Experiences of Elementary Pre-Service Teachers in an Urban Summer Enrichment Program

Introduction Preparing teachers for diverse urban school environments is a challenge that all teacher preparation programs face. With today's changing demographics among student populations in public schools, teacher education programs realize that their candidates need more than a "one size fits all" general education curriculum. Tomorrow's prospective teachers need a "specialized knowledge of the lives a--nd learning styles of urban children--first hand experiences in urban schools and an understanding of the community from which the child comes" (Reed & Simon, 1991, p. 32). Over 90% of teacher education candidates are white females, and the majority of them are from backgrounds or families that many consider middle class. However, in general forty percent of children who attend public schools are not white (Dowell, 2008) and the majority of these children do not come from middle class families. In urban communities, most students are exclusively minority (Dowell, 2008; Irvine, 2003; Delpit, 1995) and are from low-income families. Many teachers have a tendency to want to teach students who resemble them not just in terms of race, but in terms of backgrounds as well (Dowell, 2008; Weinstein, Tomlinson-Clark, & Curran, 2004). If this is truly the case, then children in urban communities are in quite a predicament because "when school-aged children hail from a background markedly different from their teachers, disconnection can occur and tensions can surface" (Dowell, 2008, p. 1). Many of the academic and behavioral problems that urban children experience are actually a byproduct of the disconnection between the student and teacher. "The mismatch between the social, cultural, experiential, and linguistic backgrounds of students and their teachers could be viewed as one of the reasons why some school children fail" (Dowell, 2008, p. 1). In short, both teachers and students, regardless of race, lack the cultural capital needed to assist one another. Cultural Capital Cultural capital refers to the "ability to understand and practice the norms, discourse patterns, language styles, and language modes of the dominant culture. That is, given that the cultural forms of our society are dominated by white middle-class norms, behaviors, and language, individuals who lack the knowledge and skills associated with these norms and behaviors are denied access to success (Moore, 2003, p. 72; Pai & Adler, 2001)." There is a disconnection or a misunderstanding that occurs between many urban African American students and their predominantly white female and middle class teachers. This phenomenon is true, in part, because teachers and "schools utilize particular linguistic patterns, authority structures, interaction dynamics, and course material, all of which are familiar to children from higher social statuses" (Simpson, 2001, p. 67) but are unfamiliar to pupils from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. The experiences of countless urban African American children and the ways in which they are socialized and reared do not resemble how schools are organized or the experiences and backgrounds of many of their middle class white or black teachers. This mismatch works to the detriment of both teacher and pupil. Because of this disconnection, many aspiring teachers have no desire to pursue a career in an urban school environment, many times because of fear of failure (Darling-Hammond, 2006). In addition, this disconnection also helps to explain why an achievement gap exists between African American students and their white counterparts. Many urban African American children simply cannot relate to their white (or black) teachers and vice versa due to the differences in their socioeconomic statuses. Teachers and students are communicating in language and ways of knowing that neither can understand. This lack of communication has an adverse effect on student achievement and teacher retention because no commonality or middle ground exists. …