Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in Multicultural Teacher Education

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Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in Multicultural Teacher Education Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in Multicultural Teacher Education: A Paradoxical Objective A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Chelda Smith IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Bic Ngo, PhD Timothy Lensmire, PhD June 2014 © Chelda Smith, 2014 i Acknowledgments I would not have been able to finish my dissertation without the cooperation of Southeastern University, the guidance of my committee, help from friends and colleagues, and support from my village. Dr. Hernandez, you took in a stranger and allowed me to turn a proposal into a study. Such risks are indicative of your commitment to critical and just work. Thank you. My sincere gratitude to Dr. Michelle Wittcoff Kuhl, to whom I remain profoundly indebted. While our acquaintance has been short, you have certainly made your mark. Also to my Mommas: Dionne Inman for stepping in as necessary; Janet Prime for praying steadfastly; and Ruth Okediji for your unyielding support. Thank you. To my UMN crew: Brian Lozenski, Michelle Benegas, Senenge Andzenge, Tracey Pyscher, J. B. Mayo, Maggie Struck, Aditi Arur, Shannon McManimon, Martha Bigelow, Johanna Ennser-Kananen, Vicki Griffin, and Jessie Eastman. You made me feel welcomed, you helped me stay, and you kept Peik hallways safe. Your warm smile, sincere words, and engaging debates enhanced my days. Also, Marcuetta Williams, Kristina Alviz, and Evetta Inman. You helped me find balance in an otherwise intense situation. Lastly, Emily Thomsen—what an unexpected blessing you were. Thank you for your allegiance, reliability, and hard work. I cannot wait to see you soar! Many thanks to my village—Maylissa Mondesir, Joanna Lowry, and Tashiba Nelson—because you allowed me to be weak with you, I could be strong with others. Furthermore, because you sometimes read my work before submission, it was not always rejected. Also, thank you to Aaron, Darren, Elfreda, and Peter Amado. Every holiday ii season, you took me in and replenished me. You gave me space to work, but also room to play. It was always obvious that you “get it” and for that, I am grateful. To Erik Moore and Georgia Scott— in ways that only you and I truly understand, you were with me. You saw fit to make me a doctor and did your part accordingly. Thank you. My deepest love and appreciation to my father, my late mother, and my son. We did it! Finally, I am thankful that each of my committee members was dedicated to transforming me into a scholar. Dr. Misty Sato, thank you for remaining invested, even as you challenged my ideas. Dr. Bhaskar Upadhyay, thank you for displaying curiosity and offering remarks that helped improved my work. Dr. Cynthia Lewis, thank you for teaching me the analytical skills to complete this dissertation and guiding me to see it through. Dr. Tim Lensmire, thank you for knowing the heights of my potential and trusting me to exceed them. In many ways, you sustained me. Special thanks to my primary adviser, Dr. Bic Ngo. Throughout this process, you have maintained a standard that, once met, makes the struggle worthwhile. Your culturally relevant pedagogy set the tone for this study and for what is possible in postsecondary education. iii Dedication To my Papa, Behrmann Smith. You had the wisdom to keep me as your little girl, forever. In that space, I find a strength that is unmatched, a vision to be realized, and love that cannot be replicated. Je t'aime. To my departed mother, Amenada Chouloute. While my knowledge of you is limited, my adoration is boundless. I live to make you proud. Thank you for the spirit of bravery that walks with me daily. Finally, to my son, Elijah Truth Moore. I am—because you are. Your sacrifices have made this all possible, and I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you. May this work and others like it positively impact the teachers who will educate you and your friends. And, if their pedagogy is not culturally relevant, may you find the voice to make it so. iv Abstract Widespread under-representation of teacher candidates of color in schools, set against the backdrop of a rapidly increasingly diverse student body, has resulted in a national effort to diversify the teaching force. Additionally, national accrediting agencies have charged teacher education programs (TEPs) with the responsibility of preparing all teachers to meet the needs of all students. However, much of the research on multicultural teacher education focuses on White pre-service teachers and their assumed cultural incompetency. One popular approach to addressing the cultural disparities in classrooms is developing teachers as culturally relevant pedagogues who are able to develop and maintain cultural competency, critical consciousness, and academic proficiency with traditionally marginalized populations. Empirical research explicating the preparedness of faculty to do such work is lacking. Moreover, the experiences of pre- service teacher candidates of color (TCCs) are under-explored. This study seeks to explore how one teacher education program worked to develop culturally relevant TCCs. It explicates how TCCs enacted resistance to specific pedagogy, curriculums and content, but also the ways they negotiated engagement in multicultural education courses. Additionally, the study illuminates effective pedagogies employed by a teacher educator to facilitate transformations of consciousness that led to empowerment. Broadly, this project responds to gaps in education research regarding the academic and sociocultural experiences of TCCs and the salience of culturally relevant pedagogy in higher education. v Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Chapter 2: A History of Multicultural Education 12 Chapter 3: Critical Ethnography 43 Chapter 4: Dr. Hernandez as Culturally Relevant Pedagogue 62 Chapter 5: Resistance as Practice 88 Chapter 6: Friendly Resistance as Matriculation Strategy 113 Chapter 7: Insights and Future Considerations 139 References 154 Appendix A: Sample Interview Protocol (Instructor Questions) 182 Appendix B: Sample Interview Protocol (Diversity 1000 & 3000 Questions) 183 Appendix C: Consent for Participation Form 184 Appendix D: Diversity 1000 Syllabus 186 Appendix E: Diversity 3000 Syllabus 195 1 CHAPTER 1 Introduction Preparing teacher candidates for effective teaching in diverse schools is a contentious issue in education research and policy. Darling-Hammond, Holtzman, Gatlin, and Heilig’s (2005) study of teacher impact on student achievement determined a correlation between the preparation quality of teacher candidates and their future students' performance. Criticisms of traditional teacher education programs focus on a discontinuity regarding best pedagogical practices, addressing diverse learners, and essential content (e.g., Lasley, Bainbridge, & Berry, 2003). Alternative licensure programs like Teach for America (TFA) or New York City Teaching Fellows (NYCTF) exist as competitors to produce effective teachers. As a NYCTF alumna, I can recall feelings of under-preparedness as I began my teaching career. In many ways, the first two years resembled student teaching practicums. I had a pedagogical mentor who observed my lessons bi-weekly and a state-appointed mentor who acculturated me to the world of public elementary school teachers. At the end of two years, I earned district recognition for excellent teaching and felt prepared to teach any group of students. During my NYCTF tenure, I earned a master’s degree in elementary education, thereby ensuring preparedness. When I transitioned to Atlanta, Georgia, and began teaching at a school with similar demographics (e.g., Title I, urban, majority Black population), I expected comparable success. To my dismay, the cultural differences between my students and me (e.g., regional dialect, socioeconomic class, geographic position) mediated my pedagogy at an alarming rate. It was then that I realized my effectiveness with students in Brooklyn had less to do with formal preparation and mentoring and more to do with my embodied 2 cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1977). I grew up in Brooklyn and attended school in the same district where I taught. While teaching, I lived in the community and regularly interacted with my students and their families outside of school. I did not see the students as separate from me, or as what Delpit terms “other people’s children” (1988). I was an insider who understood that teaching effectively was an investment in my best interest. As I faced challenges in the classroom, my students in Atlanta suffered culturally and academically. I grew resentful upon considering my traditional (M.Ed.) and alternative licensure preparation(NYCTF), coupled with two years’ experience. Then I looked around: I was a Black teacher teaching mostly Black students, with mostly Black colleagues teaching more Black students— and we were all failing. The students and their families were disengaged. They were not achieving academically and—even worse—no one was happy or safe. I queried: Why were my colleagues and I ill-prepared to teach children with whom we shared racial identification, despite all of us having undergone teacher education? The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE)— now the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP)—has declared multicultural education as a critical component of teacher preparation. Their impetus to do so is under-girded by achievement disparities between youth of color and their White counterparts, self-reported in-service under-preparedness
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