The multicultural bullet: race relations curriculum for teacher education programs

Abstract

Teacher education programs possess the unique task of preparing teacher candidates for increasingly diverse classrooms. White teacher candidates often demonstrate a disconnect in understanding the role racial consciousness plays in classrooms and in student achievement (McDonough, 2009 Pollock et al, 2010). Based on how the brain learns, this capstone presents a curriculum that teacher education programs can use to help teacher candidates develop racial consciousness and effective race relations for classrooms. Through evaluating how the brain learns, the role of emotion in race and in learning, and development of racial consciousness, this curriculum model demonstrates a curriculum approach, lesson criteria, effective methods, and five features of a course structure for re-approaching diversity training through the lens of the learner. This model is recommended as a required course for all teacher candidates, emphasizing personal development as a foundation for continued professional growth in multicultural practice.