Background/Purpose Today, 83% of all teachers in public schools are White and only 17% are teachers of color (American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, 2010). Recently, Harrison, Russell, and Burden (2010) report that physical educators of color held higher levels of multicultural teaching competence than their White American counterparts. However, there are limited studies that focus on the influence of pre-service teachers' racial backgrounds and their effectiveness in teaching students of color in student teaching. The purpose of this study was to examine and analyze PETE pre-service teachers of color pedagogical experiences with students of color during their student teaching in K-12 physical education settings. This study was grounded in the framework of Activity Theory (Grossman, Smagrinsky, & Valencia, 1999).
Method This study was used an explanatory case study design (Yin, 2003). Participants were seven PETE pre-service teachers and enrolled in student teaching and seminar in physical education between Fall 2009 through Fall 2010. Data were collected from three data sources that were a modified weekly journal refection (Hodge, Tannehill, & Kluge 2003), face-face interview questions, and electric portfolios of student teaching work samples.
Analysis/Results Constant comparative analysis (Merriam, 1998) was used to systematically examine and refine variations in emergent themes. The major recurrent themes were (a) meeting expectations from cooperative teachers and students, (b) culturally relevant lessons and plans in student teaching, and (c) pedagogical challenges and activity selection.
Conclusions We will discuss the implications for PETE pre-service teachers of color teaching experiences in student teaching.
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