<p> The purpose of this qualitative, exploratory case study was to explore teachers&rsquo; perceptions toward culturally responsive teaching (CRT) of African American high school students in reading and language arts classrooms. Reading scores have increased for both African American and Caucasian students, but on average, African American students do not perform as well on reading tests as their Caucasian peers. Fifteen reading and language arts teachers from one high school in Florida were interviewed using a semistructured, open-ended interview format. Analysis of the data led to answers to the research questions for the study. The findings indicate that teachers are not prepared to teach in culturally responsive ways. The findings add to the current literature indicating that teachers support CRT but struggle to apply the strategies because of a lack of CRT training and culturally enriched reading material. Based on the findings, leaders are encouraged to engage teachers in conversations to become aware of their cultural biases, acquire knowledge of CRT, evaluate the CRT practices of teachers to determine what CRT strategies and support are needed for teachers, develop a CRT professional development plan and require all school personnel to participate in training, provide supplemental culturally enriched material for teachers to use in the classroom, and follow-up with teachers to evaluate additional needs.</p>

Providing citizenship education that reflects Canada’s diverse cultural make-up and that promotes common civic virtues is a challenging task. This research examines how citizenship education is practiced in Ontario, and how teachers’ instruction responds to the diversity found in their classrooms and Canadian society. This qualitative, multiple case study took place in four multicultural Grade 10 Civics classes in Ottawa. The research methodology included non-participant observations of classroom instruction, interviews with each civics teacher and 30 students, and citizenship education-related document analysis. The theories of conceptions of good citizenship (Westheimer & Kahne, 2004) and approaches to multicultural content integration (Banks, 2003) are the primary analytical lenses. Data analysis followed two phases: within-case and cross-case analyses (Stakes, 2006). Despite shared provincial guidelines, very different types of citizenship instruction occur, shaped by teachers’ personal conceptions of good citizenship. While all teachers stressed the importance of civic knowledge acquisition and aimed to educate active citizens, some emphasized the education of personally-responsible citizens, while others adopted either a participatory or justice-oriented approach to citizenship education. These distinct orientations lead to different approaches to teaching about active citizenship, ranging from an emphasis on conventional citizenship behaviours, to altruistically motivated make-a-difference citizenship participation, to a more thoughtful, politically-oriented citizenship participation that aims to produce societal change. Teachers’ differing conceptions of good citizenship also affect how their instruction responds to cultural diversity. While some teachers tended to avoid discussing issues of cultural and other forms of difference, others made them integral to their instruction. As such, a predominately personally-responsible approach to instruction tends to be blind to cultural difference. The participatory conception of citizenship education pays some attention to cultural difference, but aims to help marginalized people rather than address historical or structural inequality. A justice-oriented approach, in contrast, is the only approach that recognizes the importance of addressing the conflicts and tensions that exist in multicultural societies as an integral aspect of educating for democratic citizenship. This study advances new knowledge of the practice of citizenship education and offers valuable insights to developing education policy and strategies that strengthen educating engaged citizens for pluralistic, democratic societies.

This dissertation discusses the issues surrounding the teaching of values in teacher education programmes in a multi cultural context, specifically, in this case, McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. It is part of a three-nation collaborative study that took place in the Faculties of Education at three universities: Universidad Pedagogica Nacional, Mexico; California State University, Long Beach and McGill University, Montreal, Quebec. Anecdotal evidence gathered from participants in an exchange program between the first two institutions indicated that significant cultural differences among both students and faculty impacted on the learning experience. Differences in values and teaching styles led to problems of communication, teaching and learning. This finding led to collaboration among the three faculties of education in order to conduct similar inquiries. My dissertation is based on the study that I carried out at McGill. My ultimate goal was to identify how values are perceived in teacher education and how they are actually taught. I interviewed selected groups of student teachers and teacher educators and asked them to respond to questionnaires. With this data, I was able to draw some conclusions about the teaching of values as seen by these particular groups of prospective teachers and teacher educators. I generated data in two phases. In Phase 1, I conducted interviews with Faculty and students in the pre-service teacher education programme in order to identify the values that these participants considered the most important in teacher education. These interviews allowed me to develop two instruments that were subsequently used in Phase 2. In Phase 2, I obtained additional information on the values that participants considered to be important for teacher education, the values that are taught in the programs, the strategies used to teach those values and the issues that cause value conflicts. My study indicates that respect is a value that dominates the / Ma recherche porte sur l'enseignement des valeurs dans les programmes de formation des enseignants en milieu multiculturel, plus particulierement a l'universite McGill, Montreal, Quebec. Elle s'inscrit dans le cadre d'une etude menee conjointement par la faculte des sciences de l'education de trois universites differentes : Universidad Pedagogica Nacional au Mexique; California State University a Long Beach, Californie et l'Universite McGill a Montreal, Canada. L'etude interfacultaire est nee des experiences vecues par des professeurs et des etudiants des deux premieres universites citees, dans le cadre d'un programme d'echange. Les temoignages recueillis aupres des participants au programme d'echange revelent que des differences culturelles importantes entre les etudiants et les professeurs ont des incidences pour l'apprentissage. En fait, il en est ressorti que des problemes importants de communication et d'enseignement apprentissage resultent des differences au niveau des valeurs et des styles d'enseignement. Ce constat m'a amene a entreprendre mon etude aupres d'un public cible a McGill. J'ai voulu verifier comment le concept de valeurs est percu par les formateurs et les formes ainsi que la maniere dont les valeurs sont enseignees dans la realite de la classe. A l'aide d'entrevues menees aupres de groupes d'enseignants en formation et de formateurs ainsi que d'un questionnaire, j'ai pu recueillir des donnees qui m'ont permis de tirer un certain nombre de conclusions quant it l'enseignement des valeurs. J'ai procede en deux etapes. Dans un premier temps (Phase I), j'ai mene des entrevues aupres d'enseignants en formation initiale et de formateurs, afin d'identifier les valeurs qu'ils jugeaient les plus importantes dans la formation. Ces entrevues m'ont permis d'elaborer deux instruments qui m'ont servi lors de la phase deux de ma recherche. Lors de la deuxieme phase (Phase II), j'ai recueilli des informations supplementaires concernant les valeurs jugees impo

This study explored one classroom teacher's attempt to bridge young learners' access to the academic content of Social Studies in an elementary, multilingual, multicultural, mainstream classroom. To this end, it examined both the planning and enacting of a Grade Five/Six Social Studies unit: Immigration In Canada. The unit was designed to draw on the teacher's and learners' social and cultural identities as a resource and afford students multiple ways to access and demonstrate understandings. In the complex, and dynamic environment of the mainstream classroom, the subject of Social Studies presents a linguistically demanding academic discipline for native English speakers and often an even more formidable challenge for students who are in the process of acquiring English as a second or an additional language Simultaneously, the subject matter of Social Studies can provide a useful venue to share experiences related to language, culture and personal histories. This study provided a rich and holistic account of the everyday classroom life of students' and their teacher's experiences over a three month time span during Social Studies lessons. Through qualitative research methods, data were drawn from reflective notes of planning sessions, field notes of classroom observations, audio-recorded interviews of the students, and an audio-recorded interview of the teacher, a survey and student work samples. Two, one hour after school planning sessions and seventeen (usually forty-five minute) classroom lessons were observed over a three-month period. The data was analyzed and systematized around my research questions in order to explore how the Social Studies unit was enacted in a mainstream setting. The qualitative analysis of the data suggested that there were positive connection between the curriculum as planned and the curriculum as experienced in the classroom. The study demonstrated that a Social Studies unit that encompassed a multiliterate pedagogy where particular attention was paid to drawing on students' social and cultural identities had very positive outcomes. The study also highlighted that the teacher's own professional identity played a key factor in affirming student identity and promoting student engagement. There was a strong link between investment of the learner and the relationship between the teacher and the students. The students were more deeply invested in the lessons than they might otherwise have been because the learning environment that the teacher constructed, valued students as members of a learning community, each with a personal history that was respected. The findings also suggest that the narrative genre of storytelling was a preferred activity for students and bridged a connection between both home and school environments. Within the Social Studies lessons the teacher continually emphasized and fore-grounded the role of relationship between student and teacher and student to student as means to an effective learning environment. The study also highlighted the need for further research in diverse, elementary mainstream, classroom settings and the need to further examine literacy practices that encompass a more linguistically and culturally responsive pedagogy.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wyoming, 2005. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Feb. 20, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 105-116).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--The University of Mississippi, 2005. / (UnM)AAI3190563. Adviser: Esim Erdim. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 66-09, Section: A, page: 3191.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Bowling Green State University, 2008. / Document formatted into pages; contains x, 133 p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2008. / Title from title screen (site viewed Apr. 9, 2009). PDF text: ix, 303 p. ; 1 Mb. UMI publication number: AAT 3338747. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1995. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [162]-172).

Thesis (Ed.S.)--Western Kentucky University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 193-207).