Date on Master's Thesis/Doctoral Dissertation

8-2015

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph. D.

Department (Legacy)

Department of Early Childhood and Elementary Education

Degree Program

Curriculum and Instruction, PhD

Committee Chair

Norton-Meier, Lori

Committee Co-Chair (if applicable)

Chisholm, James

Committee Member

Chisholm, James

Committee Member

Thomas, Shelley

Committee Member

Whitmore, Kathy

Author's Keywords

Teacher interns; Teacher recruitment program; Cultural responsiveness

Subject

Teachers--Recruiting; First year teachers; Multicultural education

Abstract

This dissertation explored the ways that teachers on an intern license who have been recruited by a Teacher Recruitment program experience ideological becoming into culturally responsive teachers in the Four Corners region of the United States. Bakhtin’s theories on ideological becoming and authoritative and internally persuasive discourses frame this study with emphasis on the experiences that caused intern teachers tension and helped them make culturally responsive teaching practices an internally persuasive discourse. I used narrative inquiry methodology to discern intern teachers’ stories and experiences. I interviewed 5 intern teachers teaching in elementary classrooms in the Four Corners region of the United States. Data collected in this study included interview transcripts, artifacts, and two surveys. Findings indicate that ideological becoming into culturally responsive teachers starts long before intern teachers decide to join an alternative licensure program and intern teachers who were experiencing successful becoming had a range of experience with diverse groups of people and coursework on diversity and social justice issues. Also, intern teachers of color brought many of the discourses for culturally responsive teaching with them as internally persuasive discourses because of their own experiences being marginalized by the educational system. This study demonstrates the need for recruiting more teachers of color as well as requiring diversity coursework and experiences for admittance into teacher education programs.

Download

Share

COinS