PRE-SERVICE PRIMARY TEACHERS’ GETTING COMFORTABLE WITH UNCOMFORTABLE CONVERSATIONS IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOL CLASSROOM

Abstract

Pulling on the work of culturally sustaining pedagogy, I analyzed my own teaching effectiveness of pre-service teachers in a literacy methods course. Today’s education schools are seeing an increasingly amount of culturally and linguistically diverse students. Therefore, teacher education preparation must prepare teacher candidates to meet the unique educational needs of students. To address, culturally sustaining pedagogy is a pedagogical approach with potential benefits for the meeting the needs of diverse learners. The research looked at how pre-service teacher candidates implement culturally relevant pedagogy within a reading methods course through lesson plan and text selection analysis, engaging in uncomfortable conversations roleplaying, class discussions, and teacher candidate reflections. The study occurred in two stages: initial course changes/ developments and course revisions given data collected. Overall findings indicated a strong emphasis on instructor-candidate relationships to candidates feeling towards engaging in culturally sustaining practices and conversations while also finding a need for further curriculum and pedagogical adjustment.