As classrooms become more diverse, one of the necessary goals of teacher education programs is to prepare preservice teachers (PSTs) to work with children of diverse populations. PSTs who derive largely from a dominant White culture will clearly face this challenge. One effective approach used to assist PSTs to grasp the issues of cultural…

In this article, the author considers three of today's pre-service teachers who have each watched the World Trade Center towers collapse on broadcast television, viewed the film "Hidalgo," and participated in subsequent interviews regarding the movie. Specifically, the author wants to examine the extent to which the pre-service teachers in this…

In today's sociopolitical climate in the United States, nativist anti-immigrant movements drive the marginalization and disempowerment of Latino schoolchildren. Latino teachers need more than a shared ethnicity with their students to help them develop their full potential. Bilingual educators and proponents of dual language programs must…

The world is a diverse ecosystem where humans and the environment must interact and live in harmony. In order to keep any society going, either at the national or global level, the importance of having visions for the improvement of that society cannot be overemphasized. It is in the light of this dream of making Botswana an enviable nation that…

With the increase in ethnic diversity in the United States, many educators have recognized the need to expand their knowledge of multicultural education in the public schools. The success or failure of multicultural education depends upon the effective preparation of teachers and administrators. These teachers must be competent in the courses they…

One of the greatest challenges of any K-12 teacher education program is providing pre-service teachers opportunities to work with students who are culturally and linguistically different from themselves. Despite best efforts of selecting texts and facilitating discussions, new teachers recently interviewed report that coursework just did not help…

Over the last decade, teacher preparation programs at colleges and universities across the United States have attempted to respond to the challenges of preparing teachers for the increasing diversity that is represented in public schools today. Teacher programs have responded to these challenges by altering courses, curriculum, fieldwork…

It is well documented that many preservice teachers arrive on campuses with few past experiences or opportunities to interact with people from diverse backgrounds. In addition, they often think of diversity only as an issue of race. Successful teaching requires a wider view of diversity that includes race, ethnicity/nationality, social class,…

Diversity and multicultural education is fast becoming the norm. Race, gender, ethnicity, ability, language, culture, socioeconomic class, family configurations, interests, or combinations of these produce enormous diversity issues. The refection of this huge sociocultural diversity--children coming from different ethnic backgrounds--has…

Concern for the status of linguistic minority education in Idaho provided motivation to investigate the perceptions of the inservice educators who work most closely with a large proportion of English language learners (ELLs) in the rural state's public schools. This study sought to learn directly from the state's ELL educators what they perceived…

Every teacher is a messenger. The message that a teacher communicates and portrays is acquired formally and informally through systematic study, and environmental and socialization processes. While formal study happens consciously within a particular period of time, experiential learning that impinges on the development of the message happens all…

Due to changing demographics in the K-12 student population contrasted with the homogeneous population of prospective teachers, the uncertainty about teacher preparedness to meet the needs of diverse student populations remains a controversial educational issue. Teacher educators have continued to question whether preservice teachers presently in…

Teaching multicultural education has been a consistent theme in teacher education programs across the United States (Miller, Strosnider, & Dooley, 2000), yet most institutions of higher education have struggled to incorporate standards for implementing this coursework into their certification and/or endorsement programs. Evans, Torrey, and…

Reflecting on her experiences as an educator over the past four years, the author realizes that the Center for the Study of Border Pedagogy (Bord Pedagogy) has profoundly shaped her vision for education, significantly changed her instructional practice, and effectively focused her efforts for social justice and equity in multicultural schools.…

Preparing European-American preservice teachers for diverse urban school settings pose multiple challenges. Of primary concern are the differences in race, culture, and community between teachers and students. Because new teachers prefer to work where they grew up, most preservice teachers want to teach students who are like themselves in familiar…