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Abstract

This article discusses a unique program initiative of one university’s education department to interrogate teacher education coursework together as educators and researchers. We evaluated the course curriculum of five different courses together as a team on a routine basis and documented our thoughts and discussion through video and an organized survey tool. This tool was developed according to Muhammad’s five pursuits of culturally and historically responsive education which include: identity, skills, intellect, criticality, and joy. This produced qualitative and quantitative findings related to methods for adapting and adjusting course instruction, content, and assessments according to the pursuits. Relatedly, it promoted critical and inspiring discussion amongst department colleagues (and a student involved in the coursework) as part of the evaluation team. This study and initiative are ones we hope to repeat for multiple programs within the department. We also aim to provide an outline for other institutions to replicate similar endeavors who are involved in the vital task of preparing and empowering middle-level teachers and teacher candidates through and with culturally responsive practices.

Author Bio

Dr. Christine Craddock is an Assistant Professor at Delaware State University where she is the Middle-Level Program Coordinator. She has experience teaching undergraduate and graduate level coursework in Literacy, Mathematics, ESOL, Research Methods, and Teacher Education. She was formerly a public secondary mathematics educator for 10 years and holds an MA in English with a focus in TESOL and an EdD in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus in literacy. Her research interests include intersections of mathematics education, culturally relevant pedagogy, critical and disciplinary literacies, and multimodality. This includes partnering with a former colleague at Augusta University through a grant funded project called "Get Fit! With Math and Lit," a free physical activity program providing equitable access for underrepresented urban youth to content literacy and holistic health development.

She served multiple years on the editorial board for Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. Some of her articles and book chapter publications can be found in The Dissertation in Practice, Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, Georgia Journal of Literacy, Journal of Teacher Action Research, Current Issues in Middle Level Education, Journal of Youth Development, Strategies: A Journal for Physical and Sport Educators, and Journal of Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance.

DOI

10.20429/cimle.2026.29203

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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