Research suggests that a majority of elementary school teachers do not feel confident in their ability to teach English language learners. Moreover, teachers and teacher candidates are often presented as a monolithic group of middle-class, monolingual women with relatively few experiences with people from diverse backgrounds. Accordingly, this study aims to identify the ways in which teacher candidates conceptualize culturally responsive instruction and how these understandings are brought to bear in their instructional modifications for linguistically and culturally diverse learners. Through an analysis of unit and lesson plans designed by pre-service teacher candidates, this study explores the assumptions inherent in specific instructional modifications and how these choices reflect the knowledge teacher candidates demonstrate in their planning. These findings help teacher educators identify the knowledge that teacher candidates bring to their programs, as well as provide teacher educators a non-deficit perspective through which to further support the development of teacher candidates.