CHAPTER 6: An Exploration of One Aspiring Teacher’s Journey to Multicultural Understanding

In the most recent report on the current condition of education conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (2011), the percentage of English language learners (ELLs) increased to 10% (or an estimated 4.7 million students) in 2010 (Aud, Hussar, Kena, Bianco, Frohlich, Kemp, & Tahan, 2011). As the public school population continues to become culturally and linguistically diverse, more attention has been paid to the ways that future teachers are trained to meet the complex needs of these learners (Costa, McPhail, Smith, & Brisk, 2005). In order to adopt a more critical approach in the classroom, scholars have argued that teacher education candidates need to critically examine their beliefs as well as the ways in which they teach (Giroux & McLaren, 1986; Ladson-Billings, 1995). Prior studies have shown that change in teacher beliefs as related to issues of diversity, for example, must occur on a personal level (Pohan, 1996). If change is to take place, it requires time (Cochran-Smith, 2003, 2004; Nevarez, Sanford, & Parker, 1997) and commitment even in the face of resistance.