Becoming Culturally Relevant

BECOMING CULTURALLY RELEVANT:

A STUDY OF PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS’ CONCEPTIONS OF THE RELEVANCE OF CULTURE TO TEACHING AND LEARNING

DISSERTATION

Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University

Jane Thompson Skon

Graduate Program in Education

*****

The Ohio State University

2012

Dissertation Committee:

Professor Bryan Warnick, Advisor

Professor Mollie Blackburn

Professor Belinda Gimbert

Professor Robert Hite

Jane Thompson Skon

2012

Abstract

History documents societal and cultural inequities that have privileged White middle class students over students of other cultures and classes in the United States.

Existing literature indicates inequitable access to educational opportunities result from a number of factors that would indicate systemic practices that perpetuate a gap in academic achievement. Addressing these factors must include reforms in teacher education to promote teaching practices that are culturally relevant to all students, rather than only to those of dominant culture. Teacher education programs accept responsibility to educate prospective teachers with knowledge, skills and dispositions to practice culturally relevant pedagogy in order to effectively teach all students. This responsibility is intensified by the fact that a disproportionate majority of the teaching force, as well as of prospective teachers, are of the dominant culture. The context of the site selected for this study is particularly appropriate because the population is primarily White, middle class, and monocultural, having very limited prior experience with people of other cultures.

The purpose of this study was to explore the beliefs and conceptions of prospective teachers from monocultural backgrounds at each stage of an undergraduate program in a rural university. The majority of the participants in this study had limited experience, at least initially, with cultural differences. Their beliefs and conceptions at each stage of the program were examined along with what experiences they found to

have an impact on the construction of their beliefs and conceptions. Among the most experiences that participants described as having the greatest impact on their developing cultural competence was building relationships with people of other cultures, whether in a field experience, university class, or informal interactions outside of the academic setting. For those who have had particularly insular backgrounds, the initial diverse field experience had less impact than subsequent experiences. In addition, experiences that involved extended one-to-one contact with a student of a different culture had a greater impact in their construction of cultural competence than did a field experience where the prospective teacher simply observed a class of diverse students.

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Acknowledgments

First of all I would like to thank the members of my committee for invaluable help in bringing this study to successful completion. I am grateful to Dr. Bryan Warnick for serving as my dissertation advisor, for his patience and understanding with me throughout the progress, and for his thoughtful guidance. I am also grateful to Dr. Belinda Gimbert for kindly and painstakingly editing my initial rough draft, giving detailed, substantive feedback, and for demonstrating attentive interest and concern in my progress throughout the various stages. I am grateful to Dr. Robert Hite, for being an outstanding academic advisor throughout my program, an exemplary teacher educator, and one of the kindest people I have met. To Dr. Mollie Blackburn I extend deep and sincere gratitude for demonstrating an unwavering commitment in providing instruction, encouragement, feedback and guidance for the completion of this study, and for empowering and shaping me as a researcher and teacher.

In addition to my committee, I would like to thank Dr. Sonja Smith for encouragement, advice, support and genuine friendship throughout this study, and for her mentorship throughout my professional life. I would also like to thank the participants in this study for generously giving their time and for openly sharing their experiences, beliefs and ideas.

Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends. I am grateful to my parents, Clarence and Edna Thompson, who have always taught me the power of perseverance, demonstrated a belief that I could accomplish whatever I set my mind and heart to, and never missed an opportunity to give both moral and material support to every extent that they could. I know beyond any doubt that I could not have accomplished this without their lifetime of loving support and instruction. I am thankful to Jim for helping me locate and obtain necessary resources and for providing support when needed. And finally, I extend my loving gratitude to Joel, Kati and Luke, my greatest inspirations, to whom I dedicate this work.

Vita

1977-1982…...Mount Vernon Nazarene University, BA, Elementary Education

1984, 1989……University of North Dakota, Summer Institute of Linguistics

2000-2002……Mount Vernon Nazarene University, MA, Curriculum and Instruction

1983-1984…..Teacher, Grade 4, Mount Vernon Christian Academy

1985-1988…...Learning Disabilities Tutor, Grades 1-8, Mount Vernon Schools

1987...... Instructor of Phonetics, Summer Institute of Linguistics, UND

1992-1996…....Instructor of ESL, Mount Vernon Nazarene College

1992-2001…….Reading Coordinator, Mount Vernon Nazarene College

1998-1999…….Interim Director of Academic Support, Mount Vernon Nazarene College

2001-2002……Learning Disabilities Tutor, Mount Vernon Middle School

2002-2006……Instructor of Education, Mount Vernon Nazarene University

2006-2007…...Director of Teacher Education, Mount Vernon Nazarene University

2006-Present….Assistant Professor of Education, Mount Vernon Nazarene University

Fields of Study

Major Field: Education

Specialization: Literacy

Table of Contents

Abstract ...... ii

Acknowledgments ...... iv

Vita ...... v

Lists of Figures ...... ix

Chapter One: Introduction ...... 1

Background of Study ...... 1

Description of Study ...... 5

Statement of Problem ...... 6

Purpose of Study ...... 10

Research Questions ...... 11

Significance ...... 12

Definitions of Terms ...... 13

Chapter Two: Review of the Literature ...... 17

Theoretical Framework ...... 18

Sociocultural Theory ...... 19

Culturally Relevant Pedagogy ...... 21

Inequitable Access to Education ...... 23

The Relevance of Culture to Learning ...... 27

Culturally Relevant Pedagogy ...... 30

Culturally Relevant Teaching and the Achievement Gap ...... 32

Models of Culturally Relevant Teaching ...... 34

Conceptions of Self and Others ...... 35

Conceptions of Social Relations ...... 38

Conceptions of Knowledge and Learning ...... 39

What Teachers Need to Know about Students ...... 42

Responsibilities of Teacher Education ...... 44

Examining Preconceptions ...... 45

Connections Between School and Society ...... 48

Deficit Perspective ...... 49

Culturally Responsive Teacher Education Curricula ...... 52

Chapter Three: Methodology ...... 58

Interpretive Case Study ...... 58

Collective Case Study ...... 59

Research Questions ...... 61

Researcher Positionality ...... 62

The Middle Childhood Education Program ...... 66

Participants ...... 68

The Freshman Case ...... 70

The Sophomore Case ...... 72

The Junior Case ...... 73

The Senior Case ...... 75

Collection of Data ...... 76

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Validity ...... 77

Analysis of Data ...... 78

Chapter Four: Findings ...... 82

From Extrinsic, Superficial and Colorblind to Intrinsic,

Personal and Relevant Conceptions of Culture ...... 83

From Static, Neutral and Irrelevant to Dynamic,

Value-Laden and Integral ...... 88

Cultural Competence as a Teacher’s Responsibility ...... 98

The Significance of Scaffolded Field Experiences to

Cultural Competence ...... 110

Conclusion: Answering the Research Questions ...... 124

Chapter Five: Discussion ...... 128

The Relevance of Culture to Learning ...... 129

Culturally Relevant Pedagogy and Professional Identity ...... 132

Conceptions of Cultural Competence ...... 136

Implications for Teacher Education ...... 139

Recommendations for Future Research ...... 142

Conclusion ...... 144

References ...... 146

Appendix A: Interview Questions ...... 157

Appendix B: Data Display Matrix ...... 162

Appendix C: Middle Childhood Program Checklist ...... 169

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List of Figures

Figure 2.1. Two Paths for Educating Students of Diverse Backgrounds ...... 31

Figure 2.2. What Teachers Need to Know About Students...... 43

Figure 2.3. Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices ...... 44

Figure 3.1. Population and Sample for Study...... 70

Figure 4.1. Conceptions of Culture ...... 83

Figure 4.2. Conceptions of Knowledge, Content and Learning ...... 89

Figure 4.3. Teachers’ Responsibility Regarding Culture ...... 99

Figure 4.4. The Importance of Scaffolded Field Experiences ...... 110

Figure 5.1. Conceptions of Relevance of Culture to Teaching and Learning ...... 129

Figure 5.2. Conceptions of How Culture Influences Teaching Practice ...... 134

Figure 5.3 Conceptions of Cultural Competence ...... 136

Chapter One

Introduction

Background of the Study

My interest in how prospective teachers construct cultural competence is both professional and personal. Professionally, as a teacher educator in a small, private, rural university, the challenge to prepare prospective teachers to work with diverse populations of students is a primary concern. Personally, I have witnessed first-hand the inequities of public education in the lives of students, and feel compelled to be an agent of change to make public education more equitable for students of all cultures and classes.

As a teacher educator in a rural university that serves a primarily White, middle- class conservative population who come from schools where most students are of a homogenous culture, the concept of cultural diversity can be somewhat of an abstraction.

The cultural and school experiences of this population of prospective teachers are seamlessly compatible to the extent that many of the prospective teachers are unaware of the role that culture plays in learning and of the advantages that their cultural heritage afforded them. The challenge is in bringing to light the ways in which schools benefit students of some cultures while disadvantaging those whose cultures differ from the dominant mainstream culture. In addition, this cultural lens tends to give prospective

teachers a narrow perspective on teaching which is constructed from watching teachers whom they admired and considered as role models in the act of teaching students much like themselves, from the dominant mainstream culture. This is not to dispute that their teachers were worthy role models, or worthy of their admiration. The problematic nature of this phenomenon is that it contributes to the imitative cyclical nature of teacher learning which perpetuates practices that benefit only one culture and class of students and ignores or even denigrates other cultures and classes. The problem is not in a single teacher or school, but in a culture of schooling that has long been focused on White, middle class students. Most of the schools attended by the prospective teachers in this population were filled with students and teachers who shared such cultural harmony that cultural competence was not a consideration. Therefore, the challenge is to help prospective teachers see the need for cultural competence, and secondly to provide theory and practice that facilitate the construction of cultural competence.

This problem is not unique to the university where this study was conducted.

Nationally, while the student population grows increasingly diverse, the population of teachers steadily remains primarily White, middle-class females (Darling-Hammond,

2010; US Census Bureau, 2008; Villegas and Lucas, 2002; Ladson-Billings, 2001;

Banks, et al., 2001). However, by the year 2020, if demographic trends continue, forty- six percent of the students in the United States will be students of color (Banks, et. al.,

2001; Pallas, Natriello, and McDill, 1989). According to Darling-Hammond (2010):

At a time when children of color comprise a majority in more urban districts, and will be a majority in the nation as a whole by

2025, we face pernicious achievement gaps that fuel inequality, shortchanging our young people and our nation. (p. 3) The issue of inequality is not limited to urban districts, however, nor to students of color. In this lies my personal perspective on the problem of inequity in education. In

Ohio, where schools are funded through property taxes, rural areas with low populations are severely under-funded, and even more so in areas where low population is compounded by high poverty and low property values. I recently spoke with a superintendent of a school district in Southern Ohio to discuss his perspective on inequitable educational opportunities and the effects it has for students in his district. He realized that the factors that contribute to the achievement gap in his district are complex, being compounded by poverty, high numbers of students with special needs and lack of funding to provide staff and resources to meet those needs. His desire, as is true with most educators, is to make a difference in students’ lives, but without proper staff, technology, materials and resources he faces great obstacles in even meeting their basic academic needs. He described the twenty year process the district has gone through since the first Supreme Court ruling to make school funding equitable, yet still seeing no results. A year ago, due to insufficient funding, they were forced to cut eighteen teaching positions, including intervention and reading specialists. They were also forced to eliminate the middle school as well as elementary music and physical education programs. “Losing a lot of those staff members… really hurts our students and our ability to be able to effectively meet their needs,” he stated. Although a naturally positive person, he described a lack of hope that comes as a result of facing the lack of resources to meet the needs of the students in his district, as there is still no relief in sight for

Southern Local and other similar districts. As he described, it is difficult to understand why there has been no follow-through on the Court’s ruling:

The first [Supreme Court] ruling was in the mid-nineties. And obviously, when the judiciary branch takes action, if you don’t abide by that action there are consequences. But with this, there have not been any consequences. This superintendent’s concern is legitimate, and illustrates one important element among those that contribute to the achievement gap. A great deal of literature deals with the issue of inequitable education for students of different cultures, ethnicities, races, languages and classes in which school funding is one part of the complex problem (Au,

2011; Darling-Hammond, 2010; Lee, 2007; Banks, et al. 2001). According to Darling-

Hammond (2010), although the “picture of the most neglected American schools is dire,” some states have instituted comprehensive reforms that are successfully closing achievement gaps in those states, including:

1. Secure housing, food and health care, so that children can come to school ready to learn each day 2. Supportive early learning 3. Equitably funded schools which provide equitable access to high-quality teaching 4. Well-prepared and well-supported teachers and leaders 5. Standards, curriculum and assessments focused on 21st- century learning goals 6. Schools organized for in-depth student and teacher learning. (p. 26) For the purposes of this study, the focus is on the fourth criterion, which includes teacher preparation (Darling-Hammond, 2010). In order to institute the comprehensive reforms

Darling-Hammond (2010) proposed, it is necessary for teachers to develop practices that are relevant to the cultures of the students they teach. First, however, they need to be

conscious of the important role that culture plays in student learning (Au, 2011; Lee,

2007; Villegas and Lucas, 2002; Ladson-Billings, 2001, 1994; King, 1991). The funds of knowledge (Moll, 1992) that many students bring with them to school are often overlooked, ignored or even denigrated in public schooling (Lee, 2007; Villegas and

Lucas, 2002; Ladson-Billings, 1994; 2001). For this reason, this study explored prospective teachers’ beliefs about how culture is relevant to teaching and learning, how their beliefs and understandings develop across the program and what they perceive to have impact on their beliefs. Further, this investigation unfolded at a primarily monocultural, rural institution, where most of the students have similar backgrounds, and come from communities where there is very little cultural diversity, as described by the participants in the study. Though the university is actively recruiting students who are racially and culturally diverse, according to College Data (2012), more than eighty-seven percent of the student population is White.

Description of the Study

This qualitative investigation was designed to examine how prospective middle level teachers from monocultural backgrounds describe their conception of culture and cultural competence at each stage of their teacher education program. The twelve participants were selected based on their major, class standing, gender, and prior schooling experiences. Only these four criteria were considered in the selection process.

At each level, freshman through senior, three middle childhood majors were selected, varying in P-12 experiences including those who attended rural country public, rural city public, home school and private school. The purpose for recruiting this sample was to get

a broad representation of the population and explore differences in participants’ construction of cultural competence based on prior experiences.

The premise of this investigation was that students from monocultural backgrounds need specific and deliberate attention focused on cultural competence and their knowledge and beliefs about how culture impacts teaching and learning, as well as interactions with individuals whose cultures differ significantly from theirs. My hypothesis is that, when they have not experienced cultural mismatch themselves, they are unlikely to have a context for the importance of culturally relevant pedagogy

(Villegas and Lucas, 2002). This study investigated how participants constructed their knowledge and beliefs and what experiences impacted their construction.

Statement of the Problem

According to National Center for Education Statistics (2009), on the average

American and Latino students are nearly three academic years behind their white peers by fourth grade. This report stated that the average student who is eligible for free or reduced lunch is approximately two years of learning behind the average student who is not eligible (NCES, 2009). The Teachers College of Columbia University found that

African American students are three times more likely to be placed in special education programs than White students, while they are half as likely to be placed in gifted programs in elementary and secondary schools (NCES, 2009). These statistics provide supportive evidence for what is referred to as the achievement gap – the substantial difference in academic achievement between students from diverse backgrounds,

including cultural, ethnic/racial, and class, as compared to their White, middle class peers. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (2005), 89% of

Latino and 86% of African-American middle and high schools students score below grade level in reading. Though the NCES reports show the gap narrowing, there remains a significant gap in achievement based both on race/ethnicity and class.

The literature provided a number of explanations for the achievement gap, as well as approaches to closing the gap (Au, 2011; Darling-Hammond, 2010; Lee, 2007).

However, the most important factor for improving student achievement, research suggests, is the effectiveness of the teacher (Darling-Hammond, 2010; Sanders and

Rivers, 1996; Wright, Horn and Sanders, 1997; Rowe, 2003; Wallis, 2008). With such a large gap in achievement between students of the dominant culture and students of nondominant cultures, it is clear that the practices that are effective for one population of students are not effective for other student populations. Practices that are successful for students of the dominant culture in the US are clearly failing students of minority cultures. An integral part of the solution to this problem, then, is for teachers to become culturally competent in order to practice pedagogy that is culturally relevant for all students in the classroom (Au, 2011; Villegas and Lucas, 2002; Ladson-Billings, 2001;

1994).

As stated previously, demographically, there is an increasing mismatch between those who choose the teaching profession and the students they will serve. “While children of color constituted about one-third of the student population in 1995, they are expected to become the numerical majority by 2035. This change will render the

expression ‘minority student’ statistically inaccurate. By 2050, so-called minorities will collectively account for nearly 57 percent of the student population” (Villegas and Lucas,

2002, p. 3). However, while the student population continues to become more diverse, the teaching population continues to be primarily middle class and White. In 2007-2008,

83.5 percent of teachers in the US in grades 9-12 were White, while only 6.9 percent were African American and 6.6 percent were Latino. The problem this presents, according to Villegas and Lucas (2002), “…is that sharp differences in the biographies of the teachers and their students make it difficult for the instructors to build cultural bridges between home and school for the students” (p. 18). When teachers do not relate to, nor understand, the background, experiences, values and perspectives of their students it is difficult for them to design instruction and select materials with relevance to their lives.

Villegas and Lucas (2002) stated that lacking this understanding can interrupt teacher effectiveness in selecting pertinent examples when introducing or clarifying concepts, in classroom management and styles of interaction based on culture, and in assessing students that allow students to demonstrate their learning consistent with their cultural experiences. Further problems with this cultural mismatch, according to the literature, is that student diversity is often seen by White middle class teachers as an obstacle to overcome rather than an opportunity for connections, and teachers often hold lower expectations for students of other cultures and lower socioeconomic class. (Villegas and

Lucas, 2002; Gomez, 1996; Irvine, 1990a, 1990b) Teachers often attribute the academic difficulties experienced by these students to parents’ lack of support or disinterest in school, family or community dysfunction and students’ lack of skill and motivation,

rather than to consider how inequalities in society and schools construct failure for students of different cultures and classes (Villegas and Lucas, 2002; Paine, 1989). “From their perspective as relatively privileged members of society who generally have had little contact with people very different from themselves, they tend neither to see the need for social transformation nor to view schools as sites for social transformation” (Villegas and

Lucas, 2002, p. 19).

Ladson-Billings (2001) stated, “The average white teacher has no idea what it feels like to be a numerical or political minority in the classroom. The pervasiveness of whiteness makes the experience of most teachers an accepted norm” (p. 81). A disconnect occurs for students who are from minority cultures when they are expected to perform in a classroom where the teacher and the majority of the students share the same culture, but do not know or understand their history, their lifestyle, their values, or their culture. Ladson-Billings (2001) stated:

The indictment is not against teachers. It is against the kind of education they receive. The prospective teachers with whom I’ve worked generally express a desire to work with “all kinds of kids.” They generally tell me they want to make sure that the white children they teach learn to be fair and to get along with people different from themselves. But where is the evidence that the prospective teachers can get along with people different from themselves? When asked, most of my students admit that they have never gone to a movie or shared a meal or visited the home of a peer who is racially or culturally different. (p. 82) One element in the solution to this problem lies within teacher education, where prospective teachers must learn to be culturally competent. Cultural competence includes understanding culture and its role in education, taking responsibility and developing strategies for learning about students’ cultural backgrounds and their communities, as

well as experiences and knowledge to inform instruction, and promoting flexible use of local and global culture. Additionally prospective teachers must be taught to view their role as teachers as morally obligated to ensure all students in their classroom receive a quality education that is relevant and appropriate to their needs (Ladson-Billings, 2001;

Villegas and Lucas, 2002).

Purpose of the Study

Although existing scholarship provides insight into the importance of culturally relevant teaching to successful learning experiences of children of minorities and diverse backgrounds, the focus of these studies has primarily been on teachers in urban settings, since historically that is where there is greatest diversity resides (Ladson-Billings, 2001,

1994). There has been very little exploration into the cultural competence of teachers in rural settings. Additionally, much of the research has focused on inservice teachers

(Ladson-Billings, 1994) and graduate students (Ladson-Billings. 2001), whereas this study focuses on undergraduate teacher education students.

The sociocultural consciousness and cultural competence of the population explored in this study has, thus far, been examined very little. Nevertheless, it is an important investigation, as many students in this population have had very little prior experience with people from cultures different from their own and have primarily been taught in classrooms by teachers and alongside other students who are all from the same culture as they are. This investigation, therefore, sets out to examine how undergraduate prospective teachers at each phase of their teacher education program describe their

cultural competence. The purpose is to add to the scholarship an exploration into how students from primarily monocultural backgrounds conceptualized culture and the relevance of culture to teaching and learning. Further, the goal of this research is to add to knowledge base how sociocultural consciousness and cultural competence developed in this group of participants and what experiences affected their development.

Research Questions

In order to explore the sociocultural consciousness and beliefs about culturally responsive teaching of prospective teachers at a small, rural university, this study investigated the following research questions:

1. How do prospective teachers, at each level of an initial licensure teacher

education program based on class standing, describe their

understandings and beliefs regarding the relevance of culture to

teaching and learning?

2. How do prospective teachers describe the implications for practice of

their understandings and beliefs about the relevance of culture to

teaching and learning and how do they relate this to their professional

identities?

3. How do prospective teachers describe the development in their

understandings, views and beliefs regarding the relevance of culture to

teaching and learning at each level of the initial licensure teacher

education program, and to what do they attribute development and

changes?

Significance

The notion that students from diverse backgrounds experience greater success in a culturally relevant learning environment as mediated by a teacher who intentionally practices culturally relevant pedagogy is supported by theory and research (Au, 2011;

Lee, 2010; Ladson-Billings, 1994; 1995; 2001; Villegas and Lucas, 2002). Because nondominant student populations are failing to thrive in traditional learning environments with traditional teaching practices, teacher education programs must consider how to better prepare prospective teachers who create culturally relevant learning environments and construct culturally relevant teaching practices. An essential key to addressing such needs in teacher education is to explore how prospective teachers construct cultural competence, beliefs about culture and conceptions of the relevance of culture to teaching and learning. Teacher education programs must facilitate prospective teachers’ construction of culturally relevant teaching practices in order equip them to meet the needs of all learners. This study explored the conceptual development of prospective teachers from monocultural backgrounds at each stage of their teacher education program, while investigating how they described their cultural competence, beliefs about teaching and learning, and sociocultural consciousness.

Definition of Terms

Cultural Competence: “…having an awareness of one’s own cultural identity and views about difference, and the ability to learn and build on the varying cultural and community norms of students and their families. It is the ability to understand within-group differences that make each student unique, while celebrating the between-group variations that make our country a tapestry. This understanding informs and expands teaching practices in the culturally competent educator’s classroom” (National Education

Association)

Cultural Mismatch Theory: An explanation for the achievement gap which argues that students from minority cultures “display cultural ways of knowing and acting that are often at odds with the demands of schooling” (Lee, 2007, p. 10).

Cultural Modeling: “A framework for the design of learning environments that examines what youth know from everyday settings to support specific subject matter learning” (Lee, 2007, p. 15). It focuses first on practices that youth engage in outside of school, and secondly on the demands of subject matter learning. (Lee, 2007, pp. 34-35)

Cultural Repertoires of Practice Theory: An explanation for the achievement gap which “contends that all children and adolescents bring important cultural resources from their home and community experiences. It is the job of schools (and those who research learning and development) to understand those resources and their application to the demands of school-based learning” (Lee, 2007, p. 10).

Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: “Pedagogy that empowers students intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically by using cultural referents to impart knowledge, skills and attitudes” (Ladson-Billings, 1994, p. 18).

Culturally Responsive Teaching: “…using the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning encounters more relevant and effective for them” (Gay, 2000, p. 29).

Culture: The manner in which life is organized (ways of thinking, talking, behaving, etc.) within an identifiable community or group. (Villegas and Lucas, 2002, p. 35)

Ethnicity: A relatively objective measure used to group people by such cultural characteristics as history, identity, practices and beliefs and by looking at what people

“routinely do” rather than by looking at skin color, facial features, and other physical characteristics. Membership in a cultural group depends on a sense of identity with the group together with acceptance into the group by other members. (Lee, 2007, p. 11, 12)

Expectation Effect: Beliefs about individual students’ abilities that teachers have which influence their interactions with and treatment of the students, ultimately affecting what the students learn.

Funds of Knowledge: “Historically accumulated and culturally developed bodies of knowledge and skills essential for household or individual functioning and well-being”

(Moll, 1992).

Knowledge Base: The knowledge and skills teachers need which support teaching and learning. (Villegas & Lucas, 2002; Murray, 1995; Reynolds, 1989)

Monocultural: A perception of cultural homogeneity; a society which contains minimal cultural diversity. Disclaimer: An implication that is not intended by the use of this term is that everyone within the culture shares the same perspective, nor that all members of the culture fit comfortably within the predominant worldview of the monoculture.

Self-fulfilling Prophecy: A form of expectation effect which occurs when an individual behaves consistently with their expectations, acting upon them as if they were reality, and perhaps eventually causing the expectation to become reality.

Sociocultural Consciousness: “Awareness that one’s worldview is not universal but is profoundly shaped by one’s life experiences as mediated by a variety of factors, chief among them race/ethnicity, social class, and gender” (Villegas and Lucas, 2002, p. 27).

Sociocultural Dysconsciousness: A worldview in which one sees his or her perspective as universal and does not view him or herself as a racial, cultural, or gendered being. He or she lacks awareness that power is differentially distributed in society, with White, affluent males having an advantage over those who are of minority groups, lower socioeconomic status and female (Villegas and Lucas, 2002). Dysconsciousness does not mean that one is unconscious of inequities, but rather that he/she does not challenge the status quo, accepting “the given as inevitable” (Ladson-Billings, 1994, p. 32).

Structural Differences: An explanation for the achievement gap which focuses on differences between schools “in available school resources, including per pupil

expenditures, tracking within schools, and political as well as economic differences in opportunities within the society and reflected in schooling” (Lee, 2007, p. 9).

Students of Diverse Backgrounds: Students in the U.S. of low socioeconomic status; of

African American, Asian American, Latina/Latino, or Native American ancestry; and/or speakers of a home language other than standard American English. (Au, 1998, p. 298)

Theories of Cultural Deficits: An explanation for the achievement gap based on an argument that children from homes with low socioeconomic status, particularly of minority cultures, do poorly in school because they do not learn at home what they need to succeed in school (Lee, 2007, p. 9).

Chapter Two

Review of the Literature

Existing research indicates a strong connection between teachers’ knowledge, skills, attitudes and beliefs with student achievement and success. In addition, researchers and scholars in the field of education advocate for teacher preparation programs to prioritize a focus on assisting prospective teachers in uncovering their existing attitudes and beliefs, particularly with respect to cultural, racial, and class differences and how they impact learning. Prospective teachers enter teacher education programs with already formed beliefs about teaching and learning. However, a considerable proportion of prospective teachers have had little interaction and experiences with cultures that differ significantly from their own. Teacher education programs have the critical responsibility of helping prospective teachers construct knowledge and beliefs about students of different cultures, races and classes, as well as other diverse characteristics, and to develop necessary skills to successfully teach diverse populations of students. This responsibility is particularly challenging for teacher education programs that serve a primarily monocultural population in remote rural settings.

In reviewing the literature surrounding this study, this chapter begins by describing the theoretical framework through which this study is explored. A review of the literature on the achievement gap, followed by the relevance of culture to learning will demonstrate the importance of this study. Culturally relevant pedagogy, and how it aligns with the professional identity of teachers, will then be explored as a means of ameliorating the achievement gap, including models of culturally relevant teaching, sociocultural consciousness, conceptions of social relations, conceptions of knowledge and teaching, and what teachers need to know about their students in order to be culturally relevant teachers. The chapter ends with an exploration of what the literature suggests as responsibilities of teacher education, including examining preconceptions of prospective teachers, connections between school and society, the deficit perspective, and culturally responsive teacher education curricula.

Theoretical Framework

The two theoretical lenses through which this research was explored are sociocultural theory and culturally relevant pedagogy. These are not two mutually exclusive frameworks, but rather, culturally relevant pedagogy has a foundation in sociocultural theory. Sociocultural theory, emerges from the perspective that cognition is shaped by social, cultural and historical factors, and gives strength to the notion that in order to be effective, teachers must practice culturally relevant pedagogy.

In addition, the nature and structure of this study tended to locate it in a developmental approach, as the purpose is to explore how the conceptions of prospective

teachers develop across a teacher education program. In this section we will examine the ways that sociocultural theory informed this developmental analysis, and how these approaches worked together effectively for the purposes of analyzing this study.

Sociocultural Theory

Vygotsky’s theory of human development focused on social, cultural and historical factors, and how they shape cognition and other human functioning (Daniels,

2001). According to Au (1998) “Vygotsky believed that the internalization of higher mental functions involved the transfer from intrapsychological to interpsychological, that is, from socially supported to individually controlled performance” (p. 300). Therefore, intrapsychological learning experiences, which are social and cultural in nature, are transferred to interpsychological learning which is controlled by the student.

Wertsch et. al. (1995) asserted that sociocultural was an appropriate term in which to describe the heritage of Vygotsky (Daniels, 2001). He described the goal of the sociocultural approach, from his point of view, as follows:

The goal of a sociocultural approach is to explicate the relationship between human action, on the one hand, and the cultural, institutional, and historical situations in which this action occurs on the other. (Wertsch et al., 1995, p. 11) Sociocultural theory, then, informs the way that human action is influenced by cultural, historical and institutional situations – actions which “occurs on the other”. In light of this theory, Wertsch (1996) examined how some cognitive skills and discourse are privileged in ‘formal instructional settings’ (Werstch and Tulviste, 1996; Daniels, 2001).

According to Daniels (2001):

Wertsch also considers issues of power and authority in respect of cultural tools and their use. He describes meditational means as ‘differentially imbued with power and authority’, ‘privileging’ and citing Goodnow, ‘imbued with cognitive values’ (Wertsch, 1998). The notion of cognitive values includes ‘why it is that certain knowledge is publicly available and openly taught while other forms or knowledge are not’ and why certain types of solutions are more highly regarded than others (Wertsch, 1998, p. 66). (Daniels, 2001, p. 80) This idea of cognitive values and the politicizing of pedagogy stemmed from

Vygotsky, who stated that pedagogy, from a sociocultural perspective, is never politically neutral, because, “willingly or unwillingly, through its own work on the psyche, it has always adopted a particular social pattern, political line, in accordance with a dominant social class that has guided its interests” (Vygotsky, 1997, p. 348). Thus, even when teachers are unaware of the political nature of pedagogy, it is still politicized and generally aligned with the interests and values of the dominant social class. This provides a sound theoretical basis for culturally relevant pedagogy.

Since this study was structured in a developmental fashion, it is necessary to examine how this structure relates to the sociocultural theoretical perspective. John-

Steiner and Mahn (1996) provide a perspective that is helpful in defining this relationship:

Sociocultural approaches are…distinguished from other perspectives by the importance they place on cultural variation and its interrelationship with development (John-Steiner & Panofsky, 1992)…The emphasis on culture resulted in the broad use by sociocultural researchers of approaches that examine the ways in which learning and teaching take place under different cultural circumstances and in different historical contexts, contributing to a contextualized rather than a universalistic theory of development. (p. 197)

This perspective is particularly apt to the approach of this study, as the development of the cultural competence of these participants can legitimately be examined only through their ‘cultural circumstances’ and ‘historical perspectives.’ Each participant’s development at each point in this program must be considered through the context of their own cultural and historical perspectives. Therefore, rather than to view their development as universal to all at each stage of the program, it bears emphasis that the development of each of the participants in this study result from their sociocultural viewpoints. Although there may be similar viewpoints at similar levels of the program, there may also be vastly different perspectives at similar levels. Much of these variations occur because of differing cultural and historical perspectives. This is key to the theoretical perspective of this study, as it focuses on the needs of prospective teachers which vary not according to their level in the teacher education program, but instead by their contextualized development of cultural competence according to their cultural and historical perspectives.

Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

Because of the political nature of pedagogy, as defined by Vygotsky (1997), theorists who embrace the perspective of culturally relevant teaching encourage educators to use pedagogy as a means of empowering students (Ladson-Billings, 1994, 2001;

Villegas and Lucas, 2002; Lee, 2007; Au, 2011). Ladson-Billings (1994) described culturally relevant teaching as “a pedagogy that empowers students intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically by using cultural referents to impart knowledge, skills and attitudes” (p. 17-18). According to Au (1998), when examining the

achievement gap from a sociocultural perspective it is clear that it was created and sustained by cultural and societal conditions which impact students through their daily interactions and experiences in school. Although most studies which have explored the achievement gap have focused on ways of making schools more accessible to culturally diverse students and on teaching practices that are more culturally congruent, culturally appropriate, culturally compatible, and cultural responsive, the issue is more complex than this (Au, 1998; Ladson-Billings, 1994; Villegas, 1988). Villegas (1988) asserted that the school failure culturally diverse students experience stems from societal conflict and power struggles. For this reason, sociocultural consciousness and cultural competence are important elements of effective teaching (Ladson-Billings, 1994, 2001; Villegas and

Lucas, 2002). From a theoretical perspective, therefore, culturally relevant pedagogy is based on three propositions: academic achievement, cultural competence and sociopolitical consciousness (Ladson-Billings, 2001).

Ladson-Billings’ (1994) notion of cultural relevance “uses student culture in order to maintain it and to transcend the negative effects of the dominant culture” (p. 17).

These negative effects are caused by the failure of textbooks and curricula to reflect their history, culture and background, as well as distortions of their history, culture and background in textbooks and curricula. Another negative effect is that minority students are often tracked into the lowest-level classes. Culturally relevant pedagogy, however,

“empowers students intellectually, socially, emotionally, and politically by using cultural referents to impart knowledge, skills and attitudes” (Ladson-Billings, 1994, p. 18). The emphasis shifts from using cultural referents as bridges to the dominant culture and gives

them their own place in the curriculum. Cultural referents should not be used as “vehicles for bridging or explaining the dominant culture,” but rather they should hold a rightful place in the curriculum (Ladson-Billings, 1994). Ladson-Billings (1994) described the following example of a fifth grade teacher using culturally relevant pedagogy with a class that included African American students to clarify the appropriate use of cultural referents:

She might begin with the a discussion of the bylaw and articles of incorporation that were used to organize a local church or African American civic association. Thus the students learn the significance of such documents in forming institutions and shaping ideals while they also learn that their own people are institution- builders. This kind of moving between the two cultures lays the foundation for a skill that the students will need in order to reach academic and cultural success. (p. 18)

In this way, culturally relevant pedagogy is not merely a means of using the students’ culture to help them understand the dominant culture, it is empowering students by including their cultural referents as part of the curriculum.

Inequitable Access to Education

According to Au (1998) from the social constructivist perspective inequitable access to education between the dominant culture and groups of other cultures and classes, which Au (1998) and others described as an achievement gap, can be explained by five categories: Linguistic differences, cultural differences, discrimination, inferior education, and rationales for schooling.

Current theory and research suggest that linguistic differences in and of themselves generally do not present a problem as the result of limited English proficiency, but rather because many school programs provide limited instruction in the home language and because the home language is undervalued in the school setting (Au,

2011). Whereas mainstream students are encouraged to use their existing language skills as the basis for literacy development in school, the language skills students of diverse backgrounds bring with them are often ignored or denigrated (Moll & Diaz, 1985, Au,

1998). “Thus, linguistic differences are related to decreased opportunity to use existing language skills as the foundation for learning to read and write” (Au, 1998, p. 302).

Cultural differences are believed to contribute to the achievement gap because the forms of interaction, language and thought needed for success in school conflict with those they have learned and developed through socialization practices of their home and community, and which reflect their cultural values (Au, 1998, p. 302, Au & Mason, 1981;

Philips, 1972). The language that students of minority cultures speak in their homes is considered “nonstandard” and inappropriate for school and work (Lee, 2007, Stotsky,

1999).

Discrimination, also referred to as ‘societal racism’ (Stickland & Ascher, 1992), is also believed to contribute to achievement differences among students of diverse cultures.

This argument points to discriminatory systemic societal structures that perpetuate poverty and school failure. According to Au (2011), these structures ‘prevent equality of educational opportunity,’ which result in overrepresentation of students from diverse backgrounds in the lowest reading groups, reading interventions, and special education,

and underrepresentation in accelerated, honors and other higher groups. Thus, these students receive a qualitatively different form of instruction that focuses on pronunciation rather than comprehension which neglects to convey their need to be responsible to monitor their own reading. (Au, 2011; Shannon, 1989)

Another explanation for the achievement gap is that students of diverse backgrounds receive an inferior education (Lee, 2007, Au, 1981, Strickland & Ascher,

1992). “For example, urban schools with high proportions of African American students frequently have deteriorating buildings, outdated textbooks, inexperienced teachers, and surroundings that expose students to violence” (Au, 1981, p. 303). Students who attend urban schools, according to Lee (2007) “have to manage a host of difficult life experiences that their more affluent peers do not” (p. 2). Other factors included in this explanation are limited resources, including lower expenditures per pupil, tracking, lower teacher quality, and differences in economic and political opportunities of the society that are reflected in schooling (Lee, 2007, p. 9).

Rationales for schooling make up Au’s (1998) fifth explanation for the achievement. “D’Amato (1987) noted that students who accept school and cooperate with teachers do so on the basis of rationales related to either the structural or situational implications of school” (Au, 1998, p. 303). When students understand the significance of school performance to settings beyond school, such as employment, or other opportunities for their life, they experience structural rationales. However, the connections of life opportunities to school performance occur primarily for mainstream students, and are not often available to students of diverse backgrounds. Therefore, there

is less justification for students of diverse backgrounds to participate in school.

Situational rationales are those that students experience when school is rewarding and/or enjoyable. These occur when processes and structures of school are compatible with the structures and processes of the students’ peer groups (Au, 1998; D’Amato, 1988).

“D’Amato argued that schools cannot rely on structural rationales but must make situational rationales available to students of diverse backgrounds as a way of motivating them to remain in school” (Au, 1998, p. 303).

Considerable research supports Au’s five explanations, but most researchers focus on a single explanation. A more comprehensive look at the achievement gap, considering the complexity of the issue, is likely to be more effective in generating solutions (Au,

1998). In the scope of this study, all five must be considered interdependently when preparing prospective teachers for the complexity of educating a diverse population of students with equity.

Lee (2007) provided another framework of explanations for the achievement gap, beginning with theories of cultural deficits. According to Lee (2007), the cultural deficit view in the United States historically is evident in the enslavement of African people and the attack against Native American people by European settlers. Educational policy in the

United States carries the influence of this history with a pervasive deficit perspective that continues today “in veiled arguments about what children from families living in poverty who are predominantly Black and Brown do not learn at home that is needed for successful entry to school” (Hall & Moats, 1999 in Lee, 2007, p. 9).

Another explanation in Lee’s (2007) framework is the cultural mismatch theory.

This theory is based on the notion that cultural groups “display cultural ways of knowing and acting that are often at odds with the demands of schooling (Boykin, 1982; Boykin &

Allen, 1988; Delpit, 1986; Perry & Delpit, 1998; Shade, 1982).

Lee’s final explanation, related to the cultural mismatch theory, is the cultural repertoire of practice theory (Lee, 2007, Gutierrez & Rogoff, 2003; Nasir, Rosebery,

Warren, & Lee, 2006; Rogoff, Paradise, Mejia-Arauz, Correa-Chavez, & Angelillo,

2003). “This explanation contends that all children and adolescents bring important cultural resources from their home and community experiences. It is the responsibility of schools (and of those who research learning and development) to understand those resources and their application to the demands of school-based learning” (Lee, 2007, p.

10).

The Relevance of Culture to Learning

Lee (2007) contended that the way we define membership in cultural groups is essential in informing the way we view culture as related to designing learning environments and managing learning interactions. “Confusion around cultural membership,” stated Lee, “has influenced three opposing orientations to teaching and learning” (p. 14). The first orientation she described, which is the basis for the vast majority of curriculum and instruction in the United States, comes from the perspective that cultural differences do not matter to teaching and learning at all, and that a generic approach to teaching and learning is sufficient for all learners. The outcome of this

orientation for students of minority cultures, the literature has suggested, is teachers’ low expectations (Lee, 2007; Baron, Tom, & Cooper, 1985; DeMeis & Turner, 1978; Rist,

1970), structurally embedded tracking, and an orientation to teaching that is limited to basic skills. (Lee, 2007; Guiton & Oakes, 1995; Oakes, Gamoran, & Page, 1992)

Lee (2007) described a second orientation to culture as it relates to teaching and learning which “presumes a cultural hierarchy in which belief systems, epistemologies, practices, and ways of using language associated with persons from low-income and so- called minority communities have been deemed deficits that detract from school-based learning (Coleman, 1966; Jencks, 1972; Traub, 1999)” (Lee, 2007, p. 14). This orientation approaches language differences among African American children, for example, as deficits which require remediation.

The third orientation, according to Lee (2007), asserts that no cultural hierarchy exists and that teaching should be tailored to students’ ways of learning based on their cultural groups. Lee (2007) noted that this orientation rarely focuses specifically on subject matter demands, and that it “presumes a level of homogeneity in cultural communities that masks internal diversity within groups” (p. 15).

In most cases the reality in practice, is a perspective that assumes a neutral stance, ignoring the cultural capital that learners from diverse backgrounds bring, and failing to support their cultural learning needs (Lee, 2007). According to Edwards, Paratore, and

Roser (2009):

Children in mainstream families acquire cultural and social capital that make it easier for them to adapt to the literacy environment of school…Conversely, culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse families often have home literacy practices dissimilar from those of families within the American mainstream culture. (p. 78) Consequently, Au (2011) contended that students of diverse cultural backgrounds experience cultural incongruence in schooling, which she defined as “a disparity between typical schooling, or the way we usually ‘do school,’ and the literacy learning needs, preferences, and interests of students of diverse backgrounds” (p. 58). This disparity is one of the factors to which she attributed the difficulty that students of diverse backgrounds have in attaining high levels of achievement and success in school-based learning (Au, 2011). She discussed two ways in which schools fail to connect to learning needs and interests of students of culturally diverse backgrounds. The first is that content in schools is focused on the perspectives of mainstream students. The curriculum tends to be Eurocentric, ignoring the historical perspectives of other cultures. The second way is schools fail to connect with the learning needs of students from culturally diverse backgrounds is by catering only to the social processes of mainstream students. These social processes include a whole-class approach as opposed to small-group instruction, and interaction patterns that are teacher initiated followed by student response then evaluated by the teacher (initiation – response – evaluation, or IRE). Au (2011) stated that this pattern poses “a barrier to the successful participation in lessons of students of diverse backgrounds, including Native Americans (Phillips, 1983) and Native Hawaiians

(Au, 1980)” because it is individualized and competitive. These are values of mainstream culture, but “antithetical to those taught to many students of diverse backgrounds in the home” (p. 59). Au (2011) gives the example of Native Hawaiians students who are taught

to value cooperation rather than competition, and working for the good of the group rather than for individual advantage. She asserted that the solution to this disparity is culturally responsive instruction.

Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

Au (2011) described culturally responsive instruction as “one of two theoretical paths for improving the literacy achievement of students of diverse backgrounds” (p. 59).

One path, which she referred to as the direct, or assimilationist approach, is the dominant view and comes from the perspective that children of diverse backgrounds should be entirely immersed in mainstream curriculum and instructional approaches from the beginning. She referred to the second path as the indirect, or pluralistic approach. This is the perspective advocated by proponents of culturally responsive instruction. Au (2011) stated:

In the indirect path, schools first affirm and reinforce the cultural identity of students of diverse backgrounds. Working from this basis of cultural identity, educators then give students access to mainstream content and interactional processes. (p. 60) Therefore, in Au’s view, culturally responsive teaching involves mediating mainstream content processes through students’ cultural lenses. The models of these approaches are demonstrated in Figure 2.1:

Direct or assimilationist path

Mainstream Students Studente content processes

Indirect or pluralist path

Students Cultural identity Mainstream content processes

Figure 2.1. Two Paths for Educating Students of Diverse Backgrounds (Au, 2011, p. 60).

Similarly, Gay (2002) defined culturally responsive teaching as “using the cultural characteristics, experiences, and perspectives of ethnically diverse students as conduits for teaching them more effectively” (p. 106) . In reviewing the research on culturally responsive teaching, Gay (2000) stated, “Although called by many different names including culturally relevant, sensitive, centered, congruent, reflective, mediated, contextualized, synchronized, and responsive, the ideas about why it is important to make classroom instruction more consistent with the cultural orientations of ethnically diverse students, and how this can be done, are virtually identical” (p. 29). Gay (2002) contended that:

[Culturally responsive teaching] is based on the assumption that when academic knowledge and skills are situated within the lived experiences and frames of reference of students, they are more personally meaningful, have higher interest appeal, and are learned more easily and thoroughly (Gay, 2000). As a result, the academic achievement of ethnically diverse students will improve when they are taught through their own cultural and experiential filters (Au &

Kawakami, 1994; Foster, 1975; Ladson-Billings, 1994, 1995). (p. 106) Although Gay (2000) preferred and used the term culturally responsive pedagogy, for the purposes of this document I primarily be used Ladson-Billings’ term culturally relevant teaching, since the focus of the study was on how the participants’ viewed their cultural competence, as well as their knowledge and beliefs of how culture is relevant to teaching and learning. Further, Ladson-Billings’ (1994) model was used as a framework for understanding the major theories related to conceptions of cultural relevance to teaching and learning. Culturally relevant pedagogy is based on three propositions: academic achievement, cultural competence, and sociopolitical consciousness (Ladson-

Billings, 2001, p. 31).

Culturally Relevant Teaching and the Achievement Gap

According to Ladson-Billings (1995), although there is a great deal of literature documenting academic failure of African-American students, there is relatively little research to examine their academic success. Furthermore, the gauge of success or failure is measured by achievement on standardized tests. Ladson-Billings (1995) asserted:

Whether or not scholars can agree on the significance of standardized tests, their meaning in the real world serves to rank and characterize both schools and individuals. Thus, teachers in urban schools are compelled to demonstrate that their students can achieve literacy and numeracy (Delpit, 1992). No matter how good a fit develops between home and school culture, students must achieve. No theory of pedagogy can escape this reality. (p. 475) In a study Ladson-Billings conducted of culturally relevant teaching (1995), she found that the students in classrooms of teachers who practice culturally relevant

pedagogy did achieve at higher levels than other students in the district. Although these students still lagged behind students who were in middle-class communities, they performed “at or above grade level on standardized achievement tests” (p. 475). In addition, in classroom observations Ladson-Billings (1995) found a variety of demonstrations of student achievement, such as:

…ability to read, write, speak, compute, pose and solve problems at sophisticated levels – that is pose their own questions about the nature of the teacher- or text-posed problems and engage in peer review of problem solutions. Each of the teachers felt that helping the students become academically successful was one of their primary responsibilities. (p. 475) Ladson-Billings’ (1995) findings supported the notion that a teacher’s commitment to student success as a primary responsibility is a culturally relevant teaching practice that facilitates student achievement. According to Bainbridge and Lasley (2002) another culturally relevant teaching characteristic that facilitates academic success is that the teacher believes all students can succeed.

One of the culturally relevant elements appears especially critical to closing the gap – the teacher believes all students can succeed. Emerging evidence suggests that in schools where teachers evidence a real belief in students’ abilities and are also able to communicate those beliefs in explicit ways, students do achieve better, and the gap does close. (Bainbridge and Lasley, 2002, p. 431) Gay (2002b) cited a number of studies that were conducted over the past 40 years

(Guttentag and Ross, 1972; Foster, 1989; Piestrup, 1972; Albury, 1992; Allen & Boykin,

1991; Allen & Butler, 1996; Boykin, 1982; Boykin & Allen, 1988) that investigated the effects of culturally responsive teaching practices on the performance and achievement of

African American students. According to Gay (2002b) these studies demonstrated that,

“When instructional strategies reflect the cultural values, traits and socialization of

African-American students, their attention spans, quality of academic efforts and achievement of African American elementary students” (p. 626). Furthermore, Gay

(2002b) indicated that, although these studies focused specifically on African-American students, culturally responsive teaching would be equally effective for students of other ethnic groups.

Models of Culturally Relevant Teaching

Culturally relevant characteristics of teachers, according to Ladson-Billings’

(1994) model, include three major categories in which she contrasts conceptions of culturally relevant teachers with teachers who take an assimilationist approach. The three categories include Conceptions of Self and Others, Conceptions of Social Relations and

Conceptions of Knowledge. Ladson-Billings’ theory overlaps in significant ways with

Villegas and Lucas’ (2002) six strands of curriculum for preparing culturally responsive teachers, which include Gaining Sociocultural Consciousness, Affirming Attitude toward

Students from Culturally Diverse Backgrounds, Developing the Commitment and Skills to Act as Agents of Change, Embracing Constructivist Foundations of Culturally

Responsive Teaching, Learning about Students and their Communities and Cultivating the Practice of Culturally Responsive Teaching. Both theories contrast two ends of a continuum that make them effective for considering the development of conceptions, consciousness, knowledge and beliefs. Villegas and Lucas (2002) emphasized that the

ends of the continua are extremes, and few individuals fit neatly at either extreme end of their continua.

Conceptions of Self and Others

Both Ladson-Billings (1994) and Villegas and Lucas (2002) created models that address the cultural perspective through which prospective teachers view themselves and others. Ladson-Billings’ (1994) model approached this as teachers’ Conceptions of Self and Others first from the culturally relevant perspective, then from the assimilationist perspective. Ladson-Billings (1994) described the perspective of culturally relevant teachers as seeing themselves as artists and teaching as an art, whereas assimilationist teachers see themselves as a technicians and teaching as a technical task. She described culturally relevant teachers, in viewing themselves as part of the community, having the perspective that teaching is an act of giving back to the community and encouraging their students to do the same. Assimilationist teachers, on the other hand, see themselves as individuals who may or may not be part of the community and encourage students to achieve as a way of escaping the community. Another important element of Ladson-

Billings’ (1994) model is that culturally relevant teachers believe that all students can succeed, while assimilationist teachers believe that it is inevitable that some will fail.

While culturally relevant teachers help students make connections between their community, national and global identities, assimilationist teachers normalize students into one American identity. Finally, culturally relevant teachers, according to Ladson-

Billings (1994) view teaching as “pulling knowledge out” – like “mining,” while

assimilationist teachers view teaching as “putting knowledge into” – like “banking” (p.

34).

Similarly, Villegas and Lucas (2002) placed culturally responsive teachers on a continuum from sociocultural dysconsciousness to sociocultural consciousness. They stated that sociocultural dysconsciousness does not mean that they are unconscious of inequities, but rather that they accept inequities as inevitable. Sociocultural dysconsciousness is a way of thinking that is not reflective, where teachers do not view themselves as racial, cultural and gendered. They see their own worldview as universal and are unaware that their life experiences are mediated by factors such as social class, race, ethnicity, and gender, which influence how they see the world. On the other hand, from a socioculturally consciousness perspective, teachers have a heightened awareness that there are multiple perspectives on the world and that a person’s worldview reflects his or her location in the social order based on class, race, ethnicity and gender.

Socioculturally conscious teachers demonstrate insight into their perspectives as they have been shaped by their own biographies (Villegas and Lucas, 2002).

Another aspect of sociocultural consciousness is awareness of power differentials in society. On the sociocultural dysconsciousness end of the continuum teachers are unaware that those who are White, affluent and male have an advantage over racial and ethnic minorities, lower socioeconomic classes and female, whereas those who are socioculturally conscious are deeply aware of such power differentials. Furthermore, socioculturally conscious understand that social institutions, including schools, are organized to advantage the powerful, while those who are socioculturally dysconscious

lack this awareness. Finally, those who are socioculturally dysconscious believe that school practices are neutral and lack understanding that these routine practices benefit students from dominant groups while disadvantaging students from oppressed groups, while those who are socioculturally conscious are critical of such inequities (Villegas and

Lucas, 2002).

Villegas and Lucas’ (2002) second strand also deals teachers’ views of self and others, particularly whether they take a deficit view or affirming view of students from diverse backgrounds. Those who take a deficit perspective believe that the White middle class culture is inherently superior and view it as the standard for U.S. society and its institutions. The affirming perspective views the culture of White middle class as one valid culture among many, and believe its status comes from power rather than superiority. Teachers who take the deficit view see cultural differences as problems and consider ways of thinking, talking and behaving that differ from dominant cultural norms as inherently inferior. However, teachers from the affirming perspective respect and affirm cultural differences and believe that all cultural ways of thinking talking and behaving are valid. Teachers who view students from the deficit perspective emphasize what students are lacking and see those who do not conform to the dominant culture as deficient, in need of fixing. At the other end of the continuum, teachers who view students from an affirming perspective perceive teaching as adding to what students bring to learning rather than replacing it, and believe all students have experience, knowledge and skills that can be used as resources to help them learn (Villegas and Lucas, 2002).

Conceptions of Social Relations

At the heart of Ladson-Billings’ (1994) model of social relations from the culturally relevant perspective is that, in the classroom, everyone shares responsibility for one another. In contrasting how culturally relevant teachers’ and assimilationist teachers’ perspectives on social relations, Ladson-Billings (1994) focused on classroom environment. However, culturally relevant teachers, she emphasized, establish a fluid, equitable teacher-student relationship that does not end in the classroom, but extends into the community. Assimilationist teachers, however, develop fixed, hierarchical relationships with students that are limited to formal classroom roles. While culturally relevant teachers demonstrate connectedness with all students, encouraging a community of learners, assimilationist teachers demonstrate connectedness with individual students.

Teachers who are culturally relevant encourage collaborative and cooperative learning.

Assimilationist teachers, on the other hand encourage competitive achievement, and promote individual learning, often in isolation (Ladson-Billings, 1994).

Villegas and Lucas contrasted teachers views of their roles on another continuum, from teachers as technicians on one end and teachers as agents of change on the opposite end. When teachers see their roles as technicians they view schools as neutral settings, separate from and unaffected by the societal struggle for power. They believe that schools provide equal opportunities for all. In contrast, teachers who see their roles as agents of change believe that schools are intricately connected to society, reproducing social inequities by privileging the culture and the interests of the dominant group. They believe that schools hold the potential to transform society (Villegas and Lucas, 2002).

Teachers who view their roles on the technician end of the continuum, according to Villegas and Lucas (2002), see teaching as primarily a technical activity of using clearly defined instructional methods and procedures with an uncritical acceptance of school practices. They do not see a need for teachers to develop a personal vision, as their role is to convey the knowledge and skills of the school curriculum. They believe that teachers’ words and actions should be objective. Conversely, teachers who view their roles as agents of change believe that teaching, as a political and ethical activity, involves far more than applying instructional methods and procedures, including participation in the larger struggle for equity in society. As agents of change, according to Villegas and

Lucas (2002) teachers must develop a personal vision of why they are teachers and what is important in education and in the larger society and take responsibility for “identifying and interrupting inequitable school practices” (p. 54). From this perspective, actions of teachers are either support or challenge the social order, and are never neutral (Villegas and Lucas, 2002).

Conceptions of Knowledge and Learning

Ladson-Billings (1994) and Villegas and Lucas (2002) both contrasted views of knowledge and learning in their models of culturally relevant teaching. For culturally relevant teachers, Ladson-Billings (1994) said that knowledge is shared by teachers and students, and rather than static or unchanging, it is continuously recycled and recreated.

On the other hand, assimilationist teachers view knowledge as static and passed only from teacher to student. The culturally relevant teacher views knowledge critically, however the assimilationist teacher views knowledge as infallible. Culturally relevant

teachers have a passion for content, whereas assimilationist teachers take a detached, neutral view of content. When it comes to learning, culturally relevant teachers see their role as helping students develop the skills they need, while assimilationist teachers expect students to demonstrate mastery of a particular skill level before they can teach them.

Finally, culturally relevant teachers see excellence as complex, taking student diversity and individual differences into consideration, whereas assimilationist teachers view excellence narrowly and independently from student diversity and individual differences

(Ladson-Billings, 1994).

Similarly, Villegas and Lucas’(2002) strand four contrasted transmission views of knowledge with constructivist views. Teachers with transmission views of knowledge, as assimilationists in Ladson-Billings’ (1994) model, view knowledge as “scientific methods of discovery (p. 68), neutral and objective and independent of the learner. In contrast, teachers from the constructivist viewpoint view knowledge as subjective and filtered through the learner’s experiences and frame of reference. Knowledge, from a constructivist point of view, is a human construction, but from a transmission perspective it is objective, therefore eliminating personal and collective bias. Furthermore, those from the transmission point of view believe that knowledge is discrete and fixed whereas, from the constructivist viewpoint knowledge is considered value-laden, partial, subject to interpretation and tentative. (Villegas and Lucas, 2002)

Villegas and Lucas (2002) analyzed school knowledge specifically from both ends of the spectrum, as well. From the transmission point of view school knowledge is considered, “a body of accepted facts, concepts, principles and theories discovered by

experts in the different disciplines and packaged into the school curriculum according to subject areas” (p. 68). In their view, the content of the curriculum is sequentially organized from basic skills and facts to more complex ideas and processes and is believed to be fixed, neutral, and agreed upon. Teachers with transmission views believe that teachers and textbooks are the primary source of information for students. In contrast, constructivist teachers view school knowledge as meanings given to content in the school curriculum by students based on their prior knowledge and experiences. Moreover they believe that the curriculum is value-laden and partial, which gives schools the responsibility to help students understand how their perspective is both reflected and excluded from the school curriculum (Villegas and Lucas, 2002).

Villegas and Lucas’ (2002) model further builds upon school knowledge by considering how both perspectives view school learning. On the extreme end of the continuum for transmission views, school learning is considered somewhat passive, as the students are recipients of the school curriculum through memorization of what the teacher and textbooks tell them. The success of learners is measured by the amount of knowledge they retain. From the transmission viewpoint learners are seen as empty vessels into which knowledge is poured, whereas from the constructivist viewpoint learners are viewed as the builders and constructors of knowledge. School learning from the constructivist viewpoint is an active process that involves students giving meaning to new information based on their prior knowledge and experience. New conceptions, from the constructivist perspective, originate in the learning community, where each student

must construct understandings of new ideas and experiences within his or her own mind

(Villegas and Lucas, 2002).

Finally, Villegas and Lucas (2002) also considered teaching from both ends of the continuum. From the transmission perspective teaching is the act of delivering the content of the school curriculum to students, which emphasizes covering what the curriculum stipulates and testing the students’ mastery of this information. Student differences ignored, or viewed as deficiencies. Students are motivated to learn through rewards and punishments. From the constructivist perspective, however, student learning is supported by building bridges from their prior learning to new input and conceptions.

Rather than on ‘covering’ content, as in transmission approaches, constructivist teachers place emphasis on monitoring students as they develop understanding of ideas. Student differences are considered resources for learning, and student motivation is engaged through meaningful and purposeful activities. Constructivist teachers continuously adjust their plans to accommodate the complexities of learning (Villegas and Lucas, 2002).

What Teachers Need to Know About Students

Strand five in Villegas and Lucas’ (2002) curricular model is Learning about

Students and their Communities, seen below in Table 2.2. In order to build bridges to student learning, teachers need to know about students’ lives outside of school, their perceptions and beliefs about schooling and school knowledge, students’ relationship to subject matter, and their community life.

What Teachers Need to Know About Students to Help Them Build Bridges to Learning Students’ Lives Outside of School • Family Life: family make-up, immigration history, language use, mobility, educational history, child-rearing philosophy and practices, major activities, labor history, skills and knowledge used regularly. • Social Life: use of leisure time, favorite activities, language use, what students excel at, interests, hobbies, concerns Students’ Perceptions of School Knowledge and Belief in the Potential of Schooling to Improve Their Lives in the Future • Past experiences in school with subject matter and impressions of school knowledge derived from these experiences (e.g., interesting/boring; relevant/ irrelevant; meaningful/meaningless). • Trust that schools will improve their adult lives. Students’ Relationships to Subject Matter • Experience of subject matter outside of school. • Preexisting knowledge and beliefs about specific instructional topics • Areas of potential conflict between students’ cultural values and the cultural demands built into the various school subjects Community Life • Demographic Profile: economic makeup, racial/ethnic composition, linguistic makeup; patterns of language use, patterns of segregation. • Formal and Informal Holders of Power and Influence. • Available Resources: businesses, institutions, agencies, people. • Perceptions of School and School Knowledge and Participation in Schools Figure 2.2. What Teachers Need to Know about Students to Help Build Bridges to Learning. (Villegas and Lucas, 2002, p. 81).

Cultivating the Practice of Culturally Relevant Teaching, as shown in Table 2.3, is Villegas and Lucas’ sixth strand. This includes involving all students in the construction of knowledge, which is similar to Ladson-Billings’ Conceptions of Social

Relationships.

Involving all students in the construction of knowledge • Inquiry projects • Having students working collaboratively in small groups of mixed ability • Authentic dialogues • Having students assume increasing responsibility for their own learning

Building on students’ personal and cultural strengths • Helping students access prior knowledge and beliefs • Building on students’ interests • Building on students’ linguistic resources • Using examples and analogies from students’ lives • Using appropriate instructional materials • Tapping community resources • Creating different paths to learning by using varied instructional activities

Helping students examine the curriculum from multiple perspectives

Using varied assessment practices that promote learning

Making the culture of the classroom inclusive of all students Figure 2.3. Culturally Responsive Teaching Practices (Villegas and Lucas, 2002, p.110).

Both models include building on students’ personal and cultural strengths, such as helping students access prior knowledge and beliefs, building on their interests and linguistic resources, using examples from their lives, using varied instructional methods; helping students examine the curriculum from multiple perspectives; varying assessment practices and using assessment to promote learning; and ensuring that the classroom culture is inclusive of all students.

Responsibilities of Teacher Education

In considering what knowledge teachers need to have in order to be effective, most would agree that teachers must have mastery of both content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge (Gay, 2002). However, an often over-looked element is that

teachers must have knowledge of student populations, including students from diverse backgrounds. Gay (2002) argued, “… explicit knowledge about cultural diversity is imperative to meeting the educational needs of ethnically diverse students” (p. 107).

However, Gay (2002) contended that many teachers are not adequately prepared to teach students from diverse backgrounds.

Examining Preconceptions

Having spent the majority of their lives as students in classrooms observing the work of teachers, prospective teachers have what they believe is a clear and well-formed idea about what it means to teach, and what they intend to do as teachers. The

‘apprenticeship of observation,’ as Lortie (1975) termed it, is the belief system developed through years of observing teachers, from the student perspective, about what it means to be a teacher and how teachers behave, as well as what it means to be a student and how students behave. Some research findings indicated that prospective teachers come into teacher education programs with beliefs that are incompatible with what they need to learn in order to become effective teachers (Parajes, 1992; Florio-Ruane and Lensmire,

1990).

Prospective teachers’ preconceived notions about teaching, some of which are deeply entrenched, are problematic to teacher education in a number of ways, but especially when it comes to culturally relevant teaching. Ladson-Billings (2001) stated,

“[Prospective teachers’] notions of pedagogy, probably formed by years of being students, were that teaching occurs when the person designed as ‘teacher’ very

deliberately controls classroom discourse… those who have chosen teaching as a profession have naïve and poorly formed notions of what it means to teach” (p. 25).

Further, Lortie (1975) speculated that the imitative transmission of teaching practices has a strong basis in cultural tradition across many generations (Lortie, 1975; Mewborn and

Tyminski, 2006).

Teacher education programs can perpetuate this problem by failing to explore the practices and values, which are culturally and politically defined in terms of power and control, forming the core of the curricula (Parajes, 1992). Prospective teachers are not encouraged to come up with innovative pedagogical approaches, but are directed to traditional lesson planning, instructional strategies and classroom management approaches (Ladson-Billings, 2001). This is problematic as it limits education to knowledge acquisition, which continues to be filtered through prospective teachers’ misconceptions and unexplored beliefs. Teacher educators must instead focus on helping prospective teachers uncover what they believe and why if they are to truly learn to be effective and culturally relevant (Parajes, 1992; Ladson-Billings, 2001).

Villegas and Lucas (2002) agreed that the content of teacher education programs must be reconsidered in order to educate prospective teachers to be culturally relevant teachers. The term knowledge base which refers to the knowledge and skills teacher educators should know and be able to do in order to teach effectively, lacks an important component for preparing culturally responsive teachers – attitudes. “Without certain fundamental attitudes, such as a belief that all students are capable of learning to high levels, it is doubtful that a teacher can be effective in a multicultural society. Because we

believe that culturally responsive teaching has a strong attitudinal component, we find the customary notion of a knowledge base too narrow” (Villegas and Lucas, 2002, p. 25).

Villegas and Lucas (2002) asserted that a separation of knowledge, skills and attitudes is artificial, and that the three are interconnected and intertwined.

Another aspect of prospective teachers beliefs that must be examined in teacher education programs is beliefs about diverse students. Caution must be taken to ensure that prospective teachers are not led to believe that racial and ethnic labels completely define groups of students (Ladson-Billings, 2001). Prospective teachers need to be “challenged about preconceived and stereotypical notions that circulate about teaching particular groups of students” (p. 24). One way teacher education programs can deal with this is by assisting prospective teachers in developing sociocultural consciousness. In order to gain a sociocultural consciousness, Villegas and Lucas (2002) asserted that prospective teachers must understand that, while their perspectives accurately represent their own experiences, others do not necessarily share them. This sociocultural consciousness begins with the understanding that social locations provide greater access to resources and power to some cultural groups over others, which profoundly impacts their experiences. In the United States, this social stratification has multiple dimensions, including race/ethnicity, social class, language, gender, and sexual orientation. However, according to Villegas and Lucas (2002) the literature primarily focuses on race/ethnicity, social class and gender.

Connections Between School and Society

An important conception for prospective teachers that is necessary to developing sociocultural consciousness is “the intricate connection between schools and society”

(Villegas and Lucas, 2002, p. 30). This understanding means that “they must come to see that, as typically organized, schools help to reproduce existing social inequalities while giving the illusion that such inequalities are natural and fair” (Villegas and Lucas, 2002, p. 30-31).

Teacher educators who have attempted to engage their students in the study of this phenomenon report tremendous resistance from them (see Ahlquist, 1991; Cochran-Smith, 1991, 1995a; Davis 1995; King, 1993; Ladson-Billings, 1991; Sleeter, 1992, 1995a, 1995b; Tatum, 1992). Why is this so? We contend that a major reason for this resistance is fear of seriously scrutinizing the meritocratic ideology…Underlying their tenacious commitment to the meritocratic view of society is an intense belief that each individual is responsible for his or her social standing, that upward mobility is based on merit rather than privilege, and that the education system is fair and neutral. Disrupting this tightly knit belief system will present tremendous challenges, as many teacher educators have already learned. Beliefs, particularly when they are deep-seated in a person’s worldview, are extremely resistant to change (Floden, 1991; McDiarmid, 1991; Richardson, 1994; Tatto, 1996) (Villegas and Lucas, 2002, p. 31). In addition to the fact that beliefs are resistant to change, the meritocracy is especially intractable, because most prospective teachers have experienced great success in the education system as it is, and become teachers as a result of an idealized view of their educational experiences. “Questioning the neutrality of the school system, which is the foundation for the meritocratic vision of society, forces them to question the reasons

for their own academic success and the legitimacy of the social rewards that success promises to bring them” (Villegas and Lucas, 2002).

Another issue to consider is that prospective teachers generally have not experienced the inequalities that are built into the education system, because society is spatially segregated by race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status, into “’parallel universe[s] that rarely, if ever, intersect’ (Reich, 1999, x). This spatial segregation provides most white teacher candidates with little opportunity for contact with people from oppressed groups thus depriving them of a window into the day-to-day realities, concerns, interests, dreams and struggles of these groups” (Villegas and Lucas, 2002, p.

31). Being so removed and isolated from those who are marginalized by the meritocracy prevents White prospective teachers from critically examining it.

If they do not come to see that the so-called meritocracy works largely for those who are already advantaged in society by virtue of their social class of origin and color of skin, for example, they will fail in their attempts to understand and respond to students who are socioculturally different from themselves, particularly when the students are from oppressed groups (Banks, 1991b; Gomez, 1994; Noel, 1995; Villegas, 1991; Zeichner, 1993). To reach such students, prospective teachers need to move beyond the unreflective and uncritical “habit of mind” that King (1991) calls “dysconsciousness” (Villegas and Lucas, 2002, p. 32). Therefore, if teacher education programs do not provide learning experiences that help prospective teachers understand the privilege that comes simply from social class and cultural origin, they will not be able to understand and meet the learning needs of those who differ from them socioculturally.

Deficit Perspective

Villegas and Lucas (2002) and Lee (2007) emphasized the negative effects that a deficit perspective has on minority students, both historically and currently. The problematic nature of a deficit perspective comes from a belief that lower achievement in school experienced by students of poor and racial/ethnic minority backgrounds results from problems that exist within the students and their families. Equitable opportunities in education, from this perspective, are a matter of remediating the problems that exist within the student that result in failure to learn. However, according to Villegas and

Lucas, remedial practices can perpetuate the inequity in education.

Remediation too often is part of the problem, not a solution. Students are exposed to an overly simplified curriculum that emphasizes basic skills while ignoring the development of higher level thinking skills (Anyon, 1981; Irvine, 1990b; McDiarmid and Price, 1990). The pace of instruction is slowed to the point that learning becomes boring (Hilliard, 1989). Instructional tasks decontextualize learning and rely heavily on drill, worksheets, and rote memorization (Anyon, 1981; McDiarmid and Price, 1990)…These and other similar “remedial” practices devalue the individual and cultural strengths that students from nondominant groups bring to school; they also produce low academic outcomes and promote a sense of alienation and disempowerment among these children (Villegas and Lucas, 2002, p. 37-38). It is important that teacher educators assist prospective teachers in seeing the problematic nature of the deficit perspective so that they can begin to consider other explanations for why students who are of lower socioeconomic status and cultural minority groups are not achieving in school at the same levels as students from affluent and dominant cultural groups. Villegas and Lucas (2002) discussed the cultural difference theory, which focuses on “subtle differences in language use and interaction patterns at

home and in school and on the failures in communication resulting from these differences” (p. 42). Those who come from the dominant culture view classroom settings as neutral, because the school structure is compatible with their home and community culture. However, not all cultural contexts are organized and structured in the same way, and may even clash with the culture of school. Whereas students from the dominant culture benefit from the compatibility of their home with the school, students from minority cultures can be at a disadvantage as their ways of talking, thinking and behaving are considered unacceptable in the classroom context.

Wiseman and Fox (2010) conducted a study of teachers who were enrolled in an advanced Masters Degree program, which involved teacher research as a method of helping practicing teachers to develop cultural competence. Among their findings they discovered that many practicing teachers are resistant to recognizing culture and believe that assimilation will help students to be successful in the classroom and society in general. They also found that some of their participants held a deficit perspective about students of diverse cultures, while believing that racism is a non-issue. However, they also found that “when most teachers had the opportunity to consider a broad view of culture and then apply it to their professional contexts, their understanding of teaching and learning in the classroom was enhanced” (Wiseman and Fox, 2010, p. 35). By applying the research to their own personal teaching domain, teachers were able to understand cultural competence on a more meaningful level.

Opportunities to conduct teacher research in their educational settings, consider aspects of culture and its role in the teaching-learning process, and examine the results of interventions they had implemented in their

classrooms informed by concrete data supported the teachers to grow and deepen their knowledge about how to meet the needs of their K-12 learners. (Wiseman and Fox, 2010, p. 35) Therefore, teacher research has been found to be an effective method of helping teachers to develop cultural competence.

Culturally Responsive Teacher Education Curricula

Gay (2002) asserted that the knowledge base for teachers must include “cultural values, traditions, communication, learning styles, contributions, and relational patterns”

(p. 107). However, the knowledge base must go beyond “mere awareness of, respect for, and general recognition of the fact that ethnic groups have different values…” (Gay,

2002, p. 107). Gay (2002) contended that, in order to make school representative of and responsive to students from diverse backgrounds teachers must acquire detailed facts about the “cultural particularities” of specific groups and students. Gay (2002) asserted:

Too many teachers and teacher educators think that their subjects (particularly math and science) and cultural diversity are incompatible, or that combining them is too much of a conceptual and substantive stretch for their subjects to maintain disciplinary integrity. This is simply not true. There is a place for cultural diversity in every subject taught in schools. (p. 107) Gay (2002) continued to say that such misconceptions may be partly due to the fact that many teachers are unaware of the contributions people of other cultures have made to their content areas. Additionally, she stated that culturally responsive teaching is as much about using instructional strategies that meet the learning needs of students of other cultures as it is about including multicultural content in the curriculum. Therefore, teacher education programs must include the important contributions that people of other

cultures have made to various content areas. Gay (2002) maintained that all prospective teachers must take courses that include the contributions of people of other cultures to the content areas they intend to teach.

Gay (2002) discussed the curricular transformations that must occur to make the curriculum culturally responsive. These transformations must begin by teaching prospective teachers to deeply analyze the cultural perspectives of textbooks and other instructional materials so that they can revise them to make them more culturally responsive. Gay (2002) contended that if prospective teachers are to successfully remove the obstacles to culturally responsive teaching, first they must understand the obstacles that exist. One curricular obstacle is the reluctance and discomfort in addressing controversy, including such issues as:

…racism, historical atrocities, powerlessness, and hegemony; focusing on the accomplishments of the same few high-profile individuals repeatedly and ignoring the actions of groups; giving proportionally more attention to African Americans than other groups of color; decontextualizing women, their issues, and their actions from their race and ethnicity; ignoring poverty; and emphasizing factual information while minimizing other kinds of knowledge (such as values, attitudes, feelings, experiences and ethics). (Gay, 2002, p. 108). Other curricular issues that need to be addressed in teacher education are how cultures are represented, misrepresented and ignored in the symbolical curriculum, such as on bulletin boards and in trade books, and in the societal curriculum, such as in various forms of media. Misrepresentations in these areas of the curriculum can reinforce prejudices and negative stereotypes. Teacher education programs must include opportunities for prospective teachers to critically analyze the influences of these images

have on students of diverse backgrounds and on all students’ perceptions of different cultures. Furthermore, prospective teachers must learn to counteract the negative influences that can be conveyed symbolically, through the media, and through popular culture.

Another aspect of preparation for culturally responsive teaching is creating a culturally responsive learning environment that includes “an ethical, emotional, and academic partnership with ethnically diverse students, a partnership that is anchored in respect, honor, integrity, resource sharing and a deep belief in the possibility of transcendence” (Gay, 2000, p. 52). According to Gay (2002), pedagogical actions are equally important as multicultural curriculum designs in implementing culturally responsive teaching, if not more so. Prospective teachers must learn to use cultural scaffolding, which Gay (2002) defined as, “using their own cultures and experiences to expand their intellectual horizons and academic achievement” (p. 109). High expectations for students of diverse backgrounds are an important part of cultural scaffolding, which comes from not only caring so deeply about these students that only high-level success is accepted, but also working diligently to ensure that they succeed (Gay, 2002; Foster,

1997; Kleinfeld, 1974, 1975).

Cross-cultural communication is also an important part of the culturally relevant teacher education curriculum. According to Gay (2002), teachers can determine what students know and are able to do only to the extent that they can communicate with them.

The intellectual thoughts of students from diverse backgrounds are culturally encoded according to the socialization of their culture, and must be decoded by teachers if they are

to teach them effectively. Gay (2002) stated, “Culturally responsive teacher preparation programs teach how the communication styles of different ethnic groups reflect the cultural values and shape learning behaviors and how to modify classroom interactions to better accommodate them” (p. 111). This includes linguistic information as well as communication behaviors, nonverbal communication and roles of speakers and listeners.

In addition, it is important that prospective teachers learn how these cultural forms of communication affect the behavior and participation in classroom learning environments.

Finally, Gay (2002) stated that the way that instruction is delivered is an important component of the culturally responsive teaching. “Culture is deeply embedded in any teaching; therefore, teaching ethnically diverse students has to be multiculturalized” (Gay, 2002, p. 112). Gay (2002) defined the alignment of instruction with the learning needs of students from diverse backgrounds as cultural congruity. One way teachers can accomplishing this is by matching their instructional styles to the learning styles of students. This begins with understanding the characteristics of the culture, so that instructional strategies can be modified to fit the learning styles of students from diverse backgrounds. Teacher education programs can help prospective teachers develop skills in this area by first “confronting the misconceptions and controversies surrounding learning styles” (Gay, 2002, p. 113). Some of the misconceptions of learning styles can be dispelled by helping prospective teachers understand that learning styles are not associated with intellectual ability, but rather the process through which they learn and develop understanding. Gay (2002) described eight

key components that are included in the internal structure of ethnic learning styles, which are configured differently for different cultural groups:

…preferred content; ways of working through learning tasks; techniques for organizing and conveying ideas and thoughts; physical and social settings for task performance; structural arrangements of work, study, and performance space; perceptual stimulation for receiving, processing and demonstrating comprehension and competence; motivations, incentives and rewards for learning; and interpersonal interactional styles. These dimension provide different points of entry and emphasis for matching instruction to the learning styles of students from various ethnic groups. To respond most effectively to them, teachers need to know how they are configured for different ethnic groups as well as the patterns of variance that exist within the configurations. (p. 113) According to Gay (2002) culture is a strong influence on values, attitudes, and behaviors that students and teachers bring to instruction and learning processes, and is therefore in large part a solution to the achievement gap. By approaching instruction and learning for all students from cultural frames of reference, we give them the same opportunity that is currently given primarily to the dominant culture – the opportunity to learn through their points of strength. Gay (2002) stated that currently these students are expected to “divorce themselves from their culture and learn according to European

American cultural norms,” placing them in “double jeopardy” because they must master academic learning under conditions that are unnatural, or even unfamiliar, to them.

A key point that Gay (2002) made, which is clear throughout the literature

(Ladson-Billings, 1994; 2001; Villegas and Lucas, 2002; Au, 1993, 1998, 2011; Lee,

2007) is that teacher preparation programs must be culturally relevant in order to prepare prospective teachers to be culturally relevant. Culturally relevant instructional practices

are not intuitive, especially to those who have experienced cultural congruity in traditional education practices. Intuitive teaching practices for these prospective teachers is to teach according to the practices through which they have experienced success. This is why it is vitally important that teacher education programs become culturally relevant.

The position of the current investigation in the scholarship is to explore the developing knowledge and beliefs of a specific population of students, those from remote, rural, primarily monocultural backgrounds, across four stages of the program: the freshman, sophomore, junior and senior levels. The construction of knowledge and beliefs that are the focal point of the investigation are those related to cultural competence in teaching practices.

Chapter Three

Methodology

The purpose of this interpretive case study was to investigate the development of conceptions of cultural competence by prospective teachers at various stages of a teacher education program at a rural, primarily monocultural university. The study’s importance stems largely from the fact that this population has very little knowledge or experience with other cultures prior to beginning the teacher education program, placing a greater responsibility on the teacher education program to design and provide experiences in the program to develop knowledge, skills and dispositions for developing cultural competence.

Interpretive Case Study

Interpretive case study was selected as the appropriate methodology for this investigation as a model that is particularly effective in holistically studying issues, questions and concerns related to teaching and learning (Merriam, 1998). In an interpretive case study, the researcher “gathers as much information about the problem as possible with the intent of analyzing, interpreting or theorizing about the phenomenon”

(Merriam, 1998, p. 38). This approach is effective in studying how prospective teachers

develop cultural competence, as well as what experiences they describe as significant to their developing conceptions as they progress through their teacher education program.

Interpretive case studies, according to Merriam, are analytical, and therefore

“differentiated from straightforward descriptive studies by their complexity, depth, and theoretical orientation” (Merriam, 1998, p. 39).

Considering the importance of investigating the specific needs of this population related to the development of sociocultural competence, the prior experiences of this population and how their cultural identities and understandings have developed thus far must first be examined. According to Merriam (1998):

In interpretive research, education is considered to be a process and school is a lived experience. Understanding the meaning of the process or experience constitutes the knowledge to be gained… Multiple realities are constructed socially by individuals (Merriam, 1998, p. 4). Each prospective teacher brings unique lived experiences, a socially constructed reality, into their teacher education program which affects their perspectives and conceptual development processes. Interpretive case study facilitates analysis of the participants’ socially constructed realities and how these realities affect the development of their sociocultural consciousness. The construction of these realities is both personal and collective in nature.

Collective Case Study

Holstein and Gubrium (1994) discussed the importance of collective representations in the interpretive process. They cited Durkheim’s (1964) definition of

collective representations as, “publicly standardized ideas [that] constitute social order”

(p. 267). Collective representations are particularly important to this case study in exploring the socially constructed conceptions of this cultural group. Holstein and

Gubrium (1994) say:

Collective representations enter into the interpretive process in a manner similar to Shultz’s (1970) ‘schemes of interpretation,’ …The schemes mediate individual biography and interpersonal relations, reflecting and perpetuating culturally promoted understandings of, and orientations to, everyday life. (p. 267) Using this method of inquiry facilitated the exploration of how this population of prospective teachers, having little or no experience with nondominant populations, conceptualize and describe their process in the development of cultural competence. As a collective representation, we can more effectively generalize this study to the population represented by the participants and cases in this investigation.

Collective case study was chosen as effective for this study since, according to

Stake (1994), “It is not the study of a collective, but instrumental study extended to several cases” (p. 237). This investigation focused on four cases including a total of twelve undergraduate prospective teachers enrolled in the middle childhood education program at a small, rural, Christian protestant, mid-western university. Each case consisted of three participants selected from each class standing, freshmen through seniors. Stake (1994) says that cases are selected because, “it is believed that understanding them will lead to a better understanding, perhaps better theorizing, about a still larger collective of cases” (p. 237). The larger collective of cases in this investigation

would be the population of middle childhood education majors at the university where the study took place.

In this study, each participant was interviewed twice regarding his/her knowledge, beliefs and experiences as related to culture, professional identity, teaching and learning.

The first semi-structured interviews were conducted in April, 2010. The second interview set was conducted May, 2010 through September, 2010; designed for correction, confirmation, clarification, and extension of the original interview.

Stake (1994) also provided a framework, as the investigation sets out to examine the nature of each case and to look for patterns and themes in the data. From these themes, issues and interrelationships can be identified in order to ascertain “thematic threads” from each case and make assertions about what these data suggest. (Stake, 1994)

Research Questions

Each case provides a look at the research questions from a different perspective, as each participant represented a different vantage point for the investigation of how cultural competence and beliefs about the relevance of culture to teaching and learning develop across a teacher education program, at varying levels. Research questions were crafted to investigate not only how participants conceptualize their beliefs and understandings, but also what cultural responsibilities they believe that teachers have to their students and how this influences the way they intend to teach. In addition, the investigation delves into the kinds of experiences that they credit as impacting and

influencing the development of their beliefs and understandings about culture and its relevance to teaching and learning.

1. How do prospective teachers, at each level of an initial licensure teacher

education program based on class standing, describe their understandings and

beliefs regarding the relevance of culture to teaching and learning?

2. How do prospective teachers describe the implications for practice of their

understandings and beliefs about the relevance of culture to teaching and learning

and how do they relate this to their professional identities?

3. How do prospective teachers describe the development in their

understandings, views and beliefs regarding the relevance of culture to teaching

and learning at each level of the initial licensure teacher education program, and

to what do they attribute development and changes?

Researcher Positionality

This investigation comes from the perspective that prospective teachers’ beliefs about culture can have a profound impact on their beliefs and understandings about students, knowledge, teaching, and learning throughout the teacher education program

(Darling-Hammond, 2010; Lee, 2007; Villegas and Lucas, 2002; Ladson-Billings, 2001;

1994). As a member of the teacher education faculty where this investigation was conducted, the status of my positionality fits the description of Chavez (2008), who said,

“…a researcher can experience various degrees of insiderness and outsiderness given how she/he is socially situated to (and by) participants during the research process…” It

is a somewhat shifting role, being an insider in the sense of being part of the university, but being an outsider by being faculty, a relatively permanent member of the university, rather than a member of the student body, with a more transitory relationship with the university. Benefits and challenges of this positionality have emerged as two sides of the same coin. Chavez (2008) said that researchers can “draw much of their advantage from their positionality at the intersection of insider and outsider,” but can also experience it as a complication. (p. 477)

One such complication in my study, which can also be viewed as a benefit, was the lens through which the participants viewed me, as a professor. Although, I had not met five of the twelve prior to the study, still they were aware of my status as professor at the university. For this reason, prior to each interview I had an open conversation with each participant to establish the nature of our relationship in the context of the study, emphasizing that their participation was for the purpose of helping me understand their beliefs and conceptions. In order to delve into the source each of their responses, in the second set of interviews I asked each participant to elaborate on whether they considered each of their responses as knowledge or belief and to discuss how they learned each conception that they expressed. Further, I asked them to expand upon why it is knowledge or belief and how knowledge and beliefs differ in their understanding. They were very thorough and reflective in their elaborations of these points.

By viewing their participation as a means of improving the system, they had a stake in providing honest and open responses. Chavez (2008) calls these positionality advantages expediency of rapport building and immediate legitimacy in the field. (p. 479)

Rapport already existed with the participants as a result of my insider status, which also gave me legitimacy for my role in this investigation. They were aware that I was in a position to use the information they were giving me to a positive end.

Other positionality advantages included an economy to acclimating to the field as well as a nuanced perspective for observation, interpretation and representation. (Chavez,

2008, p. 479) There was no need to acclimate to the field, being a university insider. This provided me with an awareness of nuances that were unspoken when they referred to particular courses, professors, field experiences, expectations and programmatic experiences and policies, whereas an outsider would not share these contextual understandings. From this perspective, I was able to formulate and frame follow-up questions that got to deeper issues and ideas that an outsider would have likely missed.

Huberman and Miles (1994) also addressed proper precautions to take to minimize researcher bias. They suggest that qualitative researchers must address the following issues: Premature closure, unexplored data in field notes, lack of search for negative cases, and feelings of empathy. In the paragraphs to follow I will relate each of these to the precautions I have taken for this study.

Huberman and Miles (1994) caution against being too hasty or simplistic in coming to conclusions about the data. To prevent this, the second set of interviews were designed to ensure the problem of premature closure did not occur with this study. Each participant was asked in the second interview to scrutinize how I had initially interpreted

his or her responses to the first set of interview questions and to clarify, confirm, add to, or correct my interpretation of their initial responses.

In addition to premature closure, Huberman and Miles (1994) warn researchers against overlooking parts of the data. To ensure that they were thoroughly explored, all data were carefully read, studied, coded, organized and reorganized many times. Each time data were used thematically and analytically, they were-examined in the context of the original transcript. The second interview served to address this issue as well, since the participants were asked to clarify, extend, or correct initial analyses of the data. Because of this, each of the interview questions was thoroughly discussed in two separate settings with each participant, first from their initial perspective in response to the interview questions, and secondly from the perspective of my analyses.

During data analysis, researchers much take care to not only search for data that support the themes, but also exceptions or contradictory data to these themes (Haberman and Miles, 1994). Negative cases, and exceptions were deliberately sought out in the data and noted in every data display, as is seen in the data displays in Appendix B. Exceptions and dichotomous data were noted with abbreviations on the matrixes.

When researchers have a strong empathetic connection with participants, the empathetic lens can bias their view of the data. Certainly feelings of empathy existed in the relationship between researcher and participant. Assigning pseudonyms and considering the data as separate from the individuals were helpful steps in ensuring that empathy did not bias analysis. Additionally, viewing the participants as in the process of

constructing cultural competence and considering the data as a means to understanding the steps in this process was helpful in channeling the empathy to work in favor of an accurate analysis. The most effective outlet for the empathy in this case was in the desire to discover how to help each participant become an effective, culturally competent teacher. In that way, empathy was a strength in this particular study.

The Middle Childhood Education Program

At the university where this study was conducted Middle Childhood Education program was divided into General Education requirements, Professional Education requirements, Middle Childhood core and Middle Childhood concentrations. In addition to Education program requirements, each Middle Childhood education major was required to take two content areas of concentration, choosing any combination of two from the following: social studies, science, mathematics and language arts (See Appendix

C.)

The structure of the Education program included a field experience at each level.

Their initial field experience, which typically occurred during one of the two freshman level semesters, included one full day per week in a middle level classroom and was attached to the Foundations of Education course. At the same time, freshmen were also typically enrolled in an Educational Technology course.

At the sophomore level education coursework included an educational psychology course and a planning and instruction course which included field experience for one half day per week.

At the junior level far more education coursework was required, including a reading course each of the two semesters, each of which included a field experience for half a day once per week, classroom management, a middle childhood education philosophy course and a course on inclusion and differentiated instruction. A key course to this study, Education and Cultural Diversity, occurs during the junior year. An important component of this course includes a one month immersion in a culturally diverse area, three weeks of which consists of field experience every day in a diverse school. This experience is not the same for all students, as they have a choice in placements. While some go abroad, others go to diverse areas elsewhere in the US, and still others go to inner cities in Ohio.

At the senior level prospective teachers were immersed in education coursework and field experiences. The first semester they took their “Professional Development

Semester,” which included all methods courses with one to two full days in their clinical practice placement each week. The second semester was clinical practice, including a diverse clinical practice placement for at least four weeks.

In addition to these requirements, prospective teacher took the required general education core courses as well as two content areas of concentration. They could also take courses to obtain a reading endorsement or middle childhood generalist endorsement. For more detailed information on the program please see Appendix C.

Participants

The setting of this study is the main campus of a small, private liberal arts university in a rural area of central Ohio. This population provides particular insight into how prospective teachers conceptualize culture, as the student population of this university is very homogeneous, consisting primarily of middle class, White, Christian

Protestant students from rural, primarily monocultural, conservative upbringings. This allows for a unique look at how a culturally homogenous population develops beliefs regarding the relevance of culture to teaching and learning.

The population for this study is all undergraduate middle childhood education majors registered for classes on the main campus of this university in the spring of 2010.

The population of undergraduate prospective teachers preparing to teach at the middle level was chosen for several reasons. First of all, the grade level span of thelicensure for this population in the state of Ohio borders on the elementary and overlaps with secondary licensures, since these students will be licensed for grades four through nine, which gives them a broad cross-section of students who they will be licensed to teach, as compared to most other areas of licensure. Secondly, in the state of Ohio, these prospective teachers have two content areas of concentration, which provides for a more focused view of how specific content areas are viewed by prospective teachers with respect to how culture is relevant, while still providing a broader view than one content area, as with AYA or MA majors. Finally, this population is relatively small, with an N of 55, and tends to be somewhat stable in size at the university where this study was

conducted. Therefore, the sample represents more than twenty percent of the population

(N =55; n =12)

The sample was selected from all middle childhood majors enrolled in the teacher education program based on class standing. Three participants were selected from the freshman class, the sophomore class, the junior class, and the senior class. From a list of all middle childhood education majors, candidates were sorted by class standing and by the type of school from which they graduated: Public city, public rural, private, and home schooled. When selecting the three students who would make up each case, the first criterion for selection was according to the type of school from which they graduated. For each case three different types of schooling were chosen, with the first preference given to one student from each of the following types of schools: public, private and home school. In cases where this primary grouping was not available, the selection process included one student from each of the following: public suburban, public rural, and private school. The second criterion for selection was based on gender. For each class standing, two females and one male were selected, giving a relatively representative sample as compared to the population. Each class standing was represented as follows:

Case Total Population Female Population Male Population

Freshman Total N=16; n=3 Female N=10; n=2 male N=6; n=1

Sophomore Total N=9; n=3 Female N= 7; n=2 male N=2; n=1

Junior Total N=18; n=3 Female N=12; n=2 male N=6; n=1

Senior Total N=12; n=3 Female N=9; n=2 male N=3; n=1

MCE Majors Total N=55; n=12 Female N=38; n=8 Male=N=17; n=4

Figure 3.1. Population and Sample for Study

All participants acknowledged full awareness of what is involved in their participation in this study and gave written consent to the conditions of participation.

In the following sections I will describe each of the participant by case. Within each case participants are organized according to their level of experiences in teacher education (such as number and level of teacher education courses and field experiences they had taken), and secondly by experiences with people of other cultures. The first criterion used for the ordering within each case was by level of teacher education coursework and field experiences. Participants who had fewer, or no, education coursework or field experiences were ordered before those who had more coursework and field experiences. The second criterion used for ordering was by participants’ amount of experience with people of other cultures. Those who described minimal experiences with people of other cultures were ordered before those who had more experiences with people of other cultures.

The Freshman Case

Participants in the freshman case were Katherine, Gregory, and Lana. Although all second semester freshmen, they were at very different places in the teacher education program as well as in their conceptions of teaching and cultural competence.

Katherine was a second semester freshman, but had not yet taken any teacher education courses nor had any field experiences at the time of her interviews. She was home schooled for kindergarten through grade 5 by her mother, who was also a public school reading specialist. In 6th grade Katherine attended a rural public school, and for grades 7-12 went to a private boarding school in the hills of Kentucky. Katherine reported that this high school had many international students as well as a large proportion of students who attended the school because of behavioral issues that had gotten them expelled from their previous schools. She said that this boarding school, for many of the students, was offered as a last chance. Her major was Middle Childhood

Education and her content areas were Language Arts and Social Studies.

Gregory was a second semester freshman at the time of his interviews and had taken only freshman level education courses, which included Foundations of Education, the freshman level field experience and Educational Technology. He attended the same rural school district from kindergarten through grade twelve, graduating from a very small rural public high school, with a class of approximately sixty-five students. He had very little experience with cultures that differed from his own prior to attending college.

He chose the university he attended because of its similarity to the culture where he grew up, its comfort level to his beliefs, and its close proximity to his home. Gregory was a

Middle Childhood Education major with an Intervention Specialist minor. His content area concentrations were Math and Social Studies.

Lana was a second semester freshman who attended a Teacher Academy in high school and had taken the Educational Technology course in college. With her high school

Teacher Academy course she had a yearlong field experience which included three distinct placements. She attended public school in the same district from kindergarten through grade twelve in a middle-class Midwestern city approximately thirty miles from the university where this study takes place. She described her family, church and school as being very congruent, prior to attending college, with nearly everyone in her life being similar in beliefs, lifestyles, socioeconomic status, culture, etc. She was a Middle

Childhood Education major with Social Studies and Math as her content areas of concentration.

The Sophomore Case

Participants in the sophomore case were Amanda, Adam, and Madeline. All three were at the expected level of their teacher education program for sophomores, and they each had experiences that gave them insight into the development of cultural competence.

Amanda was a second semester sophomore. She had taken, or was taking (at the time of her interviews) all the education courses that were intended for the freshman and sophomore years. She was still registered as a middle childhood education major, but, as of the time these interviews were conducted, had decided to change her major to early

childhood education. She attended a public city school in her early years and a rural public school in middle and high school years.

Adam was a second semester sophomore with content concentrations in math and language arts. He attended a suburban public school in another Midwestern state for kindergarten through sixth grade. Grades seven through twelve he attended a rural public school. He found this transition significant, in that the curricula were entirely different in the two schools, and what he had learned in the suburban school in another state was advanced compared to the curriculum in the rural school in Ohio. Because Adam’s parents were both in the military, he traveled extensively as a child. He was a Middle

Childhood Education major with Math and Language Arts as his concentrations.

Madeline was a second semester sophomore who, at the time of her interviews, had taken all education courses for freshmen and sophomores. Throughout her senior year of high school she participated in a Teacher Academy, which included three different field experiences. She attended K-10 in a private suburban school, and 11-12 in a rural public school. During her middle school years she participated in an inner city ministry with her family for a year and a half, which was a significant cultural experience for her. She was a Middle Childhood Education major with content areas in Science and

Social Studies.

The Junior Case

The junior case consisted of Graham, Tina, and Shannon. Of all the cases, this case had the most variation in the prior experiences and knowledge of the participants.

There were significant similarities among these participants, but their previous cultural experiences, as well as their cultural competence, spanned nearly the entire continuum.

Graham was a second semester junior who went to a rural public school K-8 and to a rural private school 9-12. Before beginning his Education program he went to welding school and received a degree in welding, in order to follow in his father’s footsteps. However, he realized that he didn’t want to be a welder for the rest of his life, so he immediately, upon finishing the welding program, decided to go into Education.

Graham described his background as very sheltered, and had experienced almost no cultural diversity at the time of his interviews. He was an Middle Childhood Education major with content areas of Social Studies and Science.

Tina was a second semester junior who attended a public city school K-12 located in a small city near the university where she now is enrolled, and where this study was conducted. Her father, having a job that required frequent travel and relocation, has given

Tina some experience with other cultures through various travels that included lengthy stays in other states and even other countries.. She has also experienced different cultures by participating in short-term mission trips. Tina attended a different university with a major in Finance for her first year of college, but decided to transfer and change her major to Education after finishing her freshman year. She is a Middle Childhood

Education major. Her content concentrations are in Science and Social Studies, and she also intends to get the generalist endorsement to be qualified to teach Language Arts and

Math, as well.

Shannon was a second semester junior who had taken, at the time of her interviews, all coursework required for junior level education majors. Her early childhood education took place in a rural public school in Tennessee. She was home schooled from her middle education years through grade eleven. In grades eleven and twelve she attended a public vocational school where she studied to be a secretarial technologist. She took a little time off between her freshman and sophomore years of college, moving out west where she worked as a substitute teacher in an area where there was a large population of migrant workers from Mexico. She had also lived in Germany for a period of time with her family prior to beginning her teacher education program.

She was a Middle Childhood Education major whose content concentrations are in language arts and social studies.

The Senior Case

The senior case consisted of Sam, Audrey, and Carly. These three participants, though coming from different backgrounds of cultural experience, were very similar in their level of cultural competence. Each of them had recently completed their diverse clinical practice at the time of the first interview and their entire clinical practice at the time of the second interview.

Sam was a second semester senior, student teaching during the time when interviews were conducted. He was a highly regarded member of the soccer team, and had a position as soccer coach at a larger university upon graduation. Although he grew up in a monocultural suburban area where everyone had similar cultures, beliefs,

lifestyles, socioeconomic status, and values, as a soccer player he had the opportunity to work and interact with players from a wide variety of cultures. He was a Middle

Childhood Education major with content area concentrations of Math and Social Studies.

Audrey was a second semester senior who was, at the time of her interviews, student teaching in a rural public school. Earlier in her student teaching experience she was placed in an urban school for a more diverse experience. Her only experience with diversity outside of the teacher education program was a trip she had taken in high school to Brazil. For kindergarten through grade twelve she attended a rural public school where most of the students and teachers shared a similar culture to her. She had very good experiences in school, which contributed to her desire to be a teacher. As a Middle

Childhood Education major, she had chosen Math and Science for her content areas of concentration because she wanted to be a role model for female students, going against societal norms to demonstrate and encourage girls to excel in Math and Science.

Carly was a second semester senior, participating in student teaching during the period of time her interviews were conducted. She attended a suburban public school from kindergarten through grade twelve. She considers the schools she attended to be very diverse, although she had not considered the concept of diversity before she attended college in rural universities. Halfway through her junior year of college, one year before our interview, and just prior to her “diversity field experience” her cousin was shot and killed as a result of random gang-related violence. This experience has caused her to feel a level of discomfort in urban “downtown” areas, although she is fighting to overcome

this fear. Carly was a Middle Childhood Education major getting her generalist license, with concentrations in Language Arts and Social Studies.

Collection of Data

Two semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with each of the twelve participants between the months of April and September in 2010. The first interviews, all of which were conducted in April and May 2010, focused on a list of questions that explored the participants’ beliefs, experiences, and conceptions of culture, and the responsibilities of teachers related to the cultures of their students. The second interviews, which were conducted May through September, were designed to ensure accuracy of analysis from the first set, focusing on correcting, confirming, clarifying or adding to my interpretations of their responses to the first set of questions. A brief set of follow up questions was also discussed, after the first set of questions had been clarified.

Interviews ranged from approximately 30 to 90 minutes in duration.

Each interview was audio-recorded and manually transcribed verbatim from the audio recording.

Validity

In order to verify the validity of case study research, triangulation is generally the measure that qualitative researchers employ. (Stake, 1994, Miles and Huberman, 1994)

Triangulation generally refers to the use of multiple measures during analysis to confirm that findings are genuinely a reflection of the data. Although there are a number of approaches to triangulation, Huberman and Miles (1994) stated:

…triangulation is less a tactic than a mode of inquiry. By self- consciously setting out to collect and double-check findings, using multiple sources and modes of evidence, the researcher will build the triangulation process into ongoing data collection. (p. 438) The approach described here by Huberman and Miles (1994) was taken for the purpose of triangulation in this investigation. By double-checking the responses of the participants in two separate interview instances and checking for multiple occurrences of the findings within and across the cases, themes and findings were verified. In addition, checking the findings against similar studies of other populations and the theories that were generated by such studies (Ladson Billings, 1994, 2001; Villegas and Lucas, 2002; Au,1980, 2011) findings of this study were supported and reinforced. In addition, each case included three participants to allow for discrepant data and findings.

Analysis of Data

Data analysis began with manual transcription each of the audio recordings of interviews paying close attention to the big ideas each participant expressed during manual transcription. This was followed by multiple close readings of the transcripts again, paying close attention to the big ideas and subtle variations in what participants expressed. After becoming very familiar with the transcripts, another close reading included labeling of themes and making annotations and notes about important trends and insights. Merriam (1998) says, “…the right way to analyze data in a qualitative study is to do it simultaneously with data collection” (p. 162).

Data analysis continued as I conducted the follow-up interview with each participant, explaining my interpretation of each of their first interviews and asking for

verifications, clarifications, additions and corrections. This is consistent with Merriam’s

(1998) recommendations from Bogdan and Biklen (1992), “Try out ideas and themes on subjects. …Key informants, under the appropriate circumstances, can help advance your analysis, especially to fill in the holes of description” (p. 163).

As the second set of interviews were alongside the first transcripts, themes and connections were noted as an ongoing analysis. When the second transcription was completed, both sets of interviews were carefully examined alongside each other pulling further insights, themes and deeper analysis.

When this was completed, I wrote a narrative analysis synthesizing trends and variations by case and across cases, noting factors other than case where there were similarities and exceptions. A deliberate attempt was made to find exceptions and oppositional data. This process followed an analytic induction process as described by

Huberman and Miles (1994) pulling from Robinson (1951) and Znaniecki (1934):

At the heart of analytic induction is the thesis that there are regularities to be found in the physical and social worlds. The theories or constructs that we derive express these regularities as precisely as possible. To uncover these constructs, we use an iterative procedure – a succession of question-and-answer cycles – that entails examining a given set of cases and then refining or modifying those cases on the basis of subsequent ones. Traditionally, the resulting inferences are deemed “valid,” in the relaxed sense that they are probable, reasonable, or likely to be true (Huberman and Miles, 1994, p. 431). As Huberman and Miles (1994) describe here, the analytic induction process involved studying and restudying the data, questioning each in turn, individually and in light of the other cases.

In the process of another close reading of the data, I created matrixes synthesizing and discovering relationships among themes. In these matrixes, I first sorted the big themes, then organized subthemes and nodes around the appropriate themes. When this was complete I went back through the data aligning the participants according to cases where they expressed subthemes and nodes. Within the matrixes I also included exceptions and dichotomous data, which included opposing responses to thematic threads. This provided a more holistic view of findings, themes and subthemes by case.

Huberman and Miles (1994) call these data displays, as they are designed to display the data in a more “compressed, organized form” (p. 431). Appendix B contains the data display used for findings in chapter four. The categories from all of the original data include: Teacher Identity and Roles, Conceptions Regarding Culture, What Teachers

Need to Know about Students, and Beliefs and Knowledge. Since the research questions were focused on the participants’ conceptions of the relevance of culture to teaching and learning, the category of “Conceptions Regarding Culture” became the focal point. All of the other categories were reexamined to ensure that all relevant data were included. All data relevant to conceptions of culture were added to the data display matrixes.

Matrixes such as those in Appendix B provided a whole picture view of the data, and showed comparisons by case on each theme, subtheme, and node. According to

Huberman and Miles (1994) being able to view the full data this was is the benefit of creating matrixes such as this:

The “full” data set is at hand, albeit in a condensed mode, and can be interrogated…The analogue is to the output of statistical packages, which (a) permit analysis to be conducted in close

conjunction with the displayed data, (b) allow the analyst to see what further analyses are called for, (c) make for easy comparability across data sets, and (d) heighten credibility in the research report, where data displays normally accompany conclusions. (p. 432-422) This is precisely what this data display facilitated in my analyses. It provided a whole picture view of the data so that cases could be compared, contrasted and analyzed in relationship to one another.

From these matrixes, I began writing drafts of descriptions and interpretations of the findings, beginning with themes by case and developing subthemes and nodes.

Exceptions emerged as well, as a result of contrasting and comparing cases. When the final draft was completed, I once again studied the data, aligning appropriate data samples with the findings from the original transcripts. Based on the findings, I then made assertions and formed arguments. Chapter four will summarize and illustrate the findings and how they answer the research questions.

Chapter Four

Findings

This chapter explores the development of cultural competence across the cases, beginning with an examination of how participants described their conceptions of culture and how this developed. Next, the chapter will examine participants’ developing conceptions of how culture is relevant to knowledge, content, and learning, followed by an exploration of how participants conceptualized responsibilities of teachers as related to cultural competence and the importance of cultural experiences to the development of this conception across the cases. Finally, this chapter will examine the significance of scaffolded field experiences and clinical practice to the development of cultural competence across the cases.

To begin, it is important to note that the intention in this chapter is not to paint a monocultural background as negative nor as a deficit. On the contrary, the cultures of these participants have prepared them well for college and for life. In their culture, they have been raised to be intelligent, hard-working, compassionate, confident, and efficacious individuals. The important point to note is that, in preparing teachers who are culturally competent, there are specific needs that candidates from monocultural backgrounds bring. The findings and arguments in this chapter propose to identify those needs in order to better equip them as culturally competent teachers.

For each of the themes, subthemes and findings an example of the data support has been provided in the prose of this chapter. For further support for each of the findings, please see the data display matrix in Appendix B.

From Extrinsic, Superficial and Colorblind to Intrinsic, Personal and Relevant Conceptions of Culture

As participants progress through the program, they construct more sophisticated conceptions of culture. Participants described their conceptions of culture in three themes. The first theme tended to follow the pattern that underclassmen described culture in primarily extrinsic characteristics, whereas seniors focused primarily on intrinsic characteristics. The second theme occurred across the cases focusing on a conception that, for teachers, cultural relevance involves relating content to students based on rural and urban cultures. The third theme focused on the concept of colorblindness. Figure 4.1 summarizes the relationship of findings, themes and subthemes discussed in this section that support this assertion.

Finding: Conceptions of Culture Theme 1: Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Theme 2: Conceptions of Theme: Same v Different v Conceptions Urban/Rural Culture Colorblindness Culture means where you come Cultural difference = Rural Color blind; Same vs. Different; from; different countries, context; vs. Urban Melting pot backgrounds, surroundings; home life; life outside of school; pop culture Culture is ancestry; heritage; Rural vs. Urban Culture Everyone is different; difference is traditions; music; ethnicities, affects how and what positive; students should be valued races, religions; students learn for who they are Culture is beliefs, values; interest; Teachers should relate rules; expectations; priorities, content to students based goals and motivations on whether their culture is rural or urban Different languages; cultures interact differently; different ways of speaking Figure 4.1 Conceptions of culture

When participants described their conceptions of culture, all cases except for seniors focused primarily on extrinsic characteristics, such as surroundings, background, music, home life, community life, and socioeconomic status. Gregory’s (FR) description of his conception of culture was, “Culture is where you grow up – where you come from”

(Gregory, FR). He considered culture in terms of a person’s context which was echoed in many of the other participants’ conceptions of cultures, in varying levels of sophistication. A few participants in other cases at times included a few intrinsic characteristics, but primarily they conceptualized culture in extrinsic terms.

In addition to the extrinsic conception of culture, two juniors, Tina (JR) and

Graham (JR), primarily described their conception of culture in terms of pop culture.

Graham was particularly strong in conceptualizing culture this way:

The first thing I think about culture would be – this isn’t really for teaching – it would probably be more Hollywood. I mean, that’s maybe more of what’s ‘in’ per se, or what is Hollywood teaching us, or the latest fads or something like that. (Graham, JR) Graham (JR), having come from a particularly sheltered monoculture, expresses here what he realized was a superficial conception of culture that is unrelated to teaching and learning. However, having little experience with other cultures, it is his best understanding of how culture is relevant to his life.

Although seniors included extrinsic characteristics of culture in their conceptions, their primary focus was on intrinsic characteristics, such as race, religion, beliefs, values, ethnicities, languages, interests, knowledge, priorities, goals and motivations. Carly (SR) described her conception of culture this way:

When I hear the word culture, to me the first thing it brings up in my mind is ethnicities…It also encompasses language, and their interests and their beliefs. (Carly, SR) Compared to Gregory’s (FR) focus on culture as “where you grow up” and Graham’s

(JR) focus on pop culture, Carly’s (SR) conception of culture focused on very personal, intrinsic characteristics. Therefore, it is evident that early in the program participants viewed culture in terms of extrinsic characteristics, whereas participants later in the program, having had more experiences with people of other cultures, focused on a more intrinsic conception of culture.

A particularly strong conception of culture that occurred across the cases with nearly every participant was a contrast between rural and urban cultures. In the beginning of the program, this contrast was an essential element in participants’ conceptions of culture which, relatively early in the program, became key to their notion of how culture related to instruction. Gregory (FR) described his conception of culture in terms of urban vs. rural:

I come from a rural – another boy in my class could come from [large city]. Two totally different ideas; ways of life… (Gregory, FR) Gregory (FR) views his rural upbringing as contrasting sharply with someone who was raised in a large city, believing that urban and rural cultures mean “totally different ideas and ways of life”. Madeline (SO) related this same concept to how students learn:

If you’re in a rural or urban setting, that’s completely different context of what they’re used to seeing and doing and what they’ve grown up with. They have to learn certain skills that they don’t learn over here. (Madeline, SO)

These two examples show that, as a freshman, Gregory conceptualized rural and urban culture as shaping different perspectives on life while, as a sophomore, Madeline conceptualized the rural and urban difference as affecting how students learn. Later in the program, participants described this urban and rural distinction as important to instruction. For example, Sam (SR) described this as “teaching towards the kids’ cultures” and explained it this way:

When you give examples, if you’re in a farming community… you give examples of things to do with farming in math, for example, dealing with crops… they’re going to be a lot more likely to get into that than if you give something from the inner city, like you’re building buildings. (Sam, SR) Sam’s (SR) example is representative of many that were expressed by nearly all participants after the freshman year. These examples demonstrated that the distinction of urban and rural cultures are very important in how prospective teachers from monocultural backgrounds conceptualize cultural difference, and how this distinction develops throughout the program. This conceptualization develops from understanding how it impacts perspective (the example of Gregory, FR) to how it impacts learning (the example of Madeline, SO) and finally to how it impacts instruction (the example of Sam,

SR).

Another important theme that emerged was that of colorblindness. This theme was primarily found in the freshman case. Katherine (FR), the only participant who had not yet taken any education courses or field experiences, asserted a colorblind stance:

…when I look at a person the first time I always identify them as Asian, Black or whatever. But, after I get to know a person I don’t see a skin color anymore. (Katherine, FR)

At this point in her conception of culture, Katherine demonstrated an extrinsic view of culture, expressing that, while at first she acknowledges ethnicity, the idea of color disappears as she gets to the person. Gregory (FR), too, expressed a colorblind stance.

He described being taught in his upbringing that everyone is the same:

We’re all just human beings on this earth trying to make it, and that’s one thing I’ve learned at home is we are all the same. We’re all the same and nobody is better than anyone else. (Gregory, FR)

Having been taught that everyone is the same, Gregory’s conception implies that focusing on differences could lead to empowering some over others. However, participants in all of the other cases came from the perspective that everyone is different, and took the stance that differences should be considered positive in the classroom.

Shannon (JR), for example, having been raised by a stepfather who was “violently racially opposed to people” described her long process of conceptual change related to colorblindness and cultural differences:

Even though my mom consistently told us that everyone is the same, my stepdad was always telling us that everyone is different. In the past year and a half, through courses I’ve taken and through my family ideals being turned upside down, I learned that everyone is different… I think as a teacher it is important to acknowledge difference; to allow students to be who they are and not try to force them into a mold. I think it’s important to help your students progress to a point where they will be successful in society, wherever their society is… without losing the fundamental element of who they are. (Shannon, JR)

Whereas Gregory relied on what he had learned from his upbringing, Shannon’s

(JR) cultural experiences had helped her work through the conflicts in what she had been taught in her upbringing to develop her own conceptions of culture, based largely on what she had learned in her teacher education program as well as changes in her family.

Therefore, the data shows that early in the program participants were focused on what they had been taught, as in the case of Gregory (FR), while later in the program participants based their conceptions on what they had learned and experienced in their program, as in the case of Shannon (JR).

These findings lead to the first assertion: Prospective teachers in this study, being from monocultural backgrounds, began with conceptions of culture that focus on superficial and extrinsic characteristics when they were underclassmen and developed to conceptions of culture that focused on personal and intrinsic characteristics as they neared the end of their teacher education program. While their conception of culture developed, participants also began to change their conceptions of how culture is relevant to knowledge, content areas and learning, as seen in the second finding.

From Static, Neutral and Irrelevant to Dynamic, Value-Laden and Integral

As participants progressed through their teacher education programs they constructed more culturally relevant notions of knowledge, content and learning. Themes that explore this finding are participants’ conceptions of how culture is relevant to knowledge, how culture is relevant to content areas, and how culture is relevant to learning. Figure 4.2 demonstrates the relationships of these findings, themes and assertions.

Finding: Conceptions of Knowledge, Content and Learning Theme: How Culture is Theme: How Culture is Theme: How Culture is Relevant to Knowledge Relevant to Content Areas Relevant to Learning Knowledge is dynamic vs. static Relevance of culture to how Content standards are (S=static; D=dynamic) content is taught equalizers, but students may learn them in different ways Proven facts remain the same Relevance of cultures to Differences in cultural regardless of culture specific content areas perspective can impact learning Knowledge is used and valued Ignoring student’s culture differently in different cultures interferes with learning Teaching effectiveness depends on cultural competence Figure 4.2. Conceptions of knowledge, content and learning

First, in exploring how participants’ conceptions about the nature of knowledge developed, a contrast of static and dynamic conceptions of knowledge can be noted.

Participants across the cases expressed primarily a static view of knowledge, as in this example of Tina (JR) as she described her conception of knowledge in terms of proven facts:

When I think of knowledge I just think facts, like proven. There’s theories and everything that back them up. (Tina, JR) Tina’s conception of knowledge would be considered static because proven facts remain the same regardless of culture or other such factors. Audrey (SR), on the other hand, discussed knowledge from a perspective that is somewhat dynamic in nature:

I’ve seen other cultures value education or content areas in different ways or use them in different ways. (Audrey, SR) Audrey’s perspective can be considered dynamic, because she conceptualizes the way cultures use knowledge differently allowing for different perspectives and interpretations.

Another theme within this finding was how participants conceptualized the relevance of culture to different content areas. Two major subthemes emerged in this data, including the relevance of culture to content in general, and the relevance of culture to specific content areas: social studies, math, science and language arts. When focusing on teaching content in general, there was a great deal of conceptual development from freshman to the senior participants. Katherine (FR) expressed her conception of how culture is relevant to the way content is taught:

I think in some ways it might influence a little bit, but I don’t think it would totally change it. I think that the culture of our students would teach us to be a little bit subtle and not totally blunt about some things. (Katherine, FR) Katherine (FR) demonstrated the conception that the teacher needs to be culturally sensitive, but that it shouldn’t affect the way content is taught. The three senior participants, on the other hand, all expressed the notion that the way teachers teach content should be different based upon the cultures of the students they are teaching.

Audrey (SR) described her conception that content is always affected by culture:

If I was teaching it, and I had students who were from various cultures…I definitely think no matter what subject I was teaching I probably would teach it differently. When I was in [diverse clinical practice] I had a variety of students from different cultures. For me, the biggest part was … trying to engage all of them by putting something in the lesson that would relate to what they know and are used to. (Audrey, SR)

Audrey (SR) has developed the conception that no matter what the content, how a teacher teaches should vary based on the culture of the students he or she is teaching.

This is very different from the perspective that Katherine expressed that, although it might influence instruction, culture shouldn’t change the way a teacher teaches content.

The participants’ conceptions about the relevance of culture to particular content areas varied greatly depending on their concentrations. Nearly all of those with a social studies concentration expressed the belief that the connection of social studies to culture is obvious, and that culture is a big factor in the content of social studies. Shannon expressed this view demonstrating her passion for her content area:

Social studies, I believe is probably more self-evident. Understanding societies and cultures is the base of social studies. My own personal love of culture and historical relevance to the present and the future is why I love social studies. That’s where my heart is. I believe that culture can be celebrated and really understood through a good social studies classroom. (Shannon, JR)

In this response, Shannon cited her love of culture as her reason for choosing a concentration in social studies. This stance clearly influences her commitment to cultural relevance in her teaching practice. Participants with this concentration also expressed the belief that students will be more interested in social studies if the teacher considers their cultural perspective. Sam (SR) expressed the notion that you must teach social studies from students’ cultural perspectives:

If you were in an inner city African American culture, I think they’re going to be a lot more interested in history from an African American point of view…You should push more toward it if you had those type of students compared to if you had White kids that are from the country. You’d have to teach differently toward those students than you would inner city students. (Sam, SR)

Sam has developed the conception that the culture of the students does influence how social studies should be taught.

Giving another perspective on this theme, Tina (JR) raised the concern that some students may challenge content that ignores their cultural perspective:

You’re going to have those students that challenge it, because their culture will be different than what the curriculum is. Or you have those students who don’t feel the same way but aren’t going to say anything, then you’re going to have to get through to them, too. (Tina, JR)

Tina (JR) demonstrated an understanding that teachers, and even the curriculum, can exacerbate the cultural divide by neglecting to tailor instruction to the cultures of all the students in the class.

While students with social studies as a concentration were convinced of the relevance of culture to this content area, those who had concentrations in math and science did not conceptualize a significant connection to culture with these content areas, except for those in the senior case. Adam (SO), for example, said:

I’m not sure how it would really be relevant to math, because math is basically a set of rules that you follow and it’s a step by step thing. I don’t think there would be too many problems with that, except that now they want the curriculum to involve the students’ lives. (Adam, SO) In this example, Adam demonstrated an awareness that “they” expect teachers to make content culturally relevant, but that he doesn’t see it as necessary for math. The two seniors with math concentrations, however, did express the conception that culture is related to math as, in their conception, culture is relevant to all learning, and different

cultures may value and use math differently. Audrey, for example, shares Adam’s conception that math is “universal,” but still believes that culture is relevant because she believes knowledge is value-laden:

Math is nice, because it is very universal… the way those content areas are valued is different depending on where a student is from…. How they treat a content area, like how much they value it, would be something that would be different… That would be something I could think of with math is the way it is valued in other cultures. (Audrey, SR)

Both Adam (SO) and Audrey (SR) conceptualize math as “universal”, however, as a sophomore Adam (SO) does not yet conceptualize that culture is relevant to this content area while Audrey (SR), as a senior, does.

A similar theme occurred with science. Graham (JR), who had a science concentration, grappled with how culture could be relevant to this content area:

Science is a little harder than social studies to incorporate ... The only thing with science is more history based. Science information -- talk about where it came from -- obviously it didn’t all originate in America…But that would be more related to history, so that would be social studies anyway. So, you wouldn’t want to teach that in a science classroom. (Graham, JR) Graham (JR), though he tried to make a connection of culture to science kept finding himself back to the social studies connection. Tina (JR), however, described culture as relevant to science in terms of how scientific progress affects culture:

When I think of science and culture I think of research or advancements in science. People say that the future generations aren’t going to see a lot of inventions like the past has… I think we’ll see a lot of scientific advancement, like different cures and

different surgeries and different controversial legislative things, too, that keep coming up. (Tina, JR) Although Tina did see a relevance of culture to science, she did not yet express a conception that it is relevant to the cultures of students. Audrey, however, made this connection by relating culture to science based on values relevant to different cultures:

Would [culture be relevant to] science? Like with math, how they treat that content area, like how much they value it, would be something that would be different. (Audrey, SR)

In these examples it is apparent that Graham (JR) was unable to connect culture to science, while Tina (JR) was beginning to make a cultural connection. Audrey, as a senior, made the connection of the culture of students to science by relating it to how different cultures value science.

Across the cases those with language arts concentrations conceptualized the relevance of culture to this content area as giving students the opportunity to explore culture through literature. Shannon (JR), for example, expressed this conception:

I think literature opens up the whole world of other cultures and other things that maybe we’re not used to or we haven’t explored yet that we can explore just by reading a good book. (Shannon, JR)

While Shannon (JR) conceptualized literature as a means of exploring other cultures,

Adam (SO) conceptualized the cultural connection to literature a little differently.

Instead, his focus was on the conception that different cultures approach literature differently:

Language arts might have more of an effect with cultures due to each culture has its own unique types of stories: fables and myths

and such. It would be weird for other cultures to read American works, going from whatever works or cultures they came from… Their writing styles would affect how they see American literature, just like how Americans see their literature. At times it might be very confusing. A comment that we might have that would be very common, they might not understand it – that it’s just a literature technique and not really to take it for what it says. It may mean something else. (Adam, SO)

Adam’s (SO) conception was that culture is relevant to literature because different cultures have different writing styles and literary techniques, which could affect how students of various cultures interpret or understand literature. As a sophomore he demonstrates a highly culturally relevant conception of this content area.

Those with language arts concentrations also made a connection between English

Language Learners and language arts through the value of word study. Shannon (JR) expressed this conception:

Studying words and studying sentences and things like that can be very beneficial to students who are English Language Learners. I think that gives them opportunities to come to a knowledge and understanding of the background of the English language, and that all comes through language arts. (Shannon, JR)

Shannon’s (JR) example shows that she conceptualizes culture as relevant to language arts because it provides an opportunity to teach English Language Learners about English word and sentence structure. Another conception of the relevance of culture to language arts was expressed by Carly (SR), the only senior who had a language arts concentration.

She said that in student teaching and other field experiences she found journaling to be a good way to learn about students’ cultures.

You’re not going to be able to teach them until you know them. I’ve read through their journals... I’ve read through any papers they’ve written – because those are the things that I’m going to really [get to know them]…Even if you create assignments, use their interests, use their cultures. I’ve always tried to do that. (Carly, SR)

Carly’s (SR) conception of the relevance of culture to language arts was that she could use students’ writing products to learn about their cultures.

The conception that culture impacts how students learn was prevalent in all the cases. There was a difference, however in the way that freshman and sophomore cases conceptualized this connection in contrast to junior and senior cases. As a freshman,

Gregory (FR) focused on the importance of the Ohio Standards:

I believe it is different in a way, but with the Ohio Standards, you’re really all learning the same thing. It’s just that you might achieve that learning goal by another way. (Gregory, FR) Although Gregory saw some connection of culture to student learning, he conceptualized the Ohio Standards as bringing everyone to common ground. In junior and senior cases, however, a much stronger belief in the connection between culture and learning emerged: that a personal connection is necessary for students to understand, and that first-hand knowledge is best, which is affected by students’ cultures. The seniors also discussed their conceptions that culture can affect how students relate to the learning environment, to the teacher, to other students, and to particular assignments. Carly (SR) described her views about how culture is relevant to learning:

I think if that student is not totally comfortable in the classroom or not totally comfortable completing an activity because it goes

against some part of their culture…then that’s going to interfere with their learning… (Carly, SR) Carly’s (SR) conception was that culture not only influences learning, but, further, ignoring students’ cultures in the classroom can actually interfere with learning. Adam

(SO) also expressed the conception that culture affects students’ perspectives, and in turn can negatively impact learning:

How they’re raised is different than how I might see it. Their learning can be hindered because they have different beliefs and maybe they just can’t connect the pieces as how I see them. (Adam, SO) In Adam’s (SO) example, we see that he has developed the conception that a mismatch between home and school cultures could negatively impact learning. Shannon (JR) went a step further; asserting that, in order to be effective, teachers must tailor instruction to students’ cultures, so that learning is not hindered:

If I don’t understand their culture, and if I don’t understand how to teach to their culture, to their cultural norms and to their ideas, I will not be an effective teacher. I believe it is directly related. (Shannon, JR) Shannon’s (JR) example demonstrates that she has developed a conception that culture affects learning, but further, if one is to be an effective teacher, instruction must be tailored to fit the cultural norms and ideas of each student in the class.

Having recently completed her diverse clinical practice, as a senior, Audrey demonstrated the conception that it is possible for teachers to be just as effective with students of other cultures as with students with whom they share the same culture:

Bring your student’s culture and your culture together so that you’re able to work together -- so you understand each other. From there I think, if you do that, you will be effective in your instruction – as effective as you would be with students that didn’t have culture differences from you. (Audrey, SR) The importance of Audrey’s (SR) example is that she showed self-efficacy in her belief that she can be equally effective in instruction with students of other cultures as with students whose cultures match her own.

These findings lead to the second assertion: These prospective teachers begin the program with the conception that knowledge is static, that content is neutral and that culture is only minimally relevant to student learning, and develop the conception that knowledge is dynamic, that content is value-laden and that culture is integrally connected to learning. As participants progressed further in the program they developed greater conceptions of the relevance of culture to knowledge, to content areas, and to learning, which contributed to the development of cultural competence. The next finding related to how participants developed the conception of cultural competence as a teacher’s responsibility.

Cultural Competence as a Teacher’s Responsibility

As participants had more significant field experiences with students of other cultures their conceptions increased regarding cultural competence as a teacher’s responsibility. Participants’ beliefs about teacher responsibilities related to culture can be organized around four themes: Conceptions about how teaching is relevant to culture, about teachers’ responsibilities to individual students, about teachers’ responsibilities to

their classes, and about sociocultural consciousness. Figure 4.3 demonstrates the relationship of this finding to the themes and subthemes.

Finding: Teacher’s Responsibility Regarding Culture Theme: How Culture Theme: Teacher’s Theme: Teacher’s Theme: Sociocultural is Relevant to Responsibility to Responsibility to Conciousness Teaching Individual Students Their Classes How culture is relevant Teacher’s responsibility Teacher must help Power distribution to teaching is to mold teaching to students become according to culture; students’ cultures culturally competent inequitable access to education How teachers can Importance of Teacher should give Teacher as agent of change practice cultural demonstrating cultural students authentic relevance sensitivity cultural experiences How culturally relevant practices benefit students Figure 4.3. Teacher’s responsibility regarding culture

Findings in this section demonstrate that participants developed the conception that culture is relevant to teaching as they progressed through the teacher education program.

Three subthemes emerged in this data: How culture is relevant to teaching, how teachers can practice cultural relevance, and how culturally relevant practices benefit students.

The further they had progressed in the program, the higher the percentage of participants in each case who expressed the belief that teachers have a responsibility to make content culturally relevant to students . No freshmen expressed this conception, only one sophomore, two juniors and all three seniors. The seniors believed that culturally relevant teaching was necessary in order to be effective, as expressed by Carly (SR):

I see culture as being relevant to teaching because you have to understand a student’s culture in order to be able to teach them, or gain their interest, or develop a rapport with them. If you’re not understanding why a student is doing things, or why they react to you in a certain way, then you’re not going to be able to effectively teach them. (Carly, SR)

Carly (SR) expressed the conception that culture is relevant to teaching in a number of different ways, and that cultural relevance is integral to effective teaching. Many of the participants who expressed this conception believed that culturally relevant instruction involves “weaving culture into everything they teach,” relating new ideas to students’ cultures and background knowledge, and engaging students through their interests.

Audrey (SR) who also expressed this conception learned the importance of culturally relevant instruction during her diverse clinical practice:

A big thing is relating your lessons to your students and their cultures. When you have a variety of different cultures in the classroom that can be tough…. I really had to adapt my lessons to my students and what they were interested in. When I did it made a big difference. (Audrey, SR) Through her own experience of student teaching in a diverse classroom during this particular segment of her clinical practice Audrey learned that culturally relevant instruction “made a big difference” in her teaching effectiveness.

A prevalent conception within this theme that spanned across the cases was the conception that cultural relevance to learning is largely accomplished through adjusting pedagogy to examples that are relevant to urban or rural cultures, with rural students relating to examples involving farming, and urban students relating more to examples involving industry and entertainment. Tina’s (JR) conception is representative of this theme:

The kids in [rural school] are more interested in the settlements and the farming and the Indians, while the city kids might be more like development and industry. (Tina, JR)

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This notion that Tina (JR) expressed was a very pervasive conception: that culturally relevant instruction is primarily the act of relating content to students through examples that are relevant either to rural or urban cultures, depending on the rural or urban context of the school and students. Junior and senior participants’ conceptions of culturally relevant pedagogy were not limited to this notion, however. They expressed firmly held conceptions that culturally relevant practices are essential to effective teaching. Shannon

(JR) and the two female seniors, Audrey (SR) and Carly (SR), even asserted that culturally inappropriate practices hinder students’ learning. Shannon (JR) described a field experience where she made an observation that lead her to this conception:

In this classroom the teacher was not sensitive to the needs of students who came from the Hispanic culture. The Hispanic students preferred working in groups and there were Somalian students who preferred working independently. This teacher was constantly trying to group the Somalian students with the Hispanic students and they did not want to work together! I, as an outsider was observing and understanding that this student was consistently saying, ‘No, I do not want to work with them!’ and yet he’s put with them anyway. And this I believed was hindering their progress, because they, instead of working together, or even independently, there was tension there. (Shannon, JR) Even though Shannon viewed this placement negatively, she was able to conceptualize the importance of cultural competence. Through this recent field experience she witnessed the negative impact on student learning that happens when a teacher ignores the cultures of the students.

In looking at the data across the cases, it is evident that, at the beginning of the program, freshmen and sophomore participants focused on teaching with fairness so that

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everyone has an equal opportunity to learn. In the earlier quote from Katherine this conception was evident:

I think in some ways [culture] might influence [teaching] a little bit, but I don’t think it would totally change it. I think you just need, as a teacher you would just need to learn things…I think that the culture of our students would teach us to be a little bit subtle and not totally blunt about some things. (Katherine, FR) Not having studied the relevance of culture to teaching and learning, nor had field experiences yet, Katherine’s (FR) conception is simply that teachers need to be careful not to offend students based on culture. Gregory (FR) also expressed this conception:

I intend to teach with fairness. I’m not going to be racist by any stretch of the imagination. I’m not going to be sexist. I just want to be fair to all the students and I want everyone to have an equal opportunity to learn… and have an equal chance to succeed. (Gregory, FR) Gregory’s sense of fairness included not being racist or sexist and providing equal opportunities to learn and succeed. As a freshman, this is an important step toward developing cultural competence. Shannon (JR) and the seniors expressed a more developed conception of cultural competence: that culturally inappropriate teaching practices actually impede student learning.

All sophomores, one junior (Shannon, JR) and all seniors said that knowing students’ cultures will help teachers to teach them better. Adam (SO) expressed this conception:

Culture seems to play a pretty big role within teaching because knowing how students learn in their own homes and their own culture, because whether you’re aware of it or not children pick up on the tendencies of their culture… Seeing how students are raised

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within their cultures would help you be able to teach them better. (Adam, SO) Adam expressed the conception that understanding students’ cultures improves teacher effectiveness. Audrey (SR), who also expressed the notion that teaching effectiveness relies on understanding students’ cultures, discussed how this conception developed over the course of her program, from a focus on content to a focus on how students learning is based on cultural and other differences:

Diversity does affect teaching and learning. I think going in [as a freshman] I really didn’t know that. When I first came in my main focus was on the content. I think throughout the program here I really learned that diversity in your students’ culture and differences does play a big role in their education and how you teach them and how they learn. (Audrey, SR) Audrey, through her program, has experienced conceptual change from first focusing on content to developing the conception that students’ cultures affect how they learn, and therefore must affect how teachers teach. Carly (SR) also described her conception of how knowing a student’s culture will help you teach him or her better, and extended the benefits to the rest of the class learning from other students’ cultures:

I think being responsive to what they have to share with the class about their culture… being sensitive to their cultures. What can they bring to the classroom to share that has to do with what we’re talking about, and what can we learn from them and what can they learn from us? (Carly, SR) Carly’s (SR) conception includes not only what being sensitive to students’ cultures, but also giving students of minority cultures to share their cultures with the rest of the class so that learning and understanding goes both ways. The conception that Carly (SR) expressed here, that teachers should allow students to teach about their cultures to the rest

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of the class, was expressed by the females across the cases. A similar theme that was across the cases, particularly among participants with a social studies concentration, was that it is a teacher’s cultural responsibility to teach from multiple perspectives. Madeline

(SO) expressed these two notions together:

Getting to know your students makes the curriculum so much richer... As you go along, pull in students’ stories. It’s important to always be complete. Don’t just be Eurocentric, because that’s not the whole story... Never focus on what is just local to us – what we’ve learned. Get all sides. Get stories from over there and make sure you’re giving each section the same time and the same interest – the same work and not just focusing on what is relevant to my background or relevant to most of the students’ backgrounds. (Madeline, SO ) Madeline’s (SO) conception was that having students of different cultures gives teachers the opportunity to give richer multiple perspectives, while allowing students of minority cultures to share about their cultures with the rest of the class.

Participants also focused on a theme about teachers’ responsibilities to individual students’ cultures and their relationships with individual students. In this theme all seniors and one junior (Shannon, JR) expressed the belief that it is the teacher’s responsibility to understand each student’s cultural differences and to mold his/her teaching to students’ cultures.

When it comes to culture, I believe that our responsibility is specifically to learn about each student’s cultural background and identity and to mold our educational practices to that student individually. (Shannon, JR) In this example, Shannon (JR) expressed the conception that teachers have the responsibility of culturally relevant practices with individual students. In addition to

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Shannon (JR), all three seniors expressed this conception and also that it is impossible to teach students effectively unless you understand their cultures. Shannon (JR) says:

As far as learning goes, I believe if we don’t understand – if our teacher is not sensitive to our culture, in the very beginning we won’t have a desire to learn from that person who is not sensitive to our cultural beliefs and practices… They are linked together and inseparable because learning comes from knowing the teacher understands you, and that’s what makes us willing to move beyond the comfort zone... (Shannon, JR) This conception expressed by Shannon (JR) is consistent with the development of cultural competence, as she conceptualizes the link between culturally relevant teaching practices with students’ willingness to take risks as an essential element to student learning.

Across the cases, another conception related to teachers’ responsibilities to individual students participants expressed was the importance of demonstrating cultural sensitivity so as not to offend people of other cultures. This was the primary focus in the freshman, sophomore and junior cases of teachers’ responsibilities to individual students.

However, the seniors, and one junior (Shannon, JR), expressed the belief that teachers should not only understand students’ cultures, but respect them, and not only the student, but their families and communities. Carly (SR) expressed this conception:

I intend to teach with my students in mind and with their cultures in mind and with respect – respect toward those cultures, and with respect towards their families as well, because it’s a community thing. School is really based on the community. (Carly, SR) Carly’s conception, which represents those of the seniors and Shannon (JR), shows development beyond the general conception that teachers must take care not to offend

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students of minority cultures, expressing a conception that it is teachers’ responsibility to respect and connect with students, their families, and their communities.

In addition to their conceptions about teachers’ cultural responsibilities to individual students, participants also expressed conceptions about teachers’ responsibilities to their classes. Juniors and seniors said that it Is important that teachers build students’ cultural sensitivity, guiding their classes to not make cultural stereotypes or wrong judgments, and not allowing students to hold deficit views of other cultures.

These students emphasized that children are curious about differences and that teachers should encourage them to explore and find answers in appropriate ways. Audrey (SR) expressed her conceptions that teachers are responsible for teaching cultural sensitivity to their classes:

Knowing your student’s culture and making sure they know yours and even doing stuff in your classroom where your students can learn about other cultures, not just the students in your classroom, because you never know who they’ll meet in life. Cultural sensitivity in general -- awareness of other cultures in general -- will help them learn how to interact with people in the future. (Audrey, SR) Audrey’s conception is that, by practicing cultural competence teachers equip their students to be culturally competent citizens. This demonstrates that Audrey has indeed developed beyond her previous notion of content focused conceptions of teaching and has developed the culturally relevant notion that teachers are responsible for preparing students as good citizens.

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Several participants described experiences from their teacher education courses that helped them develop conceptions similar to what Audrey describes above. Amanda (SO) shared an anecdote that one of her professors shared about an experience she had while supervising a student teacher.

Dr. Powell told us she was watching a student teacher and a child said that Indians eat people. The student teacher didn’t know what to do because that’s not correct! So, they had someone come in who had a very strong Native American heritage and they let the child ask, “Do you eat people?” That cleared up any confusion. I think that’s a good way, because kids have a lot of questions and a lot of times their misconceptions come from confusion and trying to make sense of what they’ve heard or what they’ve seen. So, just try to find different ways to clear that up and give them the facts. (Amanda, SO)

Through this experience that her professor shared, Amanda (SO) learned that teachers are responsible for providing experiences for their students to help them sort out facts from myths and dispel stereotypes about people of other cultures.

Tina (JR) also addressed this conception of students’ curiosity about differences and the teacher’s responsibility to the class. She recounted her experience in an education class where a question was raised regarding racially inappropriate language:

In one of our education classes here they were asking, if you had Black students in your classroom if they wanted to call each other the N word, would that be okay? And then, is that opening up the gates to the White people to say that? So [after class], I asked one of my friends who is African American. I said, “Would you say that?” He said no, he wouldn’t say it in front of the class. He said that no matter what color you are… you don’t let anyone say it. In a class of all White students they were saying, “Yeah, sometimes you can let them say it. Sometimes you can’t.” If I had a class of

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White students and they had asked that I would say, “Think about how they would feel… about how you would feel.” So, I guess it’s being open – being tolerant of questions, but knowing the line and not crossing it. (Tina, JR)

Both of these prospective teachers were presented in the university classroom with scenarios of cultural stereotyping and misconceptions. Amanda (SO) learned to give her students authentic cultural opportunities to dispel myths and learn the facts. Tina (JR) also determined from her experience that it is important to find out the facts first-hand and, while curiosity opens opportunities for learning, there is a line that teachers must know, and not cross, nor let their students cross.

In addition to teachers’ responsibilities to individual students and to their classes regarding culture, participants also addressed their conceptions of teachers’ responsibilities to demonstrate sociocultural consciousness. Half of the participants across the cases expressed their conceptions of how power is distributed based on culture, and specifically when it comes to education. Katherine (FR), said, “I can’t say it would be totally different, but I can’t say it’s totally the same either,” expressing a conception that power is not necessarily an influence in the education of students from minority cultures. However, one sophomore (Amanda, SO), one junior (Shannon, JR), and all the seniors described conceptions that power is distributed differently in our society, particularly in schools, based on culture, and that it impacts the way students are educated. In describing her conceptions of how this affects students of minority cultures in their education, Audrey (SR) said:

There would be a difference in their education no matter where they are. Even if they are in a very good school district I think their

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education will be somewhat different than a student that’s in the mainstream culture. (Audrey, SR) Audrey’s belief that the distribution of power between the dominant culture and minority cultures affects the education of students of minority cultures regardless of where they go to school is an important conception to developing cultural competence. All participants who expressed this conception asserted that it would impact how they would teach.

Another conception related to sociocultural consciousness, the role of teachers as an agents of change, emerged only among a few of the female participants: Madeline (SO),

Shannon (JR) and the two seniors, Audrey (SR) and Carly (SR). In this theme these participants conceptualize their role as teachers as improving the system and to making education more equitable for future generations. Their motivations were different for wanting to change the system, however. Carly’s motivation was to teach children to respect one another as inspired by this experience from her youth:

When I was in fifth grade I can remember, on the bus, kids would always pick on the same kid. I never participated but I never said anything. Then one day I was thinking about it… I was putting myself in this kids shoes – ‘Every day this kid comes to school and he’s tortured on this bus.’ That really opened my eyes to the change I could make in other people’s lives if I was a teacher. Maybe I could teach other kids to respect one another... (Carly, SR)

Carly’s (SR) conception of her teaching role as an agent of change goes back to her childhood and her earliest thoughts about becoming a teacher. She described how that conception has developed further and that now she realizes how much more complex, but

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even more important it is to be an agent of change in the system to teach respect to students.

These findings lead to the third assertion: Prospective teachers in this study increased in their conception that cultural competence is a teacher’s responsibility as they participated in classroom experiences with students from cultures that differed from their own. As participants progressed through the program, they developed the conception that, in order to be effective, teachers must be culturally competent. The next finding examines what experiences are significant to the development of cultural competence.

The Importance of Scaffolded Field Experience to Cultural Competence

All participants described conceptual change in their views of culture based on their experiences. Three themes were significant to this finding: How participants described their prior cultural conceptions and experiences, how their cultural competence is developing, and experiences that impacted conceptual development. Figure 4.4 demonstrates the relationship of this finding to themes and subthemes.

Finding: Importance of Experience to Cultural Competence Theme: Prior Conceptions Theme: How Cultural Theme: Experiences that and Experiences Competence is Developing Impacted Conceptual Change Minimal experience with other View their cultural competence Field experiences cultures prior to college as still developing Close match between home, Role of worldview in cultural Specific professors community and school competence Epiphany that there are many Beginning to recognize position Peers from other cultures ways of experiencing life of privilege Experience of culture shock Cross-cultural experiences Views of socioeconomic class Figure 4.4 Importance of experience to cultural competence

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Nearly all participants across the cases described their cultural experiences prior to college as minimal and culturally singular, with a close match between their homes, their communities and their schools. This is how Audrey (SR) described her culture:

The community that I grew up in, most of the students grew up in similar cultures, so it made it easy going to school, having classmates that relate to the principles that I was raised by. Even the type of foods, how we talked, how we communicated, that was all very similar. So it made it easy for me going to school, because I could relate to a lot of my classmates and my teachers. The way things were run, how people interacted with each other was very similar. For me, it was kind of easy, because I really didn’t have to adapt to a different culture or a different way of life. (Audrey, SR)

Audrey’s description of her cultural identity is representative of nearly all of the participants across the cases. Only one exception among the participants, Carly (SR), described her background as diverse:

Most of my beliefs came from my life experiences, because I grew up in a diverse area, and from my parents, too. My parents were always accepting of other cultures. (Carly, SR)

Because her culture differed from the other participants, as well as most of the other students at the university she attended, Carly’s development of cultural competence differed to some degree, as well. However, her conceptions of rural culture developed through her program, and she considered her cultural competence as “still developing.”

Two participants, Lana (FR) and Graham (JR) , describe conceptual change that came with a recent epiphany that their cultural experiences were not universal. Lana experience conceptual change about culture as a result of her first field experience:

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I think growing up in small towns you assume that everybody does things the way you do, so it’s neat to listen to the different ways that that’s not really true….In my field experience I learned more about being open and things like that…I was kind of aware that I needed to be, but once I started to see there’s more to this world than just what I grew up with, that’s when I started to change my perspectives on that. (Lana, FR) Lana’s first field experience invoked the surprising realization that other people experienced life very differently than she did, and that there was far more cultural variation in the world than she realized. Graham (JR) experienced a similar epiphany through his university classes and field experiences:

Just coming from a small rural school of 60-some students in my class… thinking about – okay, this is culture – the school I went to, obviously this is what culture is like. But then, going to this school I realized I have no idea what culture is at all. I don’t know the differences students are facing in the school system because I’ve been hindered and sheltered from all that my whole life. And, I mean, everything just changed for me. What created the change was just being out in the fields and the professors here making us aware of all the different things that are going around in the schools that I had absolutely no idea. (Graham, JR) Graham’s description of this epiphany was dramatic, as he realized that his pre-college experience was very different than what most students experience, and that there are many issues that students face of which he was completely unaware before he began his teacher education program.

Like Lana (FR) and Graham (JR), participants in all cases described varying levels of culture shock that resulted from confusion when encountering a different worldview or cultural perspective. For Madeline this occurred when she transferred from a private suburban high school to a rural public high school:

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When I switched from a small private school in the suburbs to a rural public high school it was really different... they had different interests and they had some different rules, different standards because of the area they were in…Also, being cultural, I had to get used to the way they talk at a public school... I really do think that about the first three or four days I had a culture shock of sorts. (Madeline, SO) Madeline’s culture shock helped her to understand how different cultures, even in close proximity, could have a big effect on students and how they were able to perform in the school setting. For Lana (FR), culture shock occurred when she attended a sleepover at a friend’s house:

I have a friend, and from what I understand, she’s Vietnamese and her family practices religions from that area… We had a sleepover at her house a couple years ago and they had different foods out for prayer and different statues in their house so that was really different for me…to have someone completely different from me. It was like, what are you supposed to do with that? (Lana, FR) Lana describes confusion in trying to conceptualize how another culture practices religion. Processing this was difficult for her, but was important to her developing awareness of the need for cultural competence.

Class played a particularly important role in how these participants conceptualized their own cultures. Except for two of the three freshmen, who did not mention class, all participants described themselves as middle class, Lana (FR), the only freshman who mentioned class, described her cultural identity in a way that was representative of the other classes, as well:

As far as me personally, my culture, I grew up in a middle class home. I’m an only child and our family has kind of lived the American dream, if you will. I mean, we’re not extremely well-to-

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do, but we don’t have poverty. Everyone around us was pretty much in the same boat. We’re all from middle class families and I think that’s all I’ve been exposed to. In my high school we’re all pretty much the same. (Lana, FR)

Lana’s description of her place in middle class culture represents well the general perspective among the participants of their own culture. Not only did she conceptualize herself this way, but she conceptualized everyone around her was much the same. She, and the majority of the participants across the cases, described college as the first time they considered the concept of diversity. In fact, most participants across the cases credited their college experience as having the most significant impact on the development of their conception of culture. Even Carly (SR), though she described her experience prior to college as diverse, described an experience of culture shock when she began college at a very rural university after growing up in a suburb of a large city:

I was always surrounded by diversity, so I never thought about it because it was just part of my life. It wasn’t until I came to college that I really started thinking about diversity… To me these people were all into horses and they had a veterinary program and that was the reason I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, what am I doing here?’ But that was their culture. They were a farming culture. So that really affected my view that there were so many more interests out there besides what I always saw in my corner of the universe growing up in a suburb of [large city]. (Carly, SR) Carly is describing her realization that, even though she grew up in a diverse culture, she hadn’t really begun to conceptualize the idea of culture until she began college in a rural university that was culturally very different from what she had ever known.

At least one participant in each case considered his/her conception of culture to still be developing, including Carly (SR). When asked how she developed her conceptions of

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culture she responded, “ I’m still learning, by working with kids in the classroom. It’s ongoing” (Carly, SR). Madeline also described her conception of culture as still in progress. She said, “It is different, but I don’t have the full picture yet, so I think I’m still working through that” (Madeline, SO). In recognizing that their conception of culture is still developing, these participants keep themselves open to further development of cultural competence.

Another area of conceptual development participants discussed was that of worldview. Madeline (SO) and Tina (JR), both of whom have social studies concentrations, say that they are developing a larger worldview through their college experience. Madeline (SO) described coming to college as the biggest effect on developing a larger worldview:

Coming here was the biggest because we learn about other cultures. Even some of the general education courses, it seems they are really pushing us to understand not just us, but the big picture – big worldview type ideas. I think that gives me more interest in other cultures – other people. (Madeline, SO) According to Madeline (SO) in this quote, general education courses are helping her develop a larger worldview, which is contributing to her developing cultural competence.

Another important characteristic of culturally competent teachers is a recognition of their position in the dominant culture. Only the seniors, and Lana (FR), had begun to recognize their position of power and privilege inherent to their membership in the dominant culture. Carly discussed how she conceptualizes this position:

I’ve always seen myself in this country as being in the mainstream society. My family is very all-White, middle-class…I’ve always

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seen myself as a Christian when I was younger, and that’s part of my culture…In school, as far as my culture went, I never felt like I had any problems or it got in the way of anything, because I was the majority. (Carly, SR) According to Carly’s description, she has recognized her position in the majority culture for much of her life, which lead to the conception that her position in the dominant culture aided in her success, since culture never “got in the way of anything” (Carly, SR).

Sam, also, was beginning to conceptualize the privilege of being a White middle-class male. He related this understanding to the focus of textbooks:

Even our textbooks are geared toward people like myself – like White males…middle class people. They don’t really see much diversity in textbooks. (Sam, SR) Sam realized that textbooks are geared toward people like him. He realized that students of minority cultures do not often see people like themselves in textbooks. What he recognized in textbooks was representative of the power distribution in our culture and in our schools.

As participants conceptualized their development of cultural competence, they credited primarily of three types of experiences as making the greatest impact on their conceptual development of cultural competence and its relevance to teaching and learning: Field experiences, specific professors, experiences with peers from other cultures, and cross-cultural experiences. A deeper exploration of these subthemes follows.

Participants in all cases cited field experiences as changing their conceptions of culture. One such awareness that developed across the cases was that rural field

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experiences offer valuable cultural lessons. Madeline (SO) and Audrey (SR) asserted that they learned through rural field experiences that geographically close places can be very different culturally. Madeline described her experience, realizing that even rural schools within the same geographical area can differ culturally:

Coming from the suburban setting that I was in a private school and coming up here to a rural high school is a cultural difference. I never thought of that within the context of the school or just being a half hour apart so many differences. So culture is really relative to the position even that close together—it’s an individual spot that’s different from anywhere around it ...I did the course Teacher Academy in high school senior year and that was huge. We were sent outside of our district sometimes so we got other experiences and other cultures, because you know close by can still be worlds apart. (Madeline, SO) Madeline’s (SO) conception that “close by can still be worlds apart” is an important development in cultural competence, realizing that teachers need to also be aware of subtle differences in microculture that can affect student learning. Students who have grown up in a rural, monocultural setting are likely to more easily detect these subtle differences, since they are more alert to how another rural culture differs from their own.

Specific students and cooperating teachers were important to the conceptual development of participants across the cases as, for example, with Gregory (FR). He experienced conceptual development between his first and second interviews. As a freshman, Gregory (FR) had only one field experience, which significantly affected his views of colorblindness. While in his first interview he took the position that everyone is the same, in his second interview he asserted that everyone is different. He described being taught in his upbringing that we are all the same:

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In the second interview, however, he took the stance that everyone is different, specifically in reference to culture:

… when you’re talking about that subject I think that you have to have an open mind to accept and learn to accept them….They’re just different... everyone’s going to be different. Just accept the way they are. (Gregory, FR)

He attributed this conceptual change to a student he worked with in his only field experience thus far, and to the cooperating teacher’s guidance in working with the student. He said that the cooperating teacher helped him realize that this student could learn, but that he needed a different instructional approach.

When discussing how their field placements influenced their developing cultural competence, each of the seniors attributed the most significant experience to a student from their diverse clinical practice, which will be discussed further in the final section of this chapter. However, as with Gregory above, participants in all other cases (freshman, sophomore and junior), described a cooperating teacher who influenced his/her developing awareness of culture as it relates to teaching. For Shannon, it was a contrast in two cooperating teachers with whom she had recently worked:

I’ve been in two different classrooms over the last few months. In the first classroom there was a lot of cultural diversity with a teacher who did not believe cultural diversity had anything to do with learning and so she required the same thing of everyone. I saw students who were struggling and I think that just a little understanding on her part would have made their lives much easier. I tried to talk to her and she told me all that stuff was a

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myth. But I am in a classroom right now in [medium-sized city] where the teacher… celebrates each person, who they are, and she gives them opportunities to choose different activities and different books, and different subjects to look into and to learn about… Everyone’s happy in her classroom and I believe that it’s because she understands that each person is different and that each person needs something different and she works overtime to enable them to succeed in their own sphere. (Shannon, JR) Shannon (JR) described a contrast in her observations of these two cooperating teachers, which heightened her conceptual development of teaching practices that are culturally relevant and that make a tremendous differences in student learning.

In addition to cooperating teachers, junior and senior participants, plus Amanda

(SO) described professors who influenced their developing conceptions of culture. They reported that, more than the actual course, it was the professor’s attitudes and dispositions, and their willingness to connect with students on a personal level, which influenced their conceptual development. Amanda (SO) expressed this conception:

It’s not about specific classes that necessarily stand out… It’s not the class, it would be the professor… The first one to come to mind outside of the education program was Professor Berry. He was my Research Writing professor. He wanted to know what I was thinking about outside of my paper in order to be able to connect talking with me to what the paper was about. (Amanda, SO) To Amanda, more than content that Professor Berry taught, it was the fact that he tied instruction to what was happening in her life that modeled to her how to be culturally relevant in her teaching practice. Similarly, Shannon (JR) attributes the most important quality to courses that developed her cultural competence outside of the education program to the professor more than to the content:

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Basically, every professor in each of the courses I talked about had themselves an open mind and accepting heart to cultural differences and accepting the diversity. The first professor I had, like I said, was very open to students who were challenging his ideas… So I think that helped, and also just the fact that the professor was willing to tell us stories about his previous life in South America and connect with us on a personal level. (Shannon, JR) Shannon (JR) also found that what professors modeled in their teaching practice affected her development of cultural competence more than actual content that they taught.

Participants expressed the conception that experience and exposure to other cultures were most important to developing cultural competence. Participants in all cases describe personal experiences with people of another cultures who changed their conceptualizations of culture. These experiences varied in nature, but had the common element of being direct and personal, and in most cases one to one. Carly (SR), who described her background as very diverse, experienced significant conceptual development as a result of working as a conversation partner her freshman year with a student from another university:

I went to [larger university] my freshman year and they have a huge international student population. I had to take a diversity course and for my diversity course we had conversation partners. They assigned us just one of the other students. I got assigned to [a male] from Saudi Arabia. I had to talk with him once a week for two months. We would meet in the [campus snack bar]. I was so nervous because I [didn’t] know what I [was] going to talk to him about… I was just so afraid and one of the things I was most afraid of was that he was Muslim and I was a Christian. I was like, if he brings up religion I don’t know what I’m going to say to him. But he was actually really open to it and I learned so much from him. There were so many stereotypes I had about the Middle East. (Carly, SR)

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For Carly, this experience with a college peer who was so different from her changed her conception of people of other cultures. It helped to alleviate her fears of people who were culturally different from her and dispelled her stereotypes. She views this as a significant learning experience in her developing conceptions of cultural competence. Like Carly, many participants across the cases had experiences with college peers of other cultures who significantly contributed to their conceptually developing cultural competence. For

Sam, the experiences he had playing soccer with teammates from many different cultures greatly influenced the development of his conceptions of culture:

I’ve had a lot of interactions with kids from different cultures. It’s fun. It’s hard to deal with at times. I’ll relate it to soccer. Their style of play is different than ours. They’ll take falls when Americans will try to stay strong and stay up…It’s fun. It adds to the team. It adds to the camaraderie… And it goes that way in the classroom, too. They do school different than us. (Sam, SR) Sam related the cultural differences in how his teammates played soccer to the classroom, realizing that, in the same way that culture influences how people play soccer, it also influences how they do school.

Participants who had extended cross cultural experiences, particularly where they lived in and experienced another culture, reported significant conceptual development related to culture. However, even a short-term experience influenced participants’ conceptions of culture, as Tina (JR) describes:

Last spring break when we went to Belize, there was a little girl and we were digging trenches to lay the fiber optics for the computers. There was a little girl [who] was helping me. I had long jeans on because of the bugs and it was so hot... I asked for scissors and just cut the bottoms off. They were just around my

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ankles so the bugs wouldn’t bite me and they were getting dirty and ripping. She goes to her mom and whispers, ‘Why would she cut her jeans? When we get jeans we just like to wear them! We don’t cut them!’ … I was like, ‘Well it’s just a pair of jeans! I can go back and get another pair!’ I mean I threw them away when I was done with that, because to me it was just an old pair of jeans. But to her, those were long pants – why would you destroy them? So, it showed me their culture was more like, if you spend money and you have something, you treasure that. And to us it’s like, ‘Oh I’ll just go down to the store and buy a new one. (Tina, JR) This experience taught Tina how differently cultures can view material things, and that what to her was a small, insignificant act, had a big effect on the child from another culture who viewed material things very differently.

The cultural experience that had the biggest impact for Madeline, wasn’t a trip to another country, but instead was working with teens of minority cultures in an urban area with her family:

My family did a program where we were in the inner city for a year and a half and we had some interactions with some students down there…They were thinking of so many different things other than school…You can learn about it in courses, but you don’t really see it until…you’re there and talk to people. I think the best thing that helped me with that was working in the inner city…I think that was the biggest culture experience that influenced my beliefs about culture, because I saw all the differences that were there that I wasn’t used to and I noticed how sheltered I had been when it comes to those things. (Madeline, SO) Madeline (SO) made the most important development in her conceptions of culture up to the time of our interview from this experience because it gave her a context to relate to the learning she was doing in her program. She had real people that she could relate to her developing conceptions and a real context for understanding the issues that were being taught in her classes. One third of the participants across the cases described

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experiences outside of their teacher education program that had a significant impact on the development of their cultural competence. Like Madeline, these experiences gave important personal experience for participants to contextualize their developing conceptions of cultural competence.

As mentioned earlier, clearly the most dramatic development of cultural competence was seen in the seniors, who all attributed the most significant impact on their conceptions of culture to a diverse clinical practice experience. All three seniors described particular students with whom they had worked who had dramatically impacted their development of cultural competence. Audrey (SR) in her diverse clinical practice, while working with a girl who had only lived in the U.S. for only seven months, developed an awareness that culture impacted students more than she had previously realized:

…I can think of where her success might be hindered because of her language difference, and also that same girl – she got teased by a lot of the students because she did things differently. And in her culture they interacted with people in a different way, and so a lot of the students teased her and she was an outcast. So that, in and of itself, just being a social outcast can really affect students when fitting in is a big part of their life… If they don’t fit in their education is going to be hindered. (Audrey, SR) Audrey discussed this student at length in both interviews as one who had a very significant impact on her developing conception of cultural competence. It was clear that her work with this student developed her conceptions of and skills in culturally relevant teaching practices. Carly (SR), who came from a culturally diverse upbringing described

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a dramatic growth in her cultural competence that occurred with a particular student in her diverse clinical practice:

I had a student in my last seven weeks and he came from a really rocky home and he was autistic ...At first I didn’t know how to interact with him… But by the end of the experience -- I mean he was an African American, he was a male… there’s all these things I have to try to associate with, he’s autistic -- but it changed my perspective on things by the end because I really learned how to interact with him. He loved me by the end – I loved him by the end. I think part of his thing was he needed to feel success. (Carly, SR) As in the previous example with Audrey (SR,) it was clear that working with this particular student significantly developed Carly’s cultural competence.

In this diverse field experience, which was a component of their clinical practice, seniors had an opportunity to apply what they had learned throughout their program to their own teaching practice. This diversity placement in their clinical practice was a crucial element of their teacher education program in developing cultural competence.

These findings lead to the fourth assertion: Because the prospective teachers in this study have come from sheltered, monocultural backgrounds, they required a number of significant cultural experiences which intentionally build upon one another to develop their cultural competence.

Conclusion: Answering the Research Questions

This chapter concludes with an exploration of how these findings answer the research questions.

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My first research question: How do prospective teachers at each level of an initial licensure teacher education program, based on class standing, describe their understandings and beliefs regarding the relevance of culture to teaching and learning?

Although the data shows significant differences in the way prospective teachers conceptualize culture at varying levels, it is not so tidy as to merely define distinct themes in terms of class standing. There are many factors that influenced their conceptions, including their prior experiences with other cultures as the most significant factor.

Another important factor is the extent to which they practiced a reflective disposition.

Depending on prior experiences, a freshman could at times express what is otherwise a senior level conception, or a junior could express what would otherwise appear to be a freshman level conception. However, themes can be loosely identified by case. At the freshman level participants did not express strong conceptions of the relevance of culture to teaching and learning. Their conceptions focused primarily on learning styles as, among other factors, being affected by culture. At the sophomore level participants expressed the conception that culture impacts how students learn, with some even expressing the conception that a cultural mismatch between home and school negatively affects learning. At the junior level the conception emerged that there is a direct parallel between students’ cultures and how they learn and the conception that a difference between home and school cultures significantly affects student learning. At the senior level they express these conceptions and, further, have developed the conception that teachers can be equally effective with students of other cultures as those who share their cultures if they engage in culturally competent practices.

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My second research question: How do prospective teachers describe the implications for practice of their understandings and beliefs about the relevance of culture to teaching and learning and how do they relate this to their professional identities?

Across the cases prospective teachers describe the implications for practice of their conceptions regarding the relevance of culture to teaching and learning as teaching from multiple perspectives. As they get further into the program, prospective teachers describe the implications as relating content to students’ cultures and engaging students’ interests through their cultures. At the senior level implications for practice include the conception that teachers will be effective to the extent that they are culturally relevant to the students in their classes and that knowing about students’ cultures is central to teaching success.

The data shows these conceptions relating to their professional identities as their professional identities have been significantly shaped by teachers with whom they developed a close relationship and who modeled culturally relevant teaching practices.

My third research question: How do prospective teachers describe the development in their understandings, views and beliefs regarding the relevance of culture to teaching and learning at each level of the initial licensure teacher education program, and to what do they attribute development and changes?

Findings for this question do not vary significantly across the cases. Prospective teachers at all levels describe their conceptions of culture and its relevance to teaching and learning as still developing and attribute the biggest influence to their developing conceptions to attending college. Across the cases they said that they experienced more

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variety in culture during college than ever before. At each level they describe an experience of culture shock and confusion when they encountered a person who had a significantly different culture from theirs and experienced an epiphany in their cultural development as a result. At every level they described experiences with someone of another culture as pivotal to the development of their conceptions about culture and its relevance to teaching and learning. At each level they attributed field experiences with changing their conceptions of culture and developing their conceptions of cultural relevance to teaching and learning. Prospective teachers at the senior level varied from the other cases, however, in that they were able to describe their development. They described their notions of teaching at the beginning of their teacher education program as relating content to students and, through their program, developing the conception that culture has an important impact on students’ learning and, therefore, to teaching. The most significant experience for seniors was the diverse placement during their clinical practice. This was a crucial experience to the development of cultural competence for this group of prospective teachers.

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Chapter Five

Discussion

This research explores conceptual development of culturally relevant pedagogy in a population that had previously been studied very little in this respect. The investigation adds to the understanding of how characteristics of culturally relevant teaching and sociocultural consciousness develop in the early stages in White middle class prospective teachers from primarily rural, monocultural backgrounds. It explores the types of experiences that contribute to their development of cultural competence. Such important development cannot be left to chance, but must be structured into the program, with both theoretical understandings developed in the university classroom, and experiential practice in field placements in diverse classrooms. Prospective teachers benefit most in diverse field experiences with culturally relevant cooperating teachers where they can practice their developing skills, while gaining theoretical insight and guidance in university courses. One to one experiences with students from diverse backgrounds aid in the development of sociocultural consciousness and facilitates cultural competence.

Relevance of Culture to Learning

My first research question asked how prospective teachers at each level of an undergraduate teacher education program described their understandings and beliefs

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regarding the relevance of culture to teaching and learning. Table 5.1 demonstrates that there was a developmental progression by case regarding how prospective teachers described their conceptions of the relevance of culture to teaching and learning

Case Relevance of Culture to Teaching and Learning Freshman Case Culture can affect students’ learning styles. Sophomore Case Cultural mismatch between home and school can affect a student’s learning. When the teacher has a different cultural perspective than a student, communication can break down, hindering student learning. Junior Case Emergent conception that there is a direct parallel between students’ cultures and how they learn and that a difference between home and school cultures significantly affects student learning. Senior Case There is a direct parallel between students’ cultures and how they learn. A difference between home and school cultures significantly affects student learning, but teachers can be equally effective with students of other cultures as those who share their cultures if they engage in culturally competent practices. Figure 5.1. Conceptions of the Relevance of Culture to Teaching and Learning by Case

At the freshman level, the prospective teachers in this study did not conceptualize a distinctive relevance of culture to teaching and learning, but rather described the importance of learning styles. The key relevance they described regarding culture was that culture could affect learning styles, or that learning styles could be cultural. This contrasts somewhat from the first orientation to culture that Lee (2007) described, which comes from the perspective that cultural differences do not matter to teaching and learning at all, and that a generic approach to teaching and learning is sufficient for all learners. The prospective teachers at the freshman level of this investigation believed that cultural differences matter to the extent that they might influence students’ learning styles, and therefore teachers need to take this into account when planning instruction.

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They did not believe that it would mean changing instruction, but rather designing instruction to meet the learning needs and styles of the students in the classroom, some of which could be influenced by culture.

At the sophomore level, the conception emerged that cultural mismatch could hinder learning, and that having a different cultural perspective from the teacher could interfere with a students’ comprehension and learning. This indicates an emerging perspective that is consistent with Lee’s (2007) cultural mismatch theory, which is based on the notion that the cultural ways that students perceive, understand, and behave could be “at odds”’ with the requirements of schooling and therefore could negatively impact students’ education (Lee, 2007).

At the junior level participants began to express the conception that there is a direct parallel between the cultures of students and the way they learn to the extent that cultural differences between the school culture and the student’s home culture could significantly impact the student’s learning. This finding falls between Lee’s (2007) descriptions of cultural mismatch theory and cultural repertoire of practice theory. The view was emerging in this group that schools have the responsibility to understand the cultural resources that children bring with them from their home and community experiences and to help students apply their cultural resources to the demands of academic learning.

At the senior level they firmly held the conception that there is a direct parallel between the student’s culture and his or her learning, and that an incompatibility between home and school cultures could negatively affect learning. However, they also expressed

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the emergent conception that a teacher who practices culturally relevant pedagogy can be equally effective with students whose culture differed from theirs as with those whom they share the same culture if they practice culturally relevant pedagogy and interactions.

Seniors in the study all demonstrated a belief in the cultural repertoires of practice theory, which places the responsibility on schools and teachers to understand and use the cultural resources of students to facilitate their success in the demands of academic learning and schooling.

It bears emphasis that participants’ responses were not so clearly delineated by level as they may appear. A freshman who tended to be particularly reflective at times expressed conceptions that were otherwise expressed by participants at the junior level, while a junior who had come from a culturally insular background at times expressed conceptions that were more like those expressed at the freshmen level at times during the interviews. In fact, much of the levels of cultural competence expressed coincided with participants’ previous cultural experiences. Participants who had extensive cultural experiences were much further along in development of cultural competence than those who had experienced no other cultural experiences outside of what was mandated by the teacher education program. Even those with few experiences, however, when they described themselves as having a reflective nature, expressed more advanced levels of sociocultural consciousness than those who did not describe themselves as reflective.

This is consistent with the implications of Villegas and Lucas’s (2002) continuum of sociocultural consciousness (Table 2.2).

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At least one participant at each level, in varying degrees, expressed a cultural deficit perspective, particularly related to socioeconomic status, expressing the conception that parents of lower socioeconomic statuses either do not care about students’ education or that they were overly involved in other matters to the extent that they were not able to attend to their child’s education. The deficit perspective, which is both historically entrenched and currently perpetuated, has devastating effects on the achievement of minority students. The negative impact of this approach comes from this belief that lower achievement in school experienced by students of poor and racial/ethnic minority backgrounds results from problems that exist within the students and their families (Villegas and Lucas, 2002; Lee, 2007). Teacher education programs must help prospective teachers to see the destructive nature of the deficit perspective while helping them consider explanations that could empower them to teach students of lower socioeconomic status and cultural minority groups in ways that could increase their achievement.

Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

My second research question asked how prospective teachers described the implications for practice of their understandings and beliefs about the relevance of culture to teaching and learning and how they related this to their professional identities. The role that professional identities played in the development of conceptions about cultural competence is that participants describe their professional identities as significantly shaped by teachers with whom they developed a close relationship and who modeled culturally relevant teaching practices. This notion was expressed across the cases as they

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described teachers who had a significant impact on their professional identity to the point of influencing their decision to choose teaching as a profession. Some described a previous teacher or teachers from middle school or high school, while others described a college professor or cooperating teacher from a field. The common thread among these was that teachers who developed a close relationship with the participants and who modeled cultural competence were the most important factor in how the participants viewed their professional identities. This influenced how they conceptualized the implications to their teaching practice of culture and the relevance of culture to teaching and learning.

According to the literature, the tendency of prospective teachers to develop their professional identities by imitating what they have observed in their own teachers can be problematic, however (Parajes, 1992; Florio-Ruane and Lensmire, 1990; Lortie, 1975).

The imitative transmission of teaching practices has a strong basis in cultural tradition across many generations (Mewborn and Tyminski, 2006; Lortie, 1975). This cultural tradition is particularly entrenched for prospective teachers who have experienced great success in the established education system, as they become teachers as a result of an idealized view of their own educational experiences (Villegas and Lucas, 2002).

Additionally, prospective teachers coming from the dominant cultural perspective tend to conceptualize classroom settings as neutral, because the school structure is compatible with their home and community culture. Teacher educators must help them to see that not all cultural contexts are organized and structured in the same way, and may even clash with the culture of school. Whereas students from the dominant culture benefit from the

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compatibility of their home with the school, students from minority cultures can be at a disadvantage as their ways of talking, thinking and behaving are considered unacceptable in the classroom context. These are understandings that prospective teachers from monocultural backgrounds must develop in their teacher education programs. The findings of this research study demonstrate that over the course of their program participants did begin constructing these conceptions of culturally relevant teaching.

Table 5.2 displays the strongest subthemes for Relevance of Culture to Teaching.

Case Implications of Relevance of Culture to Teaching Practice Freshmen Teach from multiple perspectives; teach with fairness; give everyone an equal opportunity to learn; attempt to be unbiased/nonracist Sophomore Knowing students’ cultures will help teachers be more effective Junior Teachers should make content culturally relevant to students; relate new ideas to students’ cultures and background knowledge; relate lessons to students’ interests, what they know, are what they are used to Senior Teachers will be effective to the extent that they are culturally relevant to the students in their classes; knowing about students’ cultures and being culturally competent is central to teaching success. Figure 5.2. Conceptions of How Culture Influences Teaching Practice by Case

The conception that teachers are responsible for teaching from multiple perspectives developed across the cases beginning with the freshman level. According to

Villegas and Lucas (2002), culturally responsive teaching involves helping students examine the curriculum from multiple perspectives. All of the participants who expressed this conception were social studies majors, including a freshman level participant who had not yet begun the teacher education program. In the freshman and sophomore cases participants focused on teaching social studies from multiple perspectives, whereas at the junior and senior levels participants focused on a broader view which was not limited to the instruction of content. Instead they focused on generally teaching students to see from

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multiple perspectives, and approaching interactions with students and families from multiple perspectives.

Beginning at the sophomore level participants began expressing the conception that teachers will be more effective when they consider students’ cultures. At the junior level this developed to the conception that teachers are responsible for making content culturally relevant to students, and that this can be accomplished by relating material to the students’ cultures, background knowledge and interests. Participants at the end of their senior years (and one junior) expressed the conception that teachers will be effective to the extent that they are culturally relevant to their students, and that teaching success depends upon cultural competence. The one junior who also expressed this conception, of all participants, had the most, as well as the most varied, cultural experiences outside of the teacher education program. Specific teacher responsibilities that participants expressed related to cultural relevance included helping students access prior knowledge and beliefs, building on their interests and linguistic resources, using examples from their lives, using varied instructional methods, helping students examine the curriculum from multiple perspectives, and ensuring that the classroom culture is inclusive of all students.

All of these are characteristics of both culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings,

1994; 2001) and culturally responsive teaching (Villegas and Lucas, 2004). The more advanced their level in the teacher education program, the more advanced and intricately developed participants’ conceptions were of culturally relevant pedagogy.

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Conceptions of Cultural Competence

My third research question asked how prospective teachers described the development in their understandings, views and beliefs regarding the relevance of culture to teaching and learning at each level of the initial licensure teacher education program, and to what they attributed their development and changes.

As demonstrated in Table 5.3, findings for this research question built across the cases. Themes that are true for freshmen were also true for sophomores, juniors and seniors, but with further development and additional conceptions and influences. Table

5.3 displays the development across the cases of the strongest subthemes that occur for each case.

Conceptions of Cultural Competence Freshman Case Still developing; Coming to college increased awareness of other cultures; Beginning awareness of cultural effects on learning in field experiences Sophomore Case Still developing; College had a significant impact on conceptions of culture; Field experiences have changed conception of culture Junior Case Still developing; College had the a significant impact on developing conceptions of culture; A personal experience with someone of another culture was pivotal in their developing sociocultural consciousness; Cross cultural experiences in addition to fields had a significant impact on developing cultural competence. Figure 5.3. Conceptions of Cultural Competence (continuing)

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Figure 5.3. Conceptions of Cultural Competence (continued)

Senior Case Still developing; Described their notions of teaching at the beginning of their teacher education program as relating content to students and, through their program, developed the conception that culture has an important impact on students’ learning and teaching; The most significant experience was their diverse clinical practice. Figure 5.3. Conceptions of Cultural Competence

At least one participant in each case described his/her conceptions of culture and its impact on learning as still developing. Across the cases participants described college as a significant step in their cultural awareness and development of cultural competence.

Every participant who had field experience described either a specific field experience or field experiences in general as being a significant influence to their developing cultural competence. In addition, all of those who had significant experiences with people of other cultures, whether or not the experience occurred in another country, described the experience as pivotal to their understanding of people other cultures.

According to the literature, these experiences are significant because prospective teachers generally have not experienced the inequalities that are built into the education system

(Reich, 1999; Villegas and Lucas, 2002). This is attributed to society’s spatial segregation by race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status (Reich, 1999; Villegas and

Lucas, 2002). This spatial segregation provides most White prospective teachers with little opportunity for contact with people from oppressed groups, resulting in a lack of understanding that realities of life differ for people of other cultures (Villegas and Lucas,

2002). Being so removed and isolated from those who are marginalized by the meritocracy prevents White prospective teachers from critically examining the

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implications of how the meritocracy affects their lives and the lives of people of other cultures. This research supports the literature, demonstrating that such experiences must be deliberately structured into the program as developmentally appropriate for prospective teachers, as they provide windows of understanding into people of other cultures, thus facilitating the development of sociocultural consciousness.

All of the seniors in the study described their work with specific students in their diverse clinical practice as facilitating the development of the conception that culture is central to student learning. Working directly with students of other cultures in this diverse clinical practice built upon their previous experiences, both within and outside the teacher education, with people of other cultures. This supports assertions in the literature that is necessary that White prospective teachers are given experiences with people of other cultures so that they can develop understandings of students who differ from them socioculturally, particularly students from groups who are oppressed. Such experiences develop the understandings and skills necessary for prospective teachers to respond appropriately to the learning needs of all students (Villegas and Lucas, 2002; Banks,

1991b; Gomez, 1994; Noel, 1995; Villegas, 1991; Zeichner, 1993; King 1991). The importance of this diverse clinical practice cannot be overemphasized, however the benefit was not simply from this experience in isolation. The location of this experience as a capstone to prior culturally diverse experiences positioned it appropriately to facilitate the development of cultural competence.

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Implications for Teacher Education

Stake (1994) said of cases that are selected for collective case studies, “it is believed that understanding them will lead to a better understanding, perhaps better theorizing, about a still larger collective of cases” (p. 237). In the context of this investigation, it is believed that understanding these cases gives insight into a population of prospective teachers who have little experience with other cultures prior to beginning their teacher education program. Therefore, particular insights could have implications for teacher preparation at the university where this study was conducted, and perhaps for teacher education programs who serve populations of students from culturally insular backgrounds.

With this in mind, for universities like the one where this study takes place, structuring theory and practice with carefully scaffolded theory courses and field experiences is very important. When prospective teachers have had little experience with other cultures, one diverse field experience in their teacher education program is merely the beginning of the development of cultural competence that is necessary for effective teaching. A deliberate structuring, from early in the teacher education program, of experiences with people of other cultures alongside university courses which teach theories of culturally relevant teaching practices must be designed to scaffold the development of cultural competence. It is recommended that theory is both threaded and embedded throughout the program as well as taught specifically in a course that is designed to promote the construction of cultural competence.

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Assessing students’ levels of sociocultural consciousness near the beginning of the teacher education program can help teacher educators to structure experiences to most effectively promote the construction of cultural competence at each stage of their program within prospective teachers’ zones of proximal development. Villegas and

Lucas’s (2002) description of culturally competent teaching is just as true of teacher educators as of teachers in P-12 classrooms. They assert that culturally competent teaching involves:

Supporting students in their attempts to make sense of new input by helping them build bridges between their prior knowledge and experiences and that input. Emphasis is on monitoring students’ developing understanding of ideas… The complex nature of learning demands that teachers continuously adjust their plans of action. (p. 69) This approach to teaching culturally relevant pedagogy and theory alongside intentionally structured field experiences, and adjusting to the development of students’ understandings is also necessary to effective development of culturally competent teaching practice.

Another beneficial practice for developing cultural competence in this population is one-to-one experiences with students of other cultures. Although observations and practice teaching in diverse classrooms certainly are beneficial to the development of cultural competence, the insights and understandings of people of other cultures come from getting to know people of other cultures personally, and working alongside someone in a more direct way gives a different perspective than the more removed experience of classroom observation. The participants in this investigation who

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demonstrated the highest levels of cultural competence all described one to one experiences with individuals of other cultures that had a tremendous impact on the development of their cultural competence and sociocultural consciousness. Informal experiences where prospective teachers have the opportunity to build relationships with people of other cultures are effective in dispelling stereotypes and misconceptions about people of other cultures. These informal experiences should be built into the program early on, with subsequent classroom experiences focusing on gradually increasing responsibilities in planning and implementing culturally relevant teaching practices.

Finally, encouraging prospective teachers to participate in cross-cultural experiences outside of the teacher education program, particularly experiences that involve immersion in another culture for an extended period of time, is also highly effective in facilitating the development of cultural competence. By being immersed in another culture, prospective teachers are given the opportunity to experience the feeling of being culturally diverse, and perhaps a glimpse of what it is like to be a cultural minority. This can help the prospective teacher develop empathy and to have first-hand experience with the rationale for cultural competence. Participants in this study who were immersed in another culture for even one week described the experience of seeing their own actions and understandings through another cultural lens, because of the way people in the other culture reacted to them. These cross-cultural immersions should be encouraged and even facilitated, whether or not they are imbedded in the program.

In order to further explore the development of cultural competence in prospective teachers from monocultural backgrounds continued research with this population is

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recommended. The next section will suggest possible investigations that would bring more insight into how cultural competence develops with prospective teachers from monocultural backgrounds.

Recommendations for Future Research

An effective follow-up to this investigation, first of all, would focus on similar research questions but instead would be longitudinal in design. The study would begin with interviews of prospective teachers just before they begin their teacher education program and follow them through their program into their first year of teaching, with interviews at the end of each year of the teacher education program, ending with an interview at the end of their first year of teaching. An investigation with this design would add to findings of this research by documenting the development of the same prospective teachers as they progress through their program and into their teaching practice.

A second qualitative investigation that could add beneficial information would be to observe prospective teachers from monocultural backgrounds as they teach in diverse field placements with follow-up interviews designed to explore their thinking in the pedagogical and management decisions that they made during instruction. This study would include prospective teachers at varying stages of development of cultural competence in much the same way as this investigation did. Entrance interviews would determine their level of cultural competence at the beginning of the study and exit interviews would reassess their cultural competence near the study’s end. Such an

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investigation would add to the knowledge base by including how prospective teachers act on their conceptions and how they explain their actions based their conceptions.

In addition to these qualitative studies, a quantitative study would be effective in providing a broader perspective on prospective teachers from monocultural backgrounds within a larger population. The population could include a number of universities with a similar demographic. Survey research, including questions that coincide with those used in the interview for this study using a Likert scale for responses, could provide insight into how the findings of this study may compare to quantitative data in a larger, yet similar, population.

Finally, a study using Q-Methodology would be effective in understanding the characteristics of students that align with different beliefs and conceptions about culture.

The statements generated by this current investigation would provide statements for participants to rank into agree and disagree columns for Q-Methodology. Such a study would not only provide a broader population, as it could include the entire population of middle childhood majors, but also could generate both quantitative and qualitative data related to prospective teachers’ conceptual development of cultural competence. In addition, this type of study aligns demographic data with participants’ responses and groups participants according to like responses, also allowing for written explanations for responses. Therefore, different insights can be gained by this type of study than by strictly qualitative or quantitative approaches.

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Conclusion

In examining the needs of prospective teachers from monocultural backgrounds regarding cultural competence, the research led to three key recommendations. First, teacher education programs must provide experiences that help prospective teachers develop their conceptions of the nature of culture and how directly it is linked to learning.

Secondly, they must provide prospective teachers with experiences designed to develop culturally relevant teaching practices. Finally, they must design a number of rich culturally diverse experiences that build in intensity, which are scaffolded to intentionally develop cultural competence.

Teacher education programs that serve populations from backgrounds with minimal cultural diversity must provide opportunities for students to develop their conceptions of culture. Coming from backgrounds where there is little diversity, prospective teachers need not only to construct conceptions of cultural diversity and its impact on learners, but also to dispel misconceptions about people of other cultures.

Developing understanding of how their own cultural compatibility with school contributed to their success, and how students from other cultures can be placed at a disadvantage if their culture is not valued and included in the school culture.

Secondly, teacher education programs must provide learning experiences that help prospective teachers develop culturally relevant teaching practices. Their conceptions of teaching and their professional identities must develop from the romanticized identification with teachers they have admired in their own schooling experiences, as

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well as beyond the imitation of cooperating teachers in their field experiences, to making decision based on the cultural needs and funds of knowledge of their students (Moll,

1992). This research shows that prospective teachers in this study, when they had experiences which helped them develop cultural competence, began making culturally relevant decisions during their diverse clinical practice about what was in the best interest of their students’ learning rather than merely imitating their cooperating teachers.

Finally, this leads to a primary finding that emerged: Teacher education programs must provide experiences that promote the development of cultural competence. The development of cultural competence builds over time, as prospective teachers construct conceptions of the importance of culture and its impact on learning. Field experiences, clinical practice, and one-to-one experiences with students of diverse cultures must be intentionally structured into the program with opportunities in university courses to

`discuss experiences as they construct new conceptions and understandings of other cultures and how they affect learning. It is recommended that a capstone experience, which builds upon previous experiences in culturally diverse settings and includes instruction of students of diverse cultural backgrounds, is structured into the teacher education program as a key element in developing cultural competence.

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APPENDIX A

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

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INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

INITIAL INTERVIEW

1) Professional Identity

a) Tell me about how you decided to become a teacher.

b) How do you see your role as a teacher? How has this developed over time?

c) What student characteristics and differences are important to a teacher?

d) When you hear “culture” what does that mean to you?

2) Personal Culture and Schooling Experiences

a) Describe your own culture. Tell me an experience in which this was relevant to your schooling.

b) Tell me about an experience that you had with a person whose culture was different from your own.

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3) Beliefs About Cultural Relevance to Schooling in Ohio

a) How do you believe the schooling experiences of a student from a minority culture may differ from a student from mainstream students in Ohio? How should teachers respond to this?

b) How might the schooling experiences in different public schools in Ohio differ for the students who attend them, based on geographic location? How should a teacher respond to this?

4) Beliefs About Cultural Relevance to Teaching and Learning

a) In what way is culture relevant to teaching? How do you know this?

b) How is culture relevant to learning? How do you know this?

c) What is a teacher’s responsibility to his or her students with respect to culture? How do you know this?

d) How does this impact the way a teacher should teach?

e) With respect to the content areas that you intend to teach, how do you believe culture is relevant? How does this impact the way it should be taught?

5) Personal Application of Beliefs About Cultural Relevance to Teaching and Learning

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a) Describe an experience that has influenced your beliefs about culture and how it relates to teaching and learning.

b) How do your beliefs and understandings about cultural relevance to teaching and learning impact how you intend to teach? (or how you are teaching now in field experience/student teaching)

6) Development of Beliefs About Cultural Relevance to Teaching and Learning

a) How have your beliefs and understanding about cultural relevance to teaching and learning changed or developed over time? To what do you attribute these changes?

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FOLLOW-UP INTERVIEW

As I go through our first interview, first repeating the question from the first interview, then describing my interpretation and analysis of your response, please tell me for each response:

1) Any corrections that you would like to make to my interpretations of your response. 2) Anything you would like to clarify in your previous response or in my interpretation. 3) Anything you would like to add to your previous comments or that you feel I did not adequately address in my interpretation and analysis 4) Please tell me about how you learned or came to believe what you have expressed, and whether you consider it knowledge or belief.

(After completing initial transcript) I have a few additional questions I would like to discuss with you.

1) Which courses were most effective in your college experience, including general education and teacher education, that have developed your beliefs and understandings about culture? In what way were they effective? 2) What did your professor(s) do that was effective? 3) What specific experiences in teacher education were effective in increasing your awareness or developing your beliefs about culture, including both courses and field experiences? 4) What experiences have you had outside of your college experiences that influenced your beliefs about culture? 5) What interplay was there between your experiences within your college program and outside of your college program in shaping your awareness and beliefs about culture? 6) How do you differentiate between knowledge and your beliefs?

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APPENDIX B

DATA DISPLAY MATRIX

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Data Display of Findings, Themes and Subthemes by Case

Freshman Sophomore Junior Senior Finding: Conceptual Change Re: Culture Theme: Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Conceptions Culture means different backgrounds L, G, K M G S Culture involves race L S Culture involves religion L M C; S Culture evolves and progresses S Culture is ancestry; heritage; traditions; music K Culture involves history and current events T Culture is the surroundings Am; M S Culture is beliefs of people; is value laden Am A; C Culture is value laden A; C Culture means different ethnicities C Culture means different languages C; S Culture involves different interests M C, A Culture is the home life; life outside of school S Culture involves different rules, expectations, M and ways of speaking Culture is who a person is S Culture is where a person is from; context L; G A; M S A; C Culture is what a person knows and is willing S to learn Different cultures interact differently A Culture is something learned in 3rd grade G social studies; melting pot Culture is our life K Am S Other countries; [“Chinese eat with G M T chopsticks” (G)] Global Culture T What’s going on nationally/globally T Socioeconomic status G; K G S The way you are raised G A; Am; M A; C; S Different cultures have different priorities, M S goals and motivations

Theme: Conceptions of Urban/Rural Culture Rural vs. Urban G M T A; S Different towns can have different cultures; M A “close-by can be worlds apart”

Theme: Same v Different v Colorblindness Color blind (CB): Same (S) vs. Different (D) L; A(D) G(D), A(D); G(S/D); S(D) C(D); K(CB) S(D) Culture means “different from me” A Culture is something learned in 3rd grade G social studies; melting pot

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Finding: Knowledge, Content and Learning Theme: How Culture is Relevant to Knowledge Knowledge is dynamic vs. static K (S) A(D) G(S); A (D); (S=static; D=dynamic) T(D); C(D); S(D)

Theme: How Culture is Relevant to Content Areas Different cultures may value math differently A; S The relevance of culture to social studies is K M G; T; S S obvious; culture is a big factor in SS; give all sides of the story equal attention; link SS to students’ cultures; students will be more interested if you consider their perspective in lessons Science is difficult to relate to culture G; T(exc) Language Arts can expose students to Am S different cultures through literature Language Arts can help ELL in studying word Am S parts Language arts can help teachers learn about students through journal responses

Theme: How Culture is Relevant to Learning Learning styles can be cultural L Am; M Culture impacts how students learn; there is a L A; Am; M G; S A; C; S direct parallel in how students learn and their culture; mismatch between home culture and school culture affects learning Culture can influence learning if there are C social boundaries that conflict with the learning environment or assignments A personal connection is necessary to T; S C understand; first-hand knowledge is best Students learn better from a teacher who S A understands and is sensitive to their culture

Finding: Teacher’s Responsibility Re: Culture Theme : Relevance of Culture to Teaching Culturally inappropriate practices hinder S A; C;S students’ learning Teachers should try to see what students see: K Am S Culture affects our point of view; how we “see” things.

Teach with fairness; everyone should have an G; K A S equal opportunity to learn; attempt to be unbiased/nonracist Teachers should weave culture into what they L T C; S

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teach. Teacher’s responsibility is to learn about each S A; C; S student’s culture and mold teaching to each student Teachers should make content culturally M T; S A; C; S relevant to students –relate new ideas to students’ cultures and background knowledge; relate lessons to what they know and are used to; engage students through their interests Teachers should teach multiple perspectives L; K M T S Knowing how students are raised in their A; Am; M A; C; S culture will help you teach them better

“Culture might influence how a teacher K S(exc) teaches, but shouldn’t change it.” Teachers need to teach carefully, with K C; S students’ cultures in mind High expectations are important, but we must S give students the tools to achieve them Teachers should bring their culture together Am A with students’ culture to build mutual understanding; If teachers bring together their culture with A students’ they can be as effective with students who have cultural differences than with do not Theme: T’s Cultural Responsibility to Individual Students Teacher’s responsibility is to learn about each S A; C; S student’s culture and mold teaching to each student Teachers should be understanding of students’ A; C; S cultural differences Teachers should relate new ideas to students’ M T; S A; C; S cultures and background knowledge; relate lessons to what they know and are used to; engage students through their interests Teachers should learn about students’ cultures A A; C; S so that they understand their actions; every case is different Teachers should not have preconceived or A stereotypical ideas about students’ cultures; this will negatively impact teacher effectiveness Teachers must understand a student’s culture S C in order to be able to teach them Teachers need to consider parents’ ability (or S inability) to help when assigning math homework

Theme: T’s Cultural Responsibility to the Class Teachers should teach multiple perspectives L; K M T S Teachers should build students’ cultural T; S A

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sensitivity; guide students not to make cultural stereotypes; teach students to not have deficit views of other cultures Teacher needs to demonstrate cultural K T; S A; C sensitivity so as not to offend; to be open- minded; know the line and don’t cross it Teach facts about different cultures to help A T students dispel stereotypes Children are curious about differences. A T Teachers should help them explore and find answers in appropriate ways Teachers should build students’ self-efficacy S

Theme: Sociocultural Consciousness Power distribution in schools and society K(exc) A C; A;S based on culture Different cultures have different priorities, M A; S goals, values and motivations Respect students’ cultures, families, A, C communities Teachers should teach multiple perspectives L; K M T S Acceptance of other cultures bridges gaps and L A A fosters communication Knowing how students are raised in their A; Am; M A; C; S culture will help you teach them better

Articulated a desire to connect with students S A of other cultures Teachers should read current events and stay T up to date to further develop their own cultural awareness Textbook bias K T S Individual identity is tied to culture T Other cultures do school differently S Even in very good districts education of A minorities differs from dominant culture Students segregate themselves racially in L; G; K M S schools; there is racial tension in schools; minorities feel isolated/ignored/ostracized Witnessed cultural inequities in schools T; S

Finding: Significance of Experience to Developing Cultural Competence Theme: Prior Conceptions and Experience Describes self from middle class L A; Am; M G; S; T A: C(exc); S Describes self from rural/small town L; G A G; S; T A; C(exc); S Close match between home and school L A; M G; T A; S School experience was monocultural L; G A G; S; T A; C(exc); S Sheltered life; monoculture is safe (no L; G Af; M G A;

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bullying because everyone is the same) C(exc)

Didn’t think about diversity until college L; G A; M G; A; C Culture shock; confused by different L; K M; Am G A; C worldview or first experience with someone with another cultural perspective Theme: How Cultural Competence is Developing Said their cultural competence is still L M G; T C developing Recent awareness: Not everyone grew up as I L G did/Not everyone does things the way I do/There is more to this world than how I grew up. Didn’t think about diversity until college L; G A; M G; A; C

College was first exposure to different culture; L; G A; M G A; college had biggest effect on change or C(exc) development of conception of culture Experience and exposure are important to L G A developing awareness New cultural experience took them from K S viewing the world in black and white to seeing shades of gray Developing larger worldview M T

Theme: Experiences that Impacted Development Describes a specific field experience that had a L; G (both A; M G; S; A; C;S major influence on developing cultural have had (all 3 awareness related to teaching only 1; K described has had 0 diversity field exp.) ST field) Field placements have changed conception of L ; G A; Am; M T; S A; C culture Describes a particular student in field from T A; C; S different culture that had a major influence on his/her developing cultural awareness related to teaching Influenced by personal experience with L; K A; M G, T, S A; C; S someone of another culture; pivotal experience changed conceptualization Travels to other cultures changed conception T; S A of culture Describes a cooperating teacher who had a G A S major influence on his/her developing cultural awareness related to teaching Describes a professor (of a class) who had a A G; S C; S major influence on his/her developing cultural awareness related to teaching Describes a peer in college from another L A G; T C; S culture as having a major influence on his/her developing cultural awareness related to

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teaching Describes a peer in high school from another L; K; G Am; M culture as having a major influence on his/her developing cultural awareness related to teaching Describes a cross cultural experience (other M S; T; A than field experience) as having a major G(exc)— influence on developing cultural awareness G -no cross related to teaching cultural experiences besides field Dr. C’s Psych class was influential L; G S Dr. W’s History class was influential K M G S Professors stand out as influencing A S conceptualization of culture rather than specific courses – particularly professors who were interested in students’ personal lives and built relationships Accepting culture has been a common theme A S A through education courses Courses, readings and fields go hand in hand; M A fields allow you to use what you learn as you learn Effectiveness of case study A; M T (exc) A; C Effectiveness of role play A Rural field experiences offer valuable cultural L M A lessons, too

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APPENDIX C

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD EDUCATION PROGRAM CHECKLIST

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2009-2010

MIDDLE CHILDHOOD LICENSE

Ages 8-14 and Grades 4-9 Name: Projected Graduation Date:

ID #: Date of Entry:

ACT H.S. Rank: Date Pass Praxis I:

Concentration #1 Concentration #2

Advisor: GENERAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS MIDDLE CHILDHOOD CORE

Dept/Course Title Hours Dept/Co urse Title Hours

PED1002G Principles of Health and Fitness 2 EDU2072 Fundamentals of Planning & Instruction ENG1043G Freshman Expository Writing Lab 2 3 ENG1053G Research Writing 3 EDU2092 Fundamentals of Planning & Instruction 2 ITD1101G Intro to Christian Liberal Arts Exper. OR 1 MCE3012 Philosophy of Middle Childhood Education 2 ITD1002G and ITD1011 (if high school GPA<2.50) 3 MCE3032 Middle Level Classroom Management 2 aENG3063 Traditional and Modern Grammar aENG3063 Traditional and Modern Grammars 3 ENGXXXXG Literature (any G course) 3 MCE3051 Basics of Phonics Instruction Lab 1 Language Arts Concentration—DO NOT take ENG2013 MCE3052 Basics of Phonics Instruction 2 ISP/MCE3071 Emergent Literacy Lab 1 COM1023G Public Speaking 3 MCE3071 Emergent Literacy Lab 1 MAT1033G Introduction to Math Systems 3 MCE3074 Emergent Literacy 4 PSY1013G General Psychology 3 MCE3092 Inclusive Classroom & Exceptional Tchng. 2 BIB1004G History/Faith of the Biblical Communities 4 MCE4014 Developmental Reading and Lab 4 THE3003G Christian Beliefs 3 MCE4072 Differentiation of Instruction 2 ITD5033G Senior Colloquium 3 MCE4082 Middle Childhood Methods Lab 2 Select one of the following sciences and the corresponding lab: TOTAL4 MIDDLE CHILDHOOD CORE HOURS 26 BIO1XXXG Biology (any G course and lab) CONCENTRATIONS PHYXXXXG Physical Science (any G course and lab) CHE1XXXG Chemistry (any G course and lab) ESS1XXXG Earth Science (any G course and lab) Candidates for this degree must also complete two of the following Select one of the following two: concentrations:2 ART1002G Art in the Western World MTH1002G Music in the Western World Language Arts Select one of the following two: 3 PHI2003G Introduction to Philosophy PHI2023G Classical and Christian Philosophy 36 Hours (12 Non-duplicated Language Arts Hours) Select one of the following four: 3 MCE3023 Adolescent Literature 3 Adolescent Literature 3 HIS2013G U.S History to 1865 MCE4042 Middle Level Language Arts: C.I.A. 2 HIS2023G U.S. History since 1865 aHIS3013G Colonial America MCEXXXX Reading Required Middle Grade Core (12) HIS3043G Modern America _____ COM1023 Public Speaking (3) TOTAL GENERAL EDUCATION HOURS 43-45 ENG1043 Freshman Expository Writing (3) ENG1053 Research Writing (3) ENG3063 Traditional and Modern Grammars 3 Select one of the following two: 1 COM2031 Acting Practicum COM3031 Stagecraft Practicum Select one from each of the following categories: (3) 3 ENG3073 American Literature I ENG3083 American Literature II PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS ____ ENG2053 American Novel AND ENG3103 World Literature I EDU1022 Foundations of Education 2 ENG3113 World Literature II EDU1032 Foundations of Education Lab 2 ENG2063 British Novel EDU1042 Educational Technology 2 ENG4089 Special Topics in Literature ___ EDU2023 Learner and the Learning Process TOTAL3 LANGUAGE ARTS HOURS 36 EDU3060 Education and Cultural Diversity Seminar 0 EDU3063 Education and Cultural Diversity 3

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EDU4081 Advanced Educational Technology 1 EDU4091 Student Teaching Seminar 1 EDU4092 Student Teaching 6-9 Mathematics EDU4093 Student Teaching: Diversity Location OR EDU4094 Student Teaching: Reading Practicum 3-12 TOTAL PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION HOURS 26 20 Hours (17 Non-duplicated Math Hours)

MAJOR REQUIREMENTS MCE4052 Middle Level Mathematics: C.I.A. 2 MAT1013G Trigonometry 3 MAT1033G Introduction to Mathematical Systems (3) (Middle Childhood Core plus two concentrations) MAT1034G Calculus I 4 MAT2063G Introduction to Statistics 3 (3.00 GPA required in major for Student Teaching) aMAT3002 History of Mathematics 2 aMAT3073 Geometry for Educators 3 TOTAL MATHEMATICS HOURS 20 (See next page for additional requirements)

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Science MIDDLE LEVEL COMBINATIONS

22 Hours (18 Non-duplicated Science Hours)

LA/READING & MATH = 124-126 MCE4032 Middle Level Science: C.I.A. HOURS 2 BIOLOGY CONTENT AREA--SELECT ONE (1) 4 LA/READING & SCIENCE = 125-127 HOURS

BIO1014 Principles of Biology with Lab LA/READING & SOCIAL STUDIES = 124-126 HOURS BIO1054 General Zoology with Lab BIO1074 General Botany with Lab MATH & SCIENCE = 130-132 HOURS

EARTH SCIENCE CONTENT AREA--SELECT ONE (1) MATH &4 SOCIAL STUDIES = 129-131 HOURS

ESS1034 Earth Science with Lab SCIENCE & SOCIAL STUDIES = 130-132 HOURS ESS1044 Astronomy with Lab ESS1054 Meteorology with Lab CHEMISTRY CONTENT AREA--SELECT ONE (1) 4 HOURS COMPLETED JR. YEAR CHE1024 Intro to Organic & Biological Chem. w/ Lab (prerequisite: CHE1014G or instructor’s permission) CHE1033 Gen. Chemistry I + CHE1031G (Lab) CHE1043 Gen. Chemistry II + CHE1041G (Lab) HOURS PROJECTED WITH SR. YEAR

PHYSICAL SCIENCE CONTENT AREA 4 ____PHY2014 General Physics I with Lab MIDDLE CHILDHOOD GENERALIST ENDORSEMENT

MCE3023 Adolescent Literature 3 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE CONTENT AREA ENG30634 Traditional and Modern Grammars 3

BIO1094 Conservation of Natural Resources with MAT1023 Pre-Calculus Mathematics 3 MAT2063G Introduction to Statistics 3

Lab BIO1014 Principles of Biology with Lab 4 ___ ESS1054 Meteorology with Lab 4

TOTAL SCIENCE HOURS 22 ECO1033 Principles of Macroeconomics 3 ITD3043 World Geography 3

READING ENDORSEMENT

Social Studies ECE2072 Children’s Literature for Early Childhood 2 EDU4094 Reading Practicum 4

20 Hours (17 Non-duplicated Social Studies Hours)

REQUIRED PRAXIS EXAMS REQUIRED SCORE MCE4062 Middle Level Social Studies: C.I.A. 2 30523 Principles of Learning & 168 HIS2053 American Government 3 Teaching: Grades 5-9 ECO1033 Principles of Macroeconomics 3 ITD3043 World Geography Language3 Arts Concentration Select one of the following: 3 156 HIS1003G Western Civilization I 10049 Middle School English HIS1013G Western Civilization II Language Arts Select two of the following: (3) 3 3 HIS2013 U. S. History to 1865 Math Concentration HIS2023 U. S. History since 1865 143 aHIS3013 Colonial America 20069 Middle School Mathematics HIS3043 Modern America ___ TOTAL SOCIAL STUDIES HOURS 20 Science Concentration 18 144 10439 Middle School Science

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Social Studies Concentration 151 20089 Middle School Social Studies

Middle Childhood Generalist Endorsement 143 (Hours in parentheses may be used to fulfill General Education 10014 Elementary Education: Content Knowledge requirements as well as the concentration requirements.) Reading Endorsement 540 10200 Introduction to the Teaching of Reading

(All Praxis II Principles of Learning and Teaching Exams and Subject Tests must be taken prior to the beginning of the Student Teaching placement and passed prior to receiving a passing grade for Student Teaching.)

(See next page for additional requirements)

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ADMISSION TO EDU1022 FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATION ENRICHMENT COURSES

I. A new or transfer student enrolling in EDU1022 Basic Algebra (MAT0083) (3 Hours) Foundations of Education must have an ACT composite score of 19 or higher. If Math ACT <17

II. If a student is not enrolled in EDU1022 Foundations of Algebra (MAT0093) (3 Hours) Education in the first semester (due to full classes, etc.) and meets the ACT requirement, the cumulative grade point average must be 2.50 or higher to enroll in If Math ACT <19 Foundations of Education at a later time. Preparatory English (ENG0083) (3 Hours) III. A student who does not meet ACT criteria will be If English ACT <19 considered for admission when at least 12 semester ____ Reading Success Strategies (ITD1001) (1 Hours) hours of college credit have been earned with a If ACT reading subscore is below 19, or minimum 2.75 cumulative grade point average and all if SAT verbal subscore is below 480. Praxis I sections have been passed. ____ University Success Strategies (ITD1002) (3 Hours) and Critical Thinking (ITD1011) if high IV. Extensive field work required by the State of Ohio of school cumulative grade point average is below 2.50. Teacher Education candidates requires early admission (This replaces ITD1101 Intro to Christian Liberal Arts) if the program is to be completed in four years. Foreign language (4 Hours)

V. ALL TRANSFER STUDENTS must make an If 2 years are not successfully completed in high appointment with the Director of Teacher Education for school an education transcript evaluation.

* If you do not meet admission requirements (ACT of 19 or above) for EDU1022 “Foundations of Education,” it is your responsibility to register for the Praxis I exams. All three sections (Reading, Writing, and Mathematics) must ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS be passed in addition to the 2.75 cumulative GPA on 12 semester hours of college credit before enrolling in A Cumulative GPA of at least 2.50 or higher is EDU1022 “Foundations of Education.” required to continue in education courses.

_____A Professional Education GPA of 3.00 and a Major GPA of 3.00 must be reached and maintained prior to Student Teaching.

_____Complete one semester of foreign language at Mount Vernon Nazarene University or complete two years of one foreign language in high school. American Sign Language does not fulfill the foreign language requirement.

40 semester hours of courses numbered 3000 or above must be completed for graduation requirements.

No grade below “C-” is accepted in major.

Information on testing required by the State of Ohio for licensure may be secured from the office of the Director of Teacher Education.

No course work can be taken during the student teaching semester. This includes correspondence work, directed, or independent studies.

Education courses may be accepted for transfer credit. Students must submit a syllabus or course description to the Director of Teacher Education who will approve the transfer credit when provided with evidence that the

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course is essentially the same as the MVNU course.

One official transcript needs to be requested from prior college(s) attended OR for course substitutions if it is a correspondence course. The transcript needs to be sent to the MVNU University Registrar’s Office, who will send a copy to the Teacher Education Office.

Revised June 2009

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