Supporting Preservice Teacher Development of Culturally Responsive Reading Instruction Through a Cross-Course Assignment

This article describes design-based research undertaken by two teacher educators to support elementary preservice teachers (PSTs) in integrating culturally responsive teaching practices with reading methods. The study described was motivated by calls for teacher preparation programs to be more intentional about supporting PSTs in synthesizing their learning across courses, especially when it comes to culturally responsive reading pedagogies. This article focuses on an activity that tasked PSTs to select culturally authentic children’s texts and design interactive read-alouds that engage elementary students in conversations around social justice topics while simultaneously meeting English language arts standards. Analysis of the lesson plans revealed that PSTs made explicit connections between reading methods instruction and strategies that facilitate dialogue about critical social issues and social justice advocacy, but the connections remained shallow. PSTs showed that they understood the overall goal of the assignment but lacked depth and detail in their justifications of texts and activities. The authors conclude with a reflection on the patterns that emerged in their findings and outline their plans for future iterations of the experiment. Overall, the authors’ experiences highlight the importance of teacher preparation programs exploring more opportunities to cross-pollinate assignments or otherwise build bridges between courses to support PSTs’ integration of concepts.