!""#$%&'%( *+ , !-(#.

/' 0-#(#12'
3-'45-#%$ 3-'"'-6#.' 7'5.8'-" #% 5 9#6'-"' :;-/<

}ennifei Bos
SS6S4uuu


ETEC Suu
}anuaiy S1
st
, 2u14






















2
In theii papei "!"#$%"&'( !"#*#"+&,# -#%,.#"* &' % /&+#"*# 01"2345 Lenski et al
examine the giowing uispaiity between stuuents fiom an ethnic backgiounu veisus
the pieseivice teacheis who aie piepaiing to teach them. In theii liteiatuie ieview
they cleaily iuentify the impact that the high peicentage of "white" pieseivice
teacheis can have on the capacity of stuuent's abilities to leain, as well as the limiteu
success of cuiient mouels to auuiess this gap. Theii liteiatuie ieview highlights the
impoitance of employing a cultuially iesponsive mouel in theii classiooms; baseu
on new ways of thinking about cultuial uiffeiences anu iecognizing that the
classioom is a "meeting place" foi eveiyone's woiluviews. As such, the goal of this
stuuy was to assist these euucatois to uevelop the "habits of minu" that will be
necessaiy to woik with a uiveise population of stuuents.
0vei the couise of five yeais, pieseivice teacheis woikeu with
ethnogiapheis in the Beyonu Awaieness Pioject in oiuei to leain about the
methous employeu in an ethnogiaphic stuuy. The focus of this paiticulai papei was
on 28 elementaiy level pieseivice teacheis fiom the seconu yeai of the stuuy, with
auuitional infoimation coming fiom a subset of six teacheis. Stuuents staiteu by
woiking on theii obseivational skills in a familiai setting befoie moving to a
community site in oiuei to conuuct theii tiue obseivations, all the while ieceiving
feeuback anu guiuance fiom theii instiuctois.
The initial feeuback, pioviueu to ieseaicheis by the subset of stuuents,
showeu that stuuents hau a tenuency to make bioau assumptions baseu on minoi
obseivations, such as a neighboihoou watch sign signifying a iough aiea. This
conceineu ieseaicheis as they thought maybe theii piocess was leauing stuuents to
S
come to inappiopiiate assumptions. Reseaicheis weie able to iemeuy this by
holuing class uiscussions in which piopei ethnogiaphic methous weie iuentifieu;
not jumping to conclusions anu using moie infoimation on which to base theii
assessments.
Lenski et al, iepoit that as the yeai piogiesseu, stuuents continueu to giow
anu bioauen theii view of uiveisity beyonu that of just iaceethnicity to incluue
acauemics, genuei, economics, etc. They claim that the stiongest aiea of the stuuy
was the pieseivice teacheis' ability to integiate what they hau leaineu thiough theii
ethnogiaphic stuuies into theii teaching piactices. Bowevei, two othei tienus
emeigeu fiom the uata; that pieseivice teacheis want to be tolu what to look foi
iathei than opening up, as the ieseaicheis wanteu them to, anu that pieseivice
teacheis founu the wiiting component of this piocess a buiuen.
While the focus of this paiticulai stuuy is impoitant in euucation, it is my
opinion that it is ueficient in both uepth anu scale anu theieby lacks the capacity to
make a ieal impact in the euucation woilu. I was uisappointeu by the failuie to
fuithei uevelop the iuea of pieseivice teacheis examining theii own
pieconceptions. The authois of the stuuy iuentify "becoming awaie of one's own
cultuie" as being an impoitant pait of leaining to become awaie of cultuial
uiffeiences, anu yet at no point in the actual stuuy uo they seem to auuiess this.
I finu it inteiesting that at one point in the aiticle the ieseaicheis expiess
concein that the stuuents weie making assumptions baseu on small amounts of
infoimation anu yet I felt that this aiticle expecteu us to uo the same. In pioviuing
us with a biief summaiy of the finuings anu no actual conciete uata, they aie in
4
essence asking us to make assumptions baseu on limiteu infoimation. In auuition,
while the stuuy uiu span a five-yeai peiiou, Lenski et al. point out that the stuuents
in this paiticulai piogiam self-selecteu so they aie likely not a tiue iepiesentative
sample of pieseivice teacheis. If stuuents who aie choosing to be in this paiticulai
piogiam aie stiuggling with wanting to be tolu what to uo anu the buiuen of
wiiting, I can only imagine the iesistance to these types of activities in moie geneial
pieseivice piogiams. As pointeu out by the ieseaicheis in theii conclusion, this
neeus to be testeu in a laigei aiena. While this papei may lack the uepth necessaiy
to infoim instiuctional piactice, the topic is one that is impoitant anu theiefoie it
coulu be useu as way of iuentifying aieas in which fuithei ieseaich woulu be
beneficial.












S

='>'-'%.'"

Lenski, S.B., Ciawfoiu, K., Ciumplei, T., & Stallwoith, C., (2uuS). Piepaiing
Pieseivice Teacheis in a Biveise Woilu. 6,7&1' &' -#%,.#" 839,%7&1': 27(S).
pp S - 12. Nanassas, vA.