Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThe experiences of Chicana/Latina prospective teachers in predominantly White teacher education programs provide cautionary tales and intellectual insight to better understand and improve the current state of teacher education in the United States. This study engages in borderland analysis, which stems from Chicana Feminist Epistemology, to collect and analyze the narratives of eight Chicana/Latina prospective teachers in a predominantly White teacher licensure program at Rocky Mountain West University. I employ trenzas de identidades multiples (braids of multiple identities) to interweave program documents, individual interviews, teacher ePorfolios, and data travels to understand how eight Chicana/Latina prospective teachers connect their multiple identities and teacher professional practices that define the role of educators and teaching. The findings point to the choque (clash) that exists between Chicana/Latina prospective teacher's definitions of being a maestra (teacher) and their program's decontextualized practices. They feel disconnected, isolated, and marginalized from their professional goals and identities. To negotiate decontextualized teacher practices, they create sitios (spaces) outside their teacher licensure program to pedagogically support their social navigation and building of puentes (bridges) with the greater world. Teacher education programs must rethink how to provide them with professional practices and a curriculum that is relevant, critical, and humanizing