By Kelsey Martin
1. Sleeter, Christine E. “Preparing Teachers for Culturally Diverse Schools: Research and the Overwhelming Presence of Whiteness.” Journal of Teacher Education 52 (2001): 94-106.
Research Problem:
White preservice students are doing a poor job at teaching multicultural perspectives. Although many of them desire to teach a culture outside of their own, they tend to be very naïve when it comes to their knowledge and experience about the world and other cultures. Without even realizing, white preservice students often interject stereotypes about certain cultures in their multicultural lessons due to ignorance and a lack of a rich, cultural awareness. Many of these students have not experienced feelings of discrimination or inequality, so therefore they cannot offer a full understanding when it comes to their young students or teaching a multicultural lesson.
Research Questions:
The author questions whether or not preservice students of color would do a better job at teaching multiculturalism in the classroom due to their natural, cultural experiences throughout their own lives. She also questions the ability of white preservice students to treat their students equally without allowing stereotypes and judgments to interfere.
Data Collection Procedure:
The article discusses several research studies performed with preservice teachers in order to determine the best method for teaching underserved communities. One of the studies questions the importance of multicultural education coursework and whether or not it benefits the preservice student in the classroom. Another study discusses the effectiveness of combining both multicultural coursework and field experience in order to give preservice students a comprehensive background. Another case study proved that the multicultural coursework was not that helpful because the information was very disconnected and the teachers, in turn, put aside what they learned in the books and taught themselves on the job.
Findings:
All of the research points to the issue of what actually happens in the classroom once the students becomes a full-fledged teacher. The way in which the teacher conducts her class once she leaves the preservice program is a strong indication of what works and does not work. Work with preservice teachers needs to follow them into the classroom with continuous professional development and community based learning.
2. McDonald, Morva A. “The Integration of Social Justice in Teacher Education: Dimensions of Prospective Teachers’ Opportunities to Learn.” Journal of Teacher Education 56 (2005): 418-35.
Research Problem:
Although the classroom is becoming very diverse in the United States these days, the diversity is not reflected in the faculty. The teachers of these diverse classrooms are primarily white and middle class which strikes a problem in terms of how they relate to their students. Teacher education must be refigured in order to better address the teachers for appropriately dealing with students from a multitude of backgrounds.
Research Questions:
With the country becoming more and more diverse, Morva McDonald questions what teacher education programs are doing in order to prepare teachers to effectively teach students in increasingly diverse classrooms. She also questions specific programs’ approach to teaching social justice to preservice teachers.
Data Collection Procedure:
The author performed a comparative case study of two elementary teacher education programs that encourage social justice and equity. Through qualitative research, the author was able to observe the strengths and weaknesses of the programs for both the educators and the prospective educators. Pre- and post-surveys were also given to the prospective teachers in order to gain a better sense of how the teacher education programs has influenced and shaped their beliefs surrounding social justice in the classroom.
Findings:
The research showed that both teacher education programs had good intentions when it came to teaching preservice students about social justice issues. However, social justice was often integrated into the curriculum as more of a concept rather than something to be practiced or implemented in the classroom. Teacher education programs need to do a better job at tailoring the teaching the specific needs of the prospective teachers’ students in order to make the subject more applicable.
3. Macgillivray, Ian K. “Social Justice for America’s Schools Queer/Questioning Students: The Demands of Democracy and Educational Equity for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgendered, and.” Education and Urban Society 32 (2000): 303-23.
Research Problem:
The United States is an extremely heteronormative society in which everything is structured around heterosexuality and heterosexual privilege. Because of this LGBTQ people are consistently at a disadvantage in all aspects of their life, whether it is in marriage, property rights, or education.
Research Questions:
The author questions how these social problems regarding LGBTQ rights can be remedied in order to make the classroom a more welcoming environment. He also questions way in which schools can become more inclusive and safe so that LGBTQ youth can learn and grow just like all of the other students.
Data Collection Procedure:
Ian Macgillivray collected facts and statistics to prove the severity of LGBTQ abuse and mistreatment within schools. He also collected information about their high risk for HIV/AIDS and a lack of family support as well as the constant exclusion and neglect from everyone around them.
Findings:
The only way to fix the problem is by opening up the conversation to students within the curriculum. The name-calling and physical abuse is often due to ignorance and the stereotyping students hear throughout society. Teachers must take the lead in teaching their students that oppression is wrong and that justice means fairness. The needs of LGBTQ students need to be recognized in the classroom in order to protect them from facing a life of scrutiny and abuse.