Taking Culturally Relevant Teaching to the Big House: Implications for Early Childhood Teacher Educators

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the conceptualization¹ of a foundational course on culturally relevant pedagogy for early childhood education majors at a predominantly white university in the U.S. Southeast. The course has been taught for 7 years to approximately 1,000 preservice teachers. A discussion of the complexities involved in teaching equity-focused courses is included (e.g., the magnitude of what we are asking preservice and inservice teachers to do; the depth and historical legacies that must be dismantled, deconstructed, and transformed). I deliberate on issues such as these: How can teacher educators meet preservice teachers (white and persons of color) where they are, but also move them beyond those places and spaces? What frameworks and guidelines have been found useful? How can teacher educators prevent equity-based courses from being derailed and hijacked by a few detractors? What types of supports are necessary for success? Examples of assignments, readings, and activities are shared.

Notes

¹ I am borrowing Ladson-Billings (2005) conception of the academy as the “big house” (a metaphor for a slave plantation).

² I had previously taught at the university from 1991 to 1999.

³ Elsewhere, some of the ECE faculty members and I have written about the transformation of the program from a “conventional” program to one that centers on issues of equity (Powers et al., 2012).

⁴ The course has been offered online for the last 2 years.