Autobiographies in Preservice Teacher Education: A Snapshot Tool for Building a Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

Authors

  • AnnMarie Gunn USFSP
  • Susan Bennett University of Mississippi
  • Linda Shuford Evans Kennesaw State University
  • Barbara J. Peterson University of South Florida Tampa
  • James L. Welsh University of South Florida

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18251/ijme.v15i1.628

Keywords:

culturally responsive pedagogy, literacy, preservice teachers, autobiographies, multicultural education

Abstract

Many scholars have made the call for teacher educators to provide experiences that can lead preservice teachers to embrace a culturally responsive pedagogy. We investigated the use of brief autobiographies during an internship as a tool (a) for preservice teachers to examine their multidimensional culture; and (b) for teacher educators to assess preservice teachers' developing understandings about cultural responsive pedagogy and then further design curriculum to enhance these understandings. Using qualitative methods, we analyzed the preservice teachers' (N=24) autobiographies and an interview with the professor of this course. Based on the findings of this study, we suggest teacher educators need to develop experiences and opportunities that will enable preservice teachers to reflect on how culture impacts teaching and learning behaviors. Therefore, preservice teachers will be better prepared to teach all students.

Author Biography

AnnMarie Gunn, USFSP

AnnMarie Alberton Gunn is an Assistant Professor  in the Reading Department at the University of South Florida St Petersburg. Her areas of interest are teacher education, multicultural education and literacy.

Downloads

Published

2013-03-26

How to Cite

Gunn, A., Bennett, S., Shuford Evans, L., Peterson, B. J., & Welsh, J. L. (2013). Autobiographies in Preservice Teacher Education: A Snapshot Tool for Building a Culturally Responsive Pedagogy. International Journal of Multicultural Education, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.18251/ijme.v15i1.628

Issue

Vol. 15 No. 1 (2013): Open Theme Issue

Section

Articles (Peer-reviewed)

License

So that you as author and we as publisher may be protected from the consequences of unauthorized use of the contents of your work, we require, as a condition of publication, that you assign us all rights, including subsidiary rights, to your work. This will enable us to promote and distribute the contribution in professionally appropriate venues. You will have nonexclusive license to use your work without charge and without further permission, after it has been published by IJME, in any book you write or edit or your personal website. In such a case, you must acknowledge IJME as the site of original publication. Content is free for personal use. Persons who wish to reproduce any content from IJME that exceeds fair use guidelines must a) seek copyright from IJME (ijmecontact@gmail.com); and b) acknowledge IJME as the site of original publication.

Sample acknowledgement: "Reprinted with permission from IJME. Original publication in International Journal of Multicultural Education [the URL of the article]"

Author Responsibilities: Authors are responsible for securing permission for excerpts, images, and data from copyrighted materials or materials in private collections.