Transforming Curriculum, Exploring Identity, and Cultivating Culturally Responsive Educators

Faculty in higher education prepare critically conscious and culturally responsive educators. To meet the challenge, a growing discourse and interest in research focused on preparing teachers and leaders for social justice (Brown, 2004; Jean-Marie, Normore, & Brooks, 2009; Capper, Theoharis, Sebastian, 2006; Theoharis, 2007, 2008, 2009). Yet practical models applying this work in real-time is limited (McKenzie, K.B. and Scheurich, J.J., 2004). Even fewer focus on how we might leverage cross-comparative models of pre-service and in-service teacher development as a way to effectively engage a culturally sustaining and responsive educational praxis. This chapter fills the void. In order to better understand how to prepare educators with the knowledge and capacity to recognize the social and cultural capital of marginalized and minoritized students, as well as to understand how students see the effect of their multifaceted identities on their experiences we designed and implemented the Multicultural Curriculum Transformation Assignment (MCTA) As schools of education continue to work toward preparing teachers who will teach and lead for social justice there are many lessons that this study reveals. This inquiry and work in teacher and leadership development has promising implications for educator professional development, increasing cultural proficiency amongst teachers and school leaders, and the urgent call for increasing the skill and will to confront and pose solutions for the equity challenges that diverse students face.