Chapter 4: Transitioning to a Culturally Responsive Field-Based Model for Educator Preparation

My first encounter with academia as an adjunct professor teaching a graduate night class at a large university in the southeastern part of the United States provided an educational context that would further enrich my varied instructive experiences. Those experiences included 20 years of secondary public school classroom teaching, extensive grounding in mentoring student teachers, knowledge of current effective teaching practices, and skills with coordinating and teaching alternative certification teachers. Such diverse teaching contexts not only required an adjustment to my teaching methods, but they also provided me with an opportunity to grow and develop as a teacher educator. I was always the person in charge and ensured that rules and procedures were followed if my students were to succeed. However, in every teaching context, building community and establishing a genuine relationship was a critical aspect of my educational ideology and one that I still consciously cultivate. In the past, I did not consider how diversity factors such as ethnicity, race, age, or teaching style, influenced my thinking about teaching and teacher preparation until I began my field-based experience with preservice teachers.