Student Teachers' Experiences of Cultural Diversity During Student Teaching

Abstract

Multicultural education and culturally responsive pedagogy training should be within the core curriculum and begin in teacher preparation programs. This could be accomplished by providing opportunities for teacher candidates to research and acquire knowledge regarding cultural characteristics and cultural contributions of diverse students, pedagogy, instructional strategies, methods, and resources that support diverse student populations. This chapter presents the results of a mixed-method study that examined student teachers' perceptions and understanding of culturally responsive pedagogy and instructional strategies observed and utilized in classrooms during student teaching in diverse classrooms. Findings revealed that student teachers were inexperienced in terms of being culturally responsive educators. The authors suggest that educators engage student teachers in class projects within the scope of culturally responsive practices. The chapter concludes with a list of reflection questions for K through 20 educators.