Finding, Using, and Losing(?) Voice: A Preservice Teacher's Experiences in an Urban Educative Practicum

Abstract

Teacher education faces the dual challenges of preparing preservice teachers for an increasingly diverse student body and recruiting, retaining, and graduating greater numbers of culturally diverse teachers (Zeichner, 1993(Zeichner, , 1996. The dramatic mismatch in diversity between preservice teachers and students in schools in the United States complicates the task. Although most preservice teachers are White, female, middle-class monolingual speakers of English with few experiences with people different from themselves (Howey & Zimpher,

The Intersections of Race, Class, and Gender in the Teacher Preparation of an African American Social Justice Educator

“…There is a growing body of research on the perspectives, experiences, and practices of preservice teachers of color on issues of diversity and social justice as they enter and are socialized within teacher education programs (Burant, 1999;Dilworth, 1990;Grant & Secada, 1990;Meacham, 2000;Montecinos, 1994;Sheets, 2001). This increased attention raises some important concerns and tensions that are key in understanding the preparation of Lynn in this article as a social justice educator in the multicultural social reconstuctionist teacher education program.…”

“…Lynn later spoke of the "I AM HERE'' response as necessary "to proclaim[ing] my presence for myself and for others'' within the classroom. Burant (1999) argues that the growth and development of "voice'' of preservice teachers of color is part of a "silenced'' dialogue that in many cases does not enter the public space of preservice programs.…”

Talkin’ in the company of my sistas: The counterlanguages and deliberate silences of Black female students in teacher education

“…Within the larger context of studies on preservice teacher education, however, there is an emergent body of research that aims to amplify the voices of racial and linguistic minority preservice teachers (for examples, see Arce, 2004;Burant, 1999;Clark & Flores, 2001;Galindo, 1996;Guerrero, 2003;Jones, Young, & Rodríguez, 1999;Kornfeld, 1999;Meacham, 2000;Pailliotet, 1997;Sheets & Chew, 2002;Tellez, 1999;Zitlow & DeCoker, 1994). A common thread among these studies is the apparent mismatch between the student's own culture and that of the academic institution.…”

Language Minority Teacher Preparation: A Review of Alternative Programs

“…In response to this gap, in 1990 the National Council of Accreditation of Teacher Colleges of Education (NCATE) called upon schools of education to increase the diversity among their student ranks (Hood & Parker, 1994;Quiocho & Rios, 2000). As numerous researchers have documented, barriers to culturally and linguistically diverse candidates in teacher training programs are substantial (Burant, 1999;Gonzalez, 1997;Hood & Parker, 1994;Pailliotet, 1997;Shen, 1998;Sleeter, 2002). Thus, traditional teacher education programs have largely proven ineffective as a means to recruit, retain, and graduate minority education majors in significant numbers (Beckett, 1998;Dandy, 1998;Piercynski, Matranga, & Peltier, 1997;Yasin & Albert, 1999).…”