Valuing Students’ Cultural Experiences and Linguistic Abilities In the Classroom

English Language Learners (ELL) and students represented in culturally diverse communities are the fastest growing groups in US public schools (Samway & McKeon, 2007). Mainstream classrooms often struggle to meet the needs of Linguistically and Culturally Diverse (LCD) students, trying to connect instruction to students’ linguistic backgrounds or cultural experiences (Darder, 1991). Unfortunately, the education of LCD students has become exercises of “drill and kill” and highly scripted instruction (Darder & Torres, 2004). This article explores reasons why students’ cultural experiences and linguistic abilities are not recognized in mainstream classrooms in an era of high-stakes testing. Additionally, the article will peer into the role of teachers in meeting the needs of LCD student populations when they are often times presented with scripted or scripted curricula

Critical Conversations: Developing White Teachers for Diverse Classrooms

Many White, middle-class educators experience challenges as they attempt to teach in racially diverse classrooms. This article explores and challenges a widely held and often unexamined conception of White in-service teachers as learners about issues of diversity and equity vis-à-vis voluntary professional development. This study sought to examine how White in-service teachers explore their racial identity and how identity awareness influences their ability to successfully meet the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students. Participants were part of a voluntary book discussion professional-development program offered by a community multicultural center in collaboration with surrounding school districts. The findings of a need for localizing change and engaging in a journey towards equity suggest a need for critical dialogue allowing White in-service teachers to recognize themselves as racial beings. The study results indicate for a need for focused professional development addressing cultural competency in the changing cultural climate of public schools

Editorial Introduction

This special edition seeks to challenge the perspective of research surrounding preservice teachers, shifting from a focus on preservice teachers to a focus on the work in which pre-service teachers are themselves engaged. As guest editors of this special edition, we work with pre-service teachers in a variety of institutional contexts and configurations ranging from traditional undergraduate preservice teachers to accelerated graduate student pre-service teacher candidates, and from a small liberal-arts to large research intensive institutions

Secondary School Counselors’ Perceptions of Service-Learning: Gaps between State Policy, Counselors’ Knowledge, and Implementation

The purpose of this study was a state-level investigation of school counselors’ knowledge of their role in the implementation of service-learning policy using survey research methods. The respondents reported having little knowledge of the policy, not having implemented it statewide, and not having been trained in service-learning pedagogy. Based on these results, this article provides implications for consideration when states develop educational policies that impact school counselors’ work

Curriculum Integration and Adaptation: Individualizing Pedagogy for Linguistically and Culturally Diverse Students

In the United States, populations identified as linguistically and culturally diverse (LCD) are increasing at the fastest rate in public schools (Samway & McKeon, 2007). LCD students have not performed as well as their monolingual and/or affluent peers on state mandated assessments. No Child Left Behind Act (2001) stressed this disparity as âthe achievement gap,â resulting in highly structured curricular demands from districts forcing teachers to grapple between those demands and meeting the academic and cultural needs of LCD students. Using case-study methodology, this research explored how teachersâ beliefs about teaching and learning influence curriculum decision-making for LCD students. Through the triangulation of interviews, observations, and document analysis, three teachers and their students in a low-income, urban, k-4 school in a predominantly Spanish-speaking community was investigated. Participants integrated and adapted curriculum based on personal beliefs about teaching and learning, the needs of their LCD students, and the mandated curriculum

Opting Out: Examining Teacherâs Beliefs When Faced With Core Reading Programs

This qualitative study focused on how teachers in a small, urban elementary school in Pennsylvania negotiate their beliefs and instructional delivery the classroom. In the area of literacy instruction, there has been an increased reliance on Core-reading programs in elementary school. Classroom teachers, caught in the middle, are charged with the responsibility to raise test scores, plan curriculum, motivate students, and provide a welcoming learning environment for all students. In this article, teachers’ beliefs about meeting the needs of urban students amidst NCLB were explored, in relation to curriculum planning. A case study approach guided this research, using interviews, observations, and document analysis. Data from participant statements and researcher observations, illuminate the reasons why teachers “opted-out” of having a sense of fidelity towards the mandated curriculum. According to the researcher opting-out was a means to equalize the discord between meeting student academic needs while adhering to the mandated curriculum and pacing guide

Extreme Make Over: Disposition Develop­ment of Pre-Service Teachers

Pre-service teachers are on an educational and professional journey in which they are trying to figure out the “right stuff” needed to be an effective teacher while being a “student.” Many pre-service teachers engage in community service projects, yet it is unclear how these experiences inform the dispositional development of pre-service teachers. In this study, the authors examined the outcomes of a community service experience pre-service teachers (n = 20) participated in as part of the [student group]. The authors present the results of a qualitative study. Findings suggest pre-service teachers realize the multiplicities of student needs in an authentic setting and the potential disconnect between what is learned during one’s teacher education undergraduate program and the realities of being a teacher once employed as a classroom teacher. The authors conclude with reflections on the importance of having concrete ways for pre-service teachers to develop dispositions beyond the course-based field experiences and student teaching