Date of Award

1-1-2013

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

Educational Studies

Sub-Department

Education

First Advisor

Susi Long

Abstract

the student population in the United States within the next several years, while predominately White teachers will continue to compromise the teaching population. Schools continually fail to serve racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse students, particularly African American students. As such, a critical issue within teacher education is how to best prepare teachers to teach across the lines of ethnicity/race, language, and social class.

In response to this issue, this study looked closely at the identities, perspectives, and experiences of a teacher educator and undergraduate, preservice teachers throughout a one-credit education course infused with elements of equity pedagogies and an added community-based field experience. Using autoethnographic and narrative methodologies, this study sought to explore self-narratives as pathways to helping teacher educators and preservice teachers begin to recognize the need to work toward equity in education.

Findings of this study reflect complexities within the identities and socialization processes of a teacher educator and preservice teachers, providing insights for promoting the growth of a sociocultural consciousness required for teaching equity pedagogies. Findings indicate that the teacher educator and preservice teachers were strongly socialized to a view of Whiteness as normalized and, while most preservice teachers gained insights from the course and were able to counter deficit-laden assumptions of children and their families as a result of their course experiences, there were considerable challenges involved in the process which included: examining the normalization of Whiteness, colorblind and racist dispositions, and the use of deflection strategies (deflecting from a focus on deficit perspectives of children and their families). Implications are provided to shed light on what this might mean in terms of equity in literacy education, especially suggestions for supporting preservice teachers and teacher educators in recognizing inequities and making commitments toward changing an unjust society.

Rights

© 2013, Lisa Reid

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