Article Critique #1 on Preparing Preservice Teachers in a Diverse World

Rebecca Skucas
ETEC 500
February 1st 2014

The article on Preparing Preservice Teachers in a Diverse World is looking at

how to better prepare preservice teachers to become more aware of cultural

differences that exist in their classrooms by being culturally mindful and focusing on

understanding and responding to a students culture with regards to his or her own

teaching practice. (Lenski, Crawford, Crumpler, & Stallworth., 2005).

The main argument is the need for teacher education programs to embed

ethnographic informed approaches into its coursework in order to prepare

preservice teachers to be able to become culturally responsive to all of their diverse

student populations. Preservice teachers, currently take a multicultural course in

their preparations but Lenski et al. (2005) claim it shows mixed results in its

effectiveness. Teachers undoubtedly come across students with different cultural

backgrounds and to learn how to ethnographically observe their students

communities will help in ways of thinking and teaching.

A qualitative informed ethnographic approached was used in this article.

The background of the teachers and their environments was noted. The preservice

teachers involved, attended an elementary program at a large Midwestern

University, and an ethnographic research paper was required as part of their

coursework. Twenty-eight preservice teachers were involved in the study however

interviews were carried out with only six of the teachers. For the data collected,

both informal and formal interviews were taken. Along with observations,

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reflections, and student papers. As part of the ethnographic project, the preservice

teachers were given instructions on how to carry out ethnographic research. They

first practiced their observational skills in a school setting to increase their

confident in this expertise. Afterwards community sites were recommended for

their yearlong ethnographic project.

The research team looked at the data thoroughly and came up with a few

themes. Lenski et al. (2005) looked at how participants view themselves as cultural

beings, how participants view issues of diversity, how participating in the

ethnographic project shaped their thinking of diversity, and how using this

knowledge will help them try and bridge the diversity gap by bringing their

students communities into their own classroom. They concluded participant

observation and ethnographically informed methods used in teacher preparation

courses have the potential to make it easier for preservice teachers to be more

aware of cultural diversity and ways to address culture in their future classroom

(Lenski et al., 2005). They also noted the preservice teacher found the requirement

of writing the ethnographic research paper to be quite time consuming.

I find this article to be limiting because only six of the preservice teachers

were interviewed thoroughly and almost all teachers were female and from

European American backgrounds (Lenski et al., 2005). From just these interviews

the researchers came up with questions to reanalyze their data. Out of the twenty-

eight teachers this is not even a quarter of their sample size. Therefore this size

lacks in generalizability. The students were among just one group of preservice

teachers enrolled at a particular university in a particular part of the country and so

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their experiences cannot be generalized to the country as a whole or be used in all

preservice teacher education programs. A similar study with a larger number of

preservice teachers involved needs to be conducted.

Another concern in my opinion is the lack of detail in regards to the school

composition. What was the percentage of immigrants in the schools the preservice

teachers were at? Immigrants may have come from different political, social,

economic and cultural backgrounds than where they are currently residing. From

my own personal experience, recently immigrated students can benefit from

immediate cultural responsiveness and understanding. I think immigrant numbers

needs to be taken into consideration because students who have grown up

elsewhere have different backgrounds and may be more invested in their culture

and ethnicity and this needs to be considered when modifying teaching practices.

In conclusion, I do agree moving forward teacher education program need to

transform and become better at preparing future teachers in becoming culturally

responsive by understanding and reflecting more about their own culture. I grew up

in the East Kootenays and it was not until I moved to the coast that my culture came

into question as in a small community all of us were seen and treated equally even

though our backgrounds differed.

Lenski, S.D., Crawford, K., Crumpler, T., and C. Stallworth. (2005). Preparing
Preservice Teachers in a Diverse World. Action in Teacher Education, 27(3).
3-12.