Engaging preservice teachers with culturally relevant microteaching activity: A university professor s experience and perception

There is an increase in the students’ cultural diversity in schools in Canada, making it essential for the teacher education programs to prepare pre-service teachers to better support all students in culturally inclusive classrooms. Using self-study approach to action research, this study investigated how a university professor in Canada engaged in a reflective practice about designing a culturally relevant microteaching assignment in an Educational Psychology course as a context for preparing culturally responsive pre-service teachers. Data collected included course syllabus, microteaching assignment instructions and lesson plans, designed peer feedback form, and professor’s class PowerPoint presentations, and personal reflective reports/journal. The findings indicated how: (1) the professor embedded culturally relevant and responsive pedagogies into the microteaching assignment, (2) pre-service teachers actively engaged in the designed culturally centred practices as a context for their professional development, and (3) multidimensional feedback was essential in supporting the pre-service teachers’ thinking about addressing issues of cultural diversity. The major findings, lessons learned by the professor, implications, limitations of the study with suggestions for future practice and research are discussed.