“All Children Matter”: A Preservice Teacher’s Understanding and Practice of Culturally Responsive Teaching in a Third-Grade Mathematics Classroom

Abstract

As public schools in the United States become increasingly diverse, the need to prepare competent preservice teachers who can teach in culturally diverse contexts is imperative. There is dire need to prepare mathematics teachers who understand the importance of aligning classroom experiences with students’ home cultures to enhance their academic, social, and cultural wellbeing. This study, therefore, was designed to examine how one preservice teacher understood the concept of culturally responsive teaching, and how she later implemented culturally responsive practices in a third-grade mathematics classroom during her student teaching assignment.