One preservice teacher's development of culturally relevant teaching

Nationally, teacher preparation programs are calling for an increased level of diversity awareness, and therefore teacher preparation programs have answered with various courses and integrated attempts to prepare preservice teachers to work effectively with an increasingly diverse student population. Although there are certain agreed upon elements of successful teacher preparation for diverse settings, much is unknown about teaching across cultures. There is also a need to document the process of preparing teachers for cultural diversity. In this study, qualitative case study methodology was used to understand the experiences of one preservice teacher as she considered and enacted culturally relevant teaching. The study took place in culturally diverse middle school classrooms located in an urban area in the Southwest. The participant in the sample was a white, female, secondary language arts student enrolled in her final year of a post-baccalaureate teacher certification program. The participant was enrolled in a cohort program that places students in carefully selected classrooms for a year of observation and student teaching. Data were collected over a six-month period using academic work, interviews, collaborative conversations, teaching cases, reflective journals, and observations designed to help examine cultural issues in the classroom. Constant comparison and analytic induction were used to analyze data. Major emerging themes in the data include the areas of interaction, opportunity, accommodation, and ownership. These characteristics support the work of Ladson-Billings (1984) and Nieto (1999) in that they were identified and described as elements necessary for culturally responsive teaching. Also of interest were the "simplification strategies" the participant employed to enact her beliefs of culturally relevant teaching. Implications for teacher education can be found for initial teacher preparation program, teacher educators, and those interested in curriculum and pedagogy as this intensive study of an instructive case offers insights into challenges preservice teachers encounter in moving their philosophy into practice