrant children and families.     

Adivinanzas and Dichos: Preparing Prospective Educators to Teach Science by Incorporating Culturally Responsive Tools

Culturally relevant science pedagogy is seldom discussed in terms of infusion of literary resources, such as adivinanzas and dichos in the design of instruction. In this study, the authors narrate how a science methods course was infused with the use of culturally responsive tools to purposefully connect to the elementary science curriculum. Results indicate that prospective Latino teachers found multiple opportunities to address specific science objectives with adivinanzas and expressed the advantages of using these culturally responsive tools to introduce and summarize science concepts as they implemented lessons during field experience.     

Following the Drinking Gourd: Culturally Relevant Pedagogy and Curriculum Development Through the Arts

This article describes the experiences of three teachers who engaged in culturally relevant pedagogy and an arts curriculum designed to enhance student understanding of critical events in history. Their students attended a professional dance production based on the history of the Underground Railroad and then were exposed to a curriculum guide developed with the tenets of culturally relevant pedagogy in mind. Teachers reported that their students’ comprehension of important themes improved, and that the arts experience was deeply beneficial.     

Teacher Educator Identity in a Culture of Iterative Teacher Education Program Design: A Collaborative Self-Study

Faculty in the School of Education have collaborated to re-envision teacher education at our university. A complex, dynamic, time-consuming and sometimes painstaking process, redesigning a teacher education program from a traditional approach (i.e. where courses focus primarily on theoretical principles of practice through textbooks and university-based classroom discussions) to a model of teacher education that embraces teaching, learning and leading with schools and in communities is challenging, yet exciting work. Little is known about teacher educators’ experiences as they either design or deliver collaborative field-based models of teacher education. In this article, we examine our experiences in the second implementation year of our redesigned teacher education program, Teaching, Learning, and Leading with Schools and Communities (TLLSC) and how these unique experiences inform our teacher educator identities. Through a collaborative self-study, we sought to make meaning of our transformation from a faculty delivering a traditional model to educators collectively implementing a field-based model, by analyzing the diverse perspectives of faculty at different entry points in the TLLSC development and implementation process. We found that our participation in an intensive field-based teacher preparation model challenged our notions of teacher educator identity. In a culture of iterative program design, this study documents the personal and professional shifts in identity required to accomplish this collaborative and dynamic change in approach to teacher education.     

Exploring the Benefits of Culturally Responsive Art Learning Experience for Rural Chinese Students

This ethnographic case study explored the benefits associated with culturally responsive art learning experience in a Chinese rural town in the process of urbanisation. The case of this study, Fuchong Art Education Programme (FAEP), provided culturally relevant art activities for primary and secondary rural students who cannot access enriched art programmes in schools. Art studio learning, a summer art camp, an art exhibition, neighbourhood sketching, online teaching, student home visits and teacher meetings were documented and examined over an eight-month period of fieldwork. Semi-structured interviews with the participating students, their teachers and parents and the programme coordinator were conducted to elicit the participants’ perspectives on the FAEP experience, the benefits of participation and the challenges involved in implementing a culturally responsive art programme. The emerging themes included artistic, personal, social and external benefits, which were examined in relation to previous research on the intrinsic and instrumental benefits of art learning and a local understanding of the value of community art engagement in the lives of rural people. The implications offer guidance for promoting culturally responsive art learning in rural settings.     

Foreseeing the Unforeseen through Collaborative Self-Study by a Teacher Educator and Two Teacher Candidates

This article reports the collaborative self-study of a teacher educator and two teacher candidates, focusing on the unforeseen negativity of experiences encountered by the three researchers in both a university methods course and student teaching settings. The implication of this study helped the researchers foresee new hypothetical learning trajectories for their respective students. Throughout the study, the university teacher educator and two teacher candidates tried to maintain a collegial relationship while analyzing their teaching and learning experiences. The researchers analyzed the effectiveness of their mathematics teaching strategies over an extended period of time. The changing roles of the researchers throughout the study encouraged them to examine not only their own teaching processes but also those of the other researchers. As critical colleagues they positioned themselves in different contexts. This study generates several insights for the improvement of the researchers' future teaching practices. The results suggest that collaborative self-study by a teacher educator and teacher candidates can generate effective learning experiences for all participants.     

师范教育中的特殊教育与特殊教育学

教育不等于教育学。师范院校的教育专业不等于教育学专业。对于特殊教育来说 ,特殊教育学专业同样也不能代替聋校语文、聋校数学、聋校外语、聋校体育等面向具体学科的专业。学科特点与教育学相通的特殊教育学只是应该设置的面向特殊教育的专业中的一个部分。师范院校设置的有关特殊教育的专业中 ,除了应该包括特殊教育学专业之外 ,还应该包括其他面向基层特殊学校特定课程的各种专业。     

Learning to Develop Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: A Lesson About Cornrowed Lives

This article describes the process of using African American children's literature through culturally relevant pedagogy. It chronicles how two teachers carefully plan a lesson using the literature, and then describes how one of the teachers enacts the lesson using pedagogy relevant to her students' cultural background. A framework that focused on the cultural patterns of the students' lives was used to help guide the planning process. The components of the lesson include a prereading activity, read aloud, group discussion, journal writing, and a follow-up activity. In the end, the teachers found that tailoring instruction to fit the textual, social, cultural, and personal lives of their students is largely about seeing pedagogy through the norms and practices of their students' lives.     

The Impact of a Pedagogy of Teacher Education Seminar on Educator and Future Teacher Educator Identities

Educators require support as they move from classroom to higher education settings. This collaborative self-study provides insight into one such support space, a doctoral seminar titled Pedagogy of Teacher Education, and how our identities as educators and future teacher educators developed through participation in the course. Several important themes emerged as we negotiated and adopted new identities as educators, and future teacher educators and researchers. These themes include our development of a collaborative mindset, a teacher educator-researcher perspective, and a critical self-awareness. The findings draw on our professional and personal histories to explore the prominent features that influenced and shaped our identities as educators and future teacher educator-researchers. In sharing our development as educators and future teacher educators, this article provides insights into the ways in which doctoral students in education begin to develop their identities and pedagogies through guided support from more experienced teacher educators.     

A Pakistani Teacher Educator's Self-Study of Teaching Self-Study Research

This paper describes a teacher educator's self-study of work with her M.Ed. students at a private international university in Pakistan. This systematic inquiry highlights changes and improvements in teaching drawn from experiences of practice based on autobiographies. Analysis shows that improvement in teaching came from the author's learning through self-study. Analysis also reveals implications for teacher educators and teacher education in general.     

Deploying Warrants,Producing Policy: A Self-Study of Teacher Education Policy Discussions

ABSTRACT

The practice of teacher education is inextricably linked to the policy environment in which it occurs. Calls by policymakers and politicians for accountability measures, standardization and performance assessments are efforts to influence the direction of the preparation of educators. In this self-study, I examine my participation in a state-level teacher education policy decision-making body in the United States in order to illuminate how policy decisions are made about teacher education. More specifically, I discuss the kinds of warrants about teacher education practice that I deployed as I navigated the political and practical consequences of policy decisions. This study serves not only to illuminate the nature of policy discussions in teacher education, but also to encourage teacher educators to engage directly the policy-making arenas that implicitly and explicitly influence their work.     

Culturally Responsive Teaching in a Global Era: Using the Genres of Multicultural Literature

This study focused on preservice teachers’ perceptions of culturally responsive teaching using multicultural literature. They learned about diversity issues, multicultural literature, and culturally responsive teaching, worked on a multicultural literature project, developed hands-on literacy lessons, and taught them to elementary school students. Results showed that preservice teachers increased their awareness of culturally responsive teaching, professional knowledge about multicultural literature and culturally responsive teaching, and skills to teach diverse students and practice culturally responsive teaching.     

Jumping Into the Deep End: Developing Culturally Responsive Urban Teachers Through Community-Immersive Partnerships

Abstract

Preparing special educators for the highest-need schools remains an ongoing challenge in urban districts across the United States. One university’s collaborative community-based immersive partnership model, with emphasis on service learning, has demonstrated promising levels of impact on candidates’ preparation as preservice teachers learning how to celebrate the rich cultural histories of the communities where they are immersed. Both quantitative and qualitative results on the impact of one specific example of this work are provided.     

Culturally Relevant STEM Out-of-School Time: A Rationale to Support Gifted Girls of Color

Gifted girls of color represent a potentially untapped resource for increasing and sustaining a diverse science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce. Girls of color possess unique mathematics and science gifts and talents that can remain unrealized if not addressed before middle school. Culturally responsive STEM out-of-school-time (OST) activities can be an effective means to develop STEM capacity in gifted girls of color. The researchers present three considerations to support the implementation of STEM OST. First, they offer a rationale for culturally relevant STEM enrichment activities for gifted girls of color. Next, the researchers consider how culturally relevant STEM OST activities can help to close the achievement gap. Finally, they explain how professional mentorship opportunities within OST activities can help gifted girls of color navigate the STEM pipeline.     

Challenges in Enacting Core Practices in Language Teacher Education: A Self-Study

In this study, I explore my practices as a teacher educator in one course both before and after returning to the K–12 classroom to teach secondary language learners for one academic year. By examining the intersection of self-study and practice-based teacher education, I illustrate how I used self-study as a mechanism for innovation and change and focus on the challenges I encountered in implementing the use of practice-based education in my work as a teacher educator. Qualitative data analysis revealed that in redesigning my approach to my course, I stopped short of my goals to make the course more practice-centered. Although I provided students with many opportunities to practice planning, I did not provide enough focused opportunities to practice implementation and to participate in giving and receiving feedback. I learned that engaging teachers in practice-based teaching requires teacher educators to be both specific and deliberate in setting their own purposes for establishing the centrality of practice in their courses and to explain these clearly to teacher candidates. Further work in which teacher educators study their use of practice-based pedagogy would benefit from using a self-study lens. Other researchers are urged to add to the limited body of research about the use of practice-based pedagogy with teachers of language learners, particularly English language learners.