Multicultural Education at the Graduate Level: Assisting Teachers in Gaining Multicultural Understandings

The ABCs for pre‐service teacher cultural competency development

“…With the increasing number of studies on multicultural education, more and more teacher educators realize that it is paramount to prepare teachers to be cross-culturally competent, i.e., to recognize and understand their own worldviews, learn about their students' cultures, and confront their own racism and biases as a means of effectively communicating with their students, especially those with diverse backgrounds (Banks, 1994;Bennett, 1993;Gillette & Boyle-Baise, 1995;Nieto & Rolon, 1995;Sleeter, 1992;Villegas, 1991). While some may consider the centrality of race as most visible, it is also important to recognize the existence of classism, sexism, linguicism, antiSemitism, ethnocentrism, and ableism.…”

Community Service Learning for Multicultural Education: An Exploratory Study with Preservice Teachers

“…Multicultural teacher education aims to assist all prospective teachers in gaining understandings about cultural diversity, equality, and equity that can help them reach and teach all students (Gillette & Boyle-Baise, 1996;Ladson-Billings, 1991;Sleeter, 1995). Placing preservice teachers in schools serving culturally mixed or low-income populations has been used to provide experience with diverse youth and exemplify responsive teaching.…”

Engaging Racial Autoethnography as a Teaching Tool for Womanist Inquiry

“…I wanted to create in the students an awareness of race-class-gender (and other types of differences/similarities) in the context of their research, practice, and everyday lives. Following the examples set by scholars such as Asher, 26 Gillette and Boyle-Baise, 27 Pennington, 28 and Stoddart, 12 I used autoethnography to facilitate and deepen selfknowledge and our knowing of those who live and labor on the margins and whose health is firmly embedded there. I adapted the autoethnographic mode of inquiry as a foundation or stepping-off point for thinking about power imbalances (eg, race, class, gender, and differences).…”