ASSESSING RACIAL MICROAGGRESSIONS IN PRE-SERVICE TEACHER EDUCATION PROGRAMS AT WEBER STATE UNIVERSITY by Xiaoli Li A project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF EDUCATION CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTION WEBER STATE UNIVERSITY Ogden, Utah August 14th, 2023 Approved Shernavaz Vakil, Ed. D. Melina Alexander, Ph. D. Dezirae Choi M. Ed. RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 2 Acknowledgment I want to express my most significant appreciation to the faculty and staff at Weber State University who helped guide and direct me during the process of this project. Thank you to dear Dr. Vakil for her help, encouragement, and guidance throughout the project. Thank you to Dr. Alexander and Ms. Choi for joining my committees and providing great feedback and editing advice. I couldn't have finished my thesis without all of these fantastic people. Next, this project would not have happened without the great love and support of my amazing husband, Joseph. Since beginning this process, Joseph has been a constant support and source of encouragement. I literally could not have done this without you. Thank you for being my husband, friend, buddy, therapist, and everything else. Finally, I would like to thank my dearest family, my parents in China, my mother-in-law, Nanee, and the whole Hanks family. Thank you for being there, supporting me, and encouraging me, as always! I love and thank all of you! RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 3 Abstract In K-12 settings, the student body is becoming increasingly diverse (Sue et al., 2007; Solorzano et al., 2000; Williams, 2021). Conversely, the teaching faculty still needs more diversity and the ability to address racial issues. Therefore, this thesis explores how teacher educators in the secondary teacher licensure program (STLP) at Weber State University (WSU) address Racial Microaggressions (RMAs), their attitude towards RMAs, and how they include Culturally Responsive Practices (CRPs) in their instruction and curriculum. How can teacher educators help these future teachers use CRPs through modeling and mentoring, be prepared to address future racial issues, and include diversity and inclusion in K-12 settings? In general, all three interviewees understood the importance of addressing RMAs and including CRPs, and they expressed strong awareness of and positive attitudes toward addressing RMAs and including CRPs in their curriculum and instruction. Regarding implementation, interviewees #1 and #2 shared more constructive measures and skills about how to stop and intervene in class misbehaviors and educate STLP students. They addressed RMAs directly in their curriculum. The interviewee # 2 also included the policy of dealing with RMAs in her syllabus. The third interviewee had a positive attitude and awareness but needed to address RMAs in his curriculum actively. RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 4 Table of Contents Nature of Problem..........................................................................................................................7 Literature Review.......................................................................................................................... 8 What are Microaggressions?......................................................................................................9 What is the Impact of RMAs on Students of color?................................................................ 11 How to Start the Change from the STLPs?..............................................................................13 Secondary Teacher Licensure Program (STLP)................................................................ 14 Conversations about Race and Racism.............................................................................. 15 Cultural Responsiveness Practices (CRPs)..............................................................................17 Cultural Responsiveness Practices (CRPs) and Racial Microaggressions (RMAs).......... 19 Intervention Strategies....................................................................................................... 21 Purpose..........................................................................................................................................22 Methods.........................................................................................................................................24 Research design and Data Analysis......................................................................................... 24 Participants...............................................................................................................................25 Instrumentation........................................................................................................................ 25 The Strategy of Data Analysis................................................................................................. 27 Potential Bias and Self-reflexivity........................................................................................... 28 Analysis of Interview Contents................................................................................................... 28 Part One: Understanding the attitudes and perceptions of WSU faculty towards addressing RMAs in the curriculum.......................................................................................................... 29 RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 5 Racial Makeup................................................................................................................... 29 Attitude Matters................................................................................................................. 31 Part Two: Exploring How Teacher Educators at WSU Address RMAs, Bias, and Injustices in Their Instructions..................................................................................................................... 35 Rules and Norms................................................................................................................35 Stop and Intervention.........................................................................................................37 Resources Support............................................................................................................. 39 Part Three: Explore How Teacher Educators at WSU Include CRPs in Their Curriculum and Instruction................................................................................................................................ 43 CRPs Framework............................................................................................................... 44 Implementing the Framework............................................................................................49 Results........................................................................................................................................... 55 The Inter-relationship Between Teacher Educators' Attitudes Toward RMAs and CRPs and the Racial Diversity of STLP Students.................................................................................... 55 The Relationship Between Teacher Educators' Racial Background and His/her Attitude Towards RMAs and CRPs....................................................................................................... 56 The Relationship Between Teacher Educators’ Teaching Area and the Implementing of CRPs 57 Discussion..................................................................................................................................... 58 Implications of the Results.......................................................................................................58 Limitations............................................................................................................................... 64 RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 6 Conclusion............................................................................................................................... 64 References..................................................................................................................................... 67 Appendix.......................................................................................................................................73 Appendix A: Interview Questions Guide.................................................................................73 Appendix B: Interview Extract & Codes #1............................................................................ 73 Appendix C: Interview Extract & Codes #2............................................................................ 78 Appendix D: Interview Extract & Codes #3............................................................................82 Appendix E: IRB Approval..................................................................................................... 86 RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 7 Nature of Problem Despite the progress that has been made in combating racism in school settings, there are still many students of color who experience racism through racial microaggressions (RMAs) (Sue et al., 2007; Solorzano et al., 2000; Williams, 2021). A federal investigation in a northern Utah school district demonstrated that Black and Asian American students had experienced RMAs in the form of verbal bullying and micro harassment (Department of Justice, 2021). This investigation showed that RMAs were also directed at students of color by the school's faculty (Department of Justice, 2021). Staff members mocked these students in front of their peers and retaliated against them for reporting the harassment (Meckler, 2021). Inequities such as those indicated in the investigation listed above are immense for students of color (Morin, 2021), influencing their well-being and growth in all aspects of life (Morin, 2021; Sue et al., 2007). RMAs, as a type of racism, can lead to devastating mental-health outcomes, especially in the K-12 settings where they are prominent and pervasive (Williams, 2021). Thompson (2010) stated that "these behaviors pose a great challenge for schools when left unchecked" (p. 2). Schools seem to create environments where students "learn" how to become violent, hostile, and withdrawn (Thompson, 2010). Racial microaggression, experienced over long periods of time, can create shame and devaluation for students of color (Yosso et al., 2009). However, most teachers do not know how to properly deal with or interrupt RMAs (Morin, 2021; Sue et al., 2007). If not appropriately handled by teachers, RMAs can turn classrooms and schools into base of discrimination which can affect the health and sustainability of the entire school and community (Miller & Miskimon, 2021). The latest statistics show that America's public schools are increasingly diverse: white student enrollment has declined by 8%, while student of color enrollment has increased by 10% RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 8 (Byrant et al., 2017). As student populations are becoming more diverse, RMAs may become more prevalent in classroom environments. One strategy for interrupting RMAs is through using culturally responsive practices (CRPs). CRPs were designed out of a direct concern for the achievement gap between students of color and their white peers (Morin, 2021; Vavrus, 2008). This pedagogy was explicitly designed to increase the engagement and motivation of students of color and to help schools become more equitable and inclusive in their curriculum and systems (Morin, 2021). However, it has been reported that most new teachers are not prepared to be culturally responsive educators (Vavrus, 2008) who are able to address RMAs and diversity and inclusion. Literature Review This review will first define and discuss the current state of research on the development of microaggressions. As the changing face of racism, microaggressions against minorities in today's society, and this review will discuss how microaggressions affect the development of these individuals. The following literature review will focus on the impact of RMAs in K-12 settings and the dilemma in dealing with microaggression according to its characteristics (subtle, everyday, invisible, etc.). A discussion will ensue concerning the impact of racial issues at the school administrative level, such as bullying, language assault, and school system discrimination. In pre-service teacher programs, a discussion will focus on how teacher educators incorporate CRPs to address RMAs in the curriculum and instruction settings levels. Meanwhile, this review will also discuss the significance of CRPs in pre-service teacher education programs. This review will conclude by addressing strategies to intervene and stop RMAs in general education settings. RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 9 What are Microaggressions? Microaggressions can be expressed in various ways, primarily based on family structure, social class, race, gender, ability and disability, religion, appearance, and body type (Compton-Lilly, 2020; Sue, 2010; Wintner et al., 2017). The concept of microaggressions was first introduced by Chester M. Pierce et al. (1978) as "subtle, stunning, often automatic, and non-verbal exchanges which are put downs" (p. 66). Pierce et al.'s definition of microaggressions mainly referred to Black people being attacked by non-Black people consciously or unconsciously. In the 1980s and 1990s, researchers expanded the definition to include all racism suffered by people of color. For this discussion about microaggressions in the K-12 settings, it is necessary to define the term students of color. This project defines "students of color" as students who "self-identify as African American, Mexican American, Latinx, Asian, Native American and a mix of the aforementioned racial identities" (UCSanDiego, n.d. Para. 8). Microaggressions have also been described by Sue et al. as "brief, everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages to people of color" (2007, p. 273). It mainly materialized in RMAs: microassault, microinsults, and microinvalidation (Sue et al., 2007). First, Sue et al. (2007) states that a microassault is an "explicit racial derogation" characterized primarily by a verbal or nonverbal attack that aims to hurt someone through "name-calling, avoidant behavior, or purposeful discriminatory actions." For example, referring to someone as "colored" or displaying a swastika would be considered a microassault. Microinsults are defined as expressions that are insulting and belittling to a person's racial background or identity (Sue et al., 2007). MicroinsultsMicroinsults that are hardly noticeable often go unacknowledged by the one doing the insulting, but they still send a damaging message to the recipient (Sue et al., 2007). For example, a white teacher acts distracted while talking to a Black student, avoiding eye contact or RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 10 turning away (Hinton, 2004). Finally, microinvalidation, the exclusion, denial, or elimination of thoughts, feelings, or experiential reality, is a prominent feature of microinvalidation in interactions with people of color (Sue et al., 2007). For example, microaggressions occur when Asian Americans are complimented on speaking English well or are repeatedly asked about their place of birth. It negates their American heritage and conveys that they are foreigners. These categories help frame microaggressions' traits and how race is expressed (Allen, 2012). Allen (2012) also provided a very apt definition of Racial Microaggressions (RMAs): RMAs can affect all marginalized groups and are constantly enhanced by successive environmental cues as well as verbal and nonverbal implicit messages. These messages help to invalidate one's empirical reality and to keep feelings of inferiority and self-efficacy under attack and compromise (Allen, 2012). RMAs, as one of the most outstanding microaggressions, primarily involve interracial Microaggressions that can be intentional or unintentional, verbal or nonverbal. All the definitions of RMAs share some commonalities: they all emphasize that the characteristics of Microaggressions are brief, common and everyday verbal, behavioral, or environmental insults that are not easily detectable. Much research on RMAs has been found in social and psychological fields (Allen, 2012; Sue et al., 2007; Solorzano et al., 2000). According to Sue et al. (2007), RMAs significantly impact people of color in terms of social and psychological development. Although Microaggressions are often manifested in some subtle, persistent ways, their long-term impact on human psychological, social-emotional, and intellectual development can be detrimental (Allen, 2013). RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 11 What is the Impact of RMAs on Students of color? According to the characteristics of RMAs listed above, enduring this kind of subtle damage and destruction can cause a lasting impact on the self-perceptions and worldviews of a child, especially in the K-12 settings where RMAs are very prominent and pervasive. Allen et al. (2013) emphasize that RMAs are very apparent at the district and school levels. Much research has focused on RMAs at the K-12 level (Donovan et al., 2013; Solorzano et al., 2000; Torres et al., 2010), including analysis of the causes and effects of microaggressions from the teachers, students, and administration. Teachers play an essential role in creating an environment that supports student learning and growth, and they also have a significant impact in imparting knowledge and influencing students' values and perceptions (Singh & Singh, 2021). When students learn and grow up in an environment of prejudice, discrimination, and microaggressions, a cognitive bias toward race and injustice will form (Cokley, 2006). Students experiencing microaggressions often internalize messages that significantly affect their well-being (Cokley, 2006) and mental health. Sue et al. (2007) argued that being in a "microaggressive environment" for an extended period of time harms people. Students who have experienced RMAs will be impacted by their educational experiences and life experiences. First, one of the RMAs' outstanding impacts is related to the "health and well-being of students' (Donovan et al., 2013; Henfield, 2011; Nadal, 2010). Second, it generates intellectual and conceptual biases in students (Allen, 2013). Finally, RMAs can undermine students' self-concept and self-racial identity awareness (Allen, 2013). Adolescence is critical for developing teenagers' self-concept and ethnic identity (Moore & Owen, 2009). When students of color are exposed continuously to a predominantly white cultural environment, their emotions can easily be overlooked and masked. This also means that RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 12 students of color are prone to trauma, and their well-being is impacted due to the continuous accumulation of environmental stress in their daily lives (Sue et al., 2007). Meanwhile, Nadal (2010) confirms the Sue et al. supposition that RMAs tend to be unconscious and subtle. In addition, microaggressions can lead to various mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, trauma, or self-esteem issues in adolescents. This tremendously impacts the development of their self-concept and racial identity. Microaggressions often arise from stereotypes, such as Asian students excelling in math and physics or African-American students having behavioral problems (Lee et al., 2020). Such stereotypical microaggressions often hurt students' intellectual development (Lee et al., 2020). Microaggressions usually stem from teachers' biases and negative interpretations of students' behavior and intentions, which then tends to create intellectual anxiety and stress in students (Miller & Miskimon, 2021). To cope with these biases, students may also exhibit symptoms of post-traumatic stress (Flores et al., 2010). Because of post-traumatic stress, they are more likely to engage in risky behaviors such as drugs and addiction to alcohol, sexual activity, and involvement in fights and brawls (Flores et al., 2010). Racial stereotypes regarding academic performance are everywhere in K-12 settings. For example, when one or more African American students exhibit negative behaviors or deficits, this is used to justify a derogatory view of all African American students. Meanwhile, when they demonstrate positive behaviors or attributes, this is seen as a rare success story in the face of the supposed overall failure of their racial group (Solorzano et al., 2000). These racial stereotypes are a form of microaggression, which can impact students' intellectual and behavioral expectations and have severe implications on their sense of identity (Allen, 2013). RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 13 How to Start the Change from the STLPs? The literature cited above attempts to demonstrate the impact of RMAs and other forms of prejudice and discrimination. They also re-emphasize the unfairness of educating students of color in a microaggressive environment. As the environment in the U.S. is historically racist, Sue (2005) points out that modern white Americans have been raised in this racist environment for generations, so they will naturally be indoctrinated with racism in this cultural environment. They may fall victim to cultural conditioning that infuses them with biases that cause them to discriminate against students of color (Abelson, Dasgupta, Park, & Banaji, 1998; Banaji, Hardin, & Roth man, 1993). Therefore, students of color might face many RMAsfrom their teachers and their white peers (Morin, 2021) and white peers. One of the most outstanding issues is that teachers of students of color view them from a"deficit perspective" (Morin, 2021). For instance, when teachers use verbal microaggressions toward students of color, it indicates that they have lower academic expectations for students, resulting in students receiving less challenging and exciting work. Regarding disciplinary consequences, students of color also accept more severe consequences for fewer offenses than their white peers (Morin, 2021). Students of color receive more repetitive work and need more opportunities to achieve their fullest potential (Hammond, 2015). If a teacher keeps seeing students of color from a deficit perspective, this will result in faculty continuing to ignore their cultural heritage, values, and academic strengths in learning. Correspondingly, the achievement/opportunity gap between students of color and white students will continue to grow. Meanwhile, the U.S. public school teaching force is increasingly homogeneous, with most teachers being female, white, and middle class (National Center for Education Statistics, 2020). RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 14 Several studies have noted that teachers who have high expectations for all students and who motivate students to learn through culturally relevant instruction (e.g., CRP) are better able to improve student learning and reduce the interracial achievement gap to some extent (Ai, 2002; Alder, 2000; Ladson-Billings, 1994; Turner & Patrick, 2004). Other studies also prove that teachers' beliefs significantly impact student learning and the overall school experience (Ambe, 2006; Delpit, 1995). Secondary Teacher Licensure Program (STLP) When confronted with increased RMAs in schools, teachers and STLP students need to learn how to get ready to address RMAs against students of color. However, many people are concerned with future K-12 teachers' ability to develop the knowledge and skills for "responsible, informed, and engaged citizens" (NCSS, 2010, n.p.). Understandably, many students of color and their parents are concerned about the ability of K-12 teachers and STLP students to address these pervasive and traumatizing RMAs as well (Morin, 2021; NCSS, 2010, n.p). In addition, Thacker et al. (2021) also state that many teachers do not realize that their behaviors and thoughts are RMAs to students of color. In other words, many of them lack awareness of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds and the biases and stereotypes that influence worldviews (Sue et al., 2019). Secondary teacher licensure programs serve as a training ground for future teachers, and a growing body of research has begun to focus on their ability to respond to racial awareness and RMAs in K-12 learning environments (Morin, 2021). Therefore, ways in which to help STLP students and teachers get ready to deal with RMAs in K-12 settings have attracted more attention (Morin, 2021; Steketee et al., 2021). In recent years, teacher preparation institutions have been RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 15 committed to creating positive environments where the education of justice and diversity can flourish (Ambe, 2006). However, there is still considerable uncertainty about how best to approach this. Howey and Zimpher (1999) state that STLP education maintains a romantic and idealistic view of inquiry and reflection that can cause graduates to underestimate the intricacy of racial issues with regard to teaching. How can this problem be tackled, and what part formal teacher education programs can have in the solution (Durham-Barnes, 2015)? As many teacher educators understand their ultimate responsibility in the programs, most believe they are there only for training to teach students (Howey & Zimpher, 1999). Teacher educators transmit information practically and manage students' behaviors (Howey & Zimpher, 1999). This is also called the strategy of colorblind teaching or pretending that all students are the same (Durham-Barnes, 2015). This has resulted in many teacher education programs failing to provide STLP teachers with comprehensive, anti-racist preparation both psychologically and skill-wise, including prioritizing hiring teachers of color, teaching critical pedagogy, and providing urban practice experiences to enhance their theory and classroom learning (Eddie, 2021). Conversations about Race and Racism There is a difficult conversation about racial justice that cannot be denied in academia and education. It is common to see many statements from schools or businesses about racial diversity. While clarifying their position, they seem to be trying to move quickly and avoid the conversation about race and racism. Frequently, people prefer to avoid talking about race and racism in social and academic situations as a means to reduce the threat of being labeled racist (Sue, 2013). RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 16 Some researchers have tried to find different voices from teacher educators about their idea of race and racism (Durham-Barnes, 2015; Eddie, 2021; ). How should they go about having critical discussions about race and microaggressions with pre-service teachers (Durham-Barnes, 2015)? Meanwhile, current changes in teacher education are primarily happening passively rather than rethinking the philosophy and practice of teacher education (Goodwin, 1997). Goodwin (1997) explains that the teacher education profession tends to add appendages to deal with the "problem" of diversity. For instance, in response to current social trends, colleges and universities across the U.S. have been promoting and publicizing their diverse and inclusive campus cultures and curricula to attract more students from different cultural backgrounds. In this outreach process, efforts can be found in colleges and universities to link multiracial or multicultural education with "minority" education (Durham-Barnes, 2015). However, they fall short in curricular and structural changes and continue to promote white, middle-class values and perspectives. Despite cultural "training," teachers continue to encourage white-centered values, thus failing to address more significant issues of structural inequality, oppression, and RMAs. Howard (2003) states that "Teacher educators must reconceptualize how new teachers are prepared and provide them with the skills and knowledge that will be best suited for effectively educating today's diverse student population" (p. 195). Encouraging multicultural and culturallyresponsive programs is becoming a trend (Durham-Barnes, 2015). This type of class is critical and oriented towards social justice. It promotes equity rather than equality in education, which may provide a bridge for a primarily white, female, middle-class teacher population to better understand their students from diverse backgrounds and change perceptions of their life experiences (Durham-Barnes, 2015). A multicultural curriculum can effectively build an open and inclusive academic classroom, promote a more comprehensive, accurate, and informed view RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 17 of STLP students from different cultural backgrounds, and better meet all students' learning needs (Morey & Kitano, 1997). Although it is possible to feel threatened (Sue et al., 2011) and uncomfortable when it comes to conversations about race and racism, successful racial discussions can eliminate stereotypes and misinformation (Bolgatz, 2005; Pasque, Chesler, Charbeneau, & Carlson, 2013). In addition, these kinds of conversations can reduce fear and increase empathy and a sense of appreciation and connection to others (Bell, 2003; Sue, 2003). Therefore, teacher educators should encourage open conversations and purposefully design their lessons and reflections. This will promote honest and open dialogue in college classrooms and thus better prepare students to do the same in their classrooms later (Durham-Barnes, 2015). Cultural Responsiveness Practices (CRPs) Above, the pivotal role of teachers within the K-12 education field is listed. Likewise, teacher educators are crucial in preparing future teachers to serve diverse student populations effectively. The importance of teacher educators is not only to nurture future teachers' teaching and administrative skills, but also to train these future teachers to properly deal with bias, microaggressions, and any other form of inequality in the classroom environment. One key aspect of this preparation is the incorporation of CRPs into instruction and curriculum. Culturally responsive teaching recognizes the importance of students' cultural backgrounds and experiences in their learning. It seeks to create an inclusive learning environment that values and builds upon students' cultural strengths. Gay (2013), as a culturally responsive teaching expert, states that integrating culturally responsive teaching concepts into RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 18 curriculum and instruction can better help teacher educators and STLP students adapt to multicultural class environments. Gay (2013) adds "uses the cultural knowledge, prior experiences, frames of reference, and performance styles of ethnically diverse students to make learning encounters more relevant to and effective for them" (p. 49-50)." Indeed, a central idea of culturally-responsive teaching is to situate academic knowledge and skills within students' experiences and cultural frames of reference (Gay, 2002). In other words, it will help students to incorporate more interest and meaning into what they are learning when knowledge is combined with their personal experiences and cultural backgrounds (Gay, 2002). According to some research and the current teaching environment, incorporating CRPs into instruction and curriculum involves several key strategies (Gay, 2002; Durham-Barnes, 2015). First, teacher educators should promote an understanding of their students' cultural backgrounds and experiences, which can be achieved through cultural celebrations and discussions of cultural identity (Gay, 2002; Durham-Barnes, 2015). Diversity and inclusion environments can breed innovation when people with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives work and learn together as equals. However, according to a survey by Zippia (2021), the most common race of college professors is white at 66.3%, followed by Asian at 11.3%. Therefore, priority is given to hiring Black and Brown faculty to teach critical pedagogy and provide diverse experiences to enhance their theoretical and classroom learning (April 2021). Teacher educators from diverse backgrounds can better encourage and guide students to construct a multicultural environment and create more possibilities within that environment. Second, teacher educators should model culturally responsive teaching, demonstrating strategies such as using culturally relevant materials and examples, engaging students in discussions about their cultures, and encouraging students to connect their cultural experiences to RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 19 course content. However, April (2021) claims that many current teacher education programs still teach in areas she calls "safe" pedagogy and like multiculturalism. Sleeter (2017) describes this phenomenon as "Teacher education programs attempt to prepare their predominantly white cohorts to teach racially and ethnically diverse students through a course or two on multicultural education, culturally responsive pedagogy" (p. 156). Although there is currently no one-size-fits-all approach to curriculum reform, the attempts to include culturally responsive practices is a great and effective start. Third, teacher educators can incorporate culturally responsive teaching into the curriculum by including diverse perspectives and materials in course readings, discussions, and assessments. This helps students see the value of their own cultures and learn from the views of others. Teacher educators can also provide opportunities for students to engage in culturally responsive teaching through activities such as creating and presenting culturally responsive lesson plans or participating in service learning projects in diverse communities. Incorporating CRPs into instruction and curriculum by teacher educators is essential for preparing future teachers to serve diverse student populations effectively. These practices promote cultural understanding and help students see the value of their own cultures and the perspectives of others, ultimately leading to more inclusive and effective learning environments. Cultural Responsiveness Practices (CRPs) and Racial Microaggressions (RMAs) Considering the benefit of CRPs and the harm of ongoing racial microaggression, many researchers and educators attempt to bring CRPs into their curriculum and instruction to better deal with racial microaggression and other potential issues. RMAs can hurt the individual's RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 20 well-being and sense of belonging in a given setting. Therefore, to address microaggressions, CRPs can be used as a proactive strategy. As a teacher educator, it is essential to create a safe and inclusive learning environment for students from all different backgrounds.. This can be done by developing a schoolwide culture of respect and diversity where all students feel valued and supported. This can be achieved through cultural celebrations, anti-bias training for staff and students, and open and respectful communication. Meanwhile, teacher educators can incorporate lessons and discussions on microaggressions into the curriculum and instruction. This can involve educating students on the impact of microaggressions, providing strategies for addressing them, and encouraging students to speak up when they witness or experience microaggressions. Furthermore, teacher educators can model CRPs by being attentive to their behavior and language and addressing any microaggressions that may occur in the classroom. This demonstrates to students the importance of treating all individuals with respect and helps to create a positive and inclusive learning environment. In addition, teacher educators can also provide opportunities for students to practice addressing microaggressions through role-playing exercises and peer mediation. This practice helps students gain the skills and confidence to address microaggressions effectively when they occur. Therefore, CRPs can be used to address microaggressions by creating a safe and inclusive learning environment, incorporating lessons and discussions on microaggressions into the curriculum, modeling culturally responsive practices, and providing opportunities for students to practice addressing microaggressions. These strategies promote a culture of respect and inclusivity and ensure that all students feel valued and supported in their learning. RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 21 Intervention Strategies Considering all the hazards and impacts of RMAs above, it is necessary to bring some intervention strategies into curriculum and instruction to help teacher educators and STLP students to incorporate CRPs better. On the other hand, teacher education programs must help students prepare to respond and interrupt RMAs and other potential biases in order to create a safe and inclusive learning environment for all students. Sue and colleagues provide practical examples for PSSTs and students of color to interrupt microaggressions in curriculum and instruction (2019). For example, they suggest making the invisible RMAs visible, asking, "What did you mean by that?"; disarming the RMAs, saying, "I disagree with that stereotype because…."; educating the offender, saying, "This is not fun to make a joke, you harmed me by saying that."; and seeking external support, reporting things to a mentor or supervisor for further help. Those interpersonal strategies are intended to counteract, change or stop microaggressions by subtly or overtly confronting and educating the perpetrator (Sue et al., 2019, p.134). According to Thacker et al. (2021), there are three ways to interpret and respond to racial microaggression and other potential biases. First and foremost, addressing interpersonal discrimination is a crucial element (Thacker et al., 2021) which also corresponds with Sue et al.. For example, this should be further reinforced by teaching courses that provide a more comprehensive understanding of historically marginalized groups and individuals (Thacker et al., 2021). Microinterventions can redress bias and discrimination (Thacker et al., 2021) in curriculum and instruction. For instance student teachers and teacher educators must intentionally and thoughtfully include historically marginalized voices and experiences (An, RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 22 2020; Vickery & Duncan, 2020), as well as interrupt and correct inaccurate historical representations and fake news (Journell, 2021). Systemic curriculum reform and many social issues are crucial elements in readdressing bias and RMAs in the school system (Thacker et al., 2021). Sue et al.(2019) stated that creating Macrointerventions, systemic shifts that affect groups or classes instead of individuals enacting interpersonal or everyday changes in their curriculum, will lead to more extraordinary curricular transformation—for example, challenging the traditional, normative curricula dominated by white voices and experiences in education systems toward a more critical education for democratic citizenship (Kinchloe, 2001; Swalwell & Payne, 2019; Wheeler-Bell, 2014). Purpose The purpose of this case study was to investigate and explore the incorporation of Culturally Responsive Practices by WSU faculty in the secondary teacher licensure program. It interviewed faculty to determine how they addressed Racial Microaggressions in their curriculum and instruction by first assessing their attitudes toward incorporating CRPs in their instruction, and second, by diving into the curriculum emphasized by CRPs and the strategies they used, and finally, discovering how teacher educators helped STLP students to get ready to deal with RMAs and develop an inclusive classroom in future K-12 settings. The objectives of this project were: 1. Understand the attitudes and perceptions of WSU faculty towards addressing RMAs in the curriculum. 2. Explore how teacher educators at WSU address RMAs, bias, and injustices in their instructions. RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 23 3. Explore how teacher educators at WSU include CRPs in their curriculum and instruction. Methods This research was based upon the principle of qualitative inquiry that the interpretive tradition would guide. A case study was used to collect teaching faculty's experiences and ideas about addressing RMAs and incorporating CRP into their instruction. The target interviewees were the teaching faculty at WSU who were working in STLP. Research design and Data Analysis This qualitative study utilized semi-structured interviews as described by Merriam and Tisdell (2015) from a small sample of faculty. Because of the small sample size, a case study approach as described by Merriam (2003) was used. Data obtained from each faculty member, or case study, was analyzed using thematic analysis as outlined by Braun and Clarke (2006). Thematic analysis is "a method for identifying, analyzing and reporting patterns within data '' (Braun & Clarke, 2006, p.79). The thematic analysis is in alignment with the consistency and suitability of this analytical approach for the goals of this research. To further analyze the data, manual thematic analysis was used for two reasons: first, this research had a relatively small number of transcripts that could be coded and interpreted in a short time; and second, as this research only coded a few interviews, it gave the researcher more opportunity to become familiar with the data (Basit, 2003). The analysis drew on existing literature that discussed the meanings of RMAs in society. Considering the disadvantage of case studies, all data of each case was carefully scrutinized and compared with the findings of other participants (Merriam, 2003). RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 24 Participants As this was a small-scale qualitative case study, considering the researcher's capacity, the limited timeframe, and the research regulations, it included three participants. This research assessed how embedded culturally responsive practices to address microaggressions were within WSU's STLP. Therefore, the target interviewees were the teaching faculty from the STLP at WSU. Instrumentation This research was conducted as a semi-structured interview that related to the teacher educators’ teaching experiences and attitudes towards addressing RMAs and including CRPs. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews are a common method used in qualitative research. In regards to discussing sensitive topics related to race, the semi-structured interview method was very effective and meaningfully related to interpersonal conversations which helped the interviewer to better understand the interviewees’ personal beliefs and relationship to their experiences. The interview questions were specifically designed for the teacher educators who had been designing their curriculum and instruction at WSU. The interview questions were categorized into four different types (Appendix A). The first type of interview questionsnincluded five guiding questions that aimed to understand teacher educators’ racial background, teaching areas, and their student body (age and racial diversity). These questions were: 1) What's your nationality? 2) Where do you come from? 3) What are you teaching? 4) What's your student's age group? 5) What's the size of your classroom class? The second type of interview questions were designed to explore teacher educators' understanding of the microaggressions and its impact on teaching and learning. There RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 25 were three questions in total. 1) What are the diversity groups that you see in your teacher education program classes? 2) Have you ever heard of racial microaggressions, or do you know it? 3) If yes, do you address microaggressions in your curriculum and instruction? The above questions helped the interviewer to create a platform for effective communication with the interviewees, as well as aided in the asking and exploration of the following questions. The third part of the interview questions were critical questions to glean more detailed information from all of the interviewees. There were seven critical questions that aimed to gather more detailed information from all of the interviewees and mainly focus on the teacher educators’ perspectives of addressing RMAs and how they addressed RMAs in their curriculum and instruction. Meanwhile, this part of the interview questions was also designed to explore how the teacher educators include CRPs into their curriculum and instruction in order to address RMAs. These questions were: 1) Where do you address RMAs and can you give me some examples? 2) Have your students ever reported any uncomfortable situations? 3) If yes, how did you respond? 4) Do you address culturally responsive practices in your course intentionally? 5) How do you address culturally responsive practices? 6) When you design your curriculum or instruction, do you think about the different students racial background or their cultural background? 7) Do you bring that part in your classroom? The final part of the interview questions were designed to understand how teachers implemented the concepts and methods that they shared in the interviews. This interview ended with an open-ended question to encourage the interviewees to share more possible information and ideas. There were four questions in this part. 1) What culturally responsive practices do you put in your curriculum and instruction to address different cultures? 2) If there is a student struggling with microaggression or some prejudices, something like that is against them. What RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 26 resources does Weber offer that can support them or help them address it? 3) What resources/help can teacher educators provide? 4) Is there anything else you would like to share or discuss about these topics generally, like racial microaggressions and culturally responsive practices? The Strategy of Data Analysis For this study, the first step was to gain the IRB approval. Then the interviewer requested that secondary teacher educators participate in the study and obtained informed consent. The interviewer set up a time to interview each participant. The semi-structured interviews were conducted. All of the interviews were finished and information collected was transcribed confidentially into a text version by Trint for further reading and analyzing. Trint, as a text transcription tool, was convenient and affordable. First, the interviewer got familiar with the initial data through reading and highlighting key words. This helped the interviewer create the initial codes that represented the meanings and patterns (Braun & Clarke, 2006) in the interview data. Then, the interviewer collated codes (Braun & Clarke, 2006) and kept all the codes that matched with the research objectives. The next step was organizing some group codes into themes (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Meanwhile, the interviewer also kept checking all potential themes to see if there were any that could be made into sub-themes. After doing all of the steps above, the interviewer reviewed and revised the themes (Braun & Clarke, 2006). This process ensured that the interviewer merged similar themes (Braun & Clarke, 2006) to avoid repetition and that each theme had enough data to support it. Conversely, the interviewer also removed themes that didn’t have enough data to back them up. The final step was to combine themes into narratives (Appendix B, C, D, & E). RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 27 Potential Bias and Self-reflexivity Within the tradition of qualitative research, the data collection method this research employed was sensitive to participants and context. As this research involved interviewing and the interpretive process, the interviewer considered the positionality and potential bias that came with it. First, the interviewer's background and experiences could potentially affect their relationship with participants (Call-Cummings & Ross, 2019) because the interviewer was a Chinese international student who studied in the U.S. As a student of color, the interviewer's experiences with RMAs might have been influenced by her background and unique identity. With this in mind, the interviewer was careful not to substitute her own potential biases or insights during the interview process and the analysis process. Moreover, as the interviewer came from a country where the social and cultural environment was very different from the U.S. The interviewer took care to respect all the interviewees and to listen to participants' thoughts and feelings. Analysis of Interview Contents The research objectives drove the analysis: understanding the attitudes and perceptions of WSU faculty towards addressing RMAs in the curriculum; exploring how teacher educators at WSU addressed RMAs, bias, and injustices in their instructions; exploring how teacher educators at WSU included CRPs in their curriculum and instruction—the research questions defined as the critical questions (Appendix A) in the interview guide to lead the interview analysis. The three teacher educators shared their understanding of RMAs and CRPs in their pedagogy area, inquired about ways to deal with RMAs in different scenarios, and how to bring CRPs into their instructions and curriculum. RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 28 After transcribing the interviews verbatim, the interviewer reviewed the transcripts and listened to the recordings again to get familiar with the data. To increase credibility, the interviewer sent the translated interviews to each interviewee individually to ensure that the interviews were an accurate representation of their views. After the thematic analysis, some of the main themes that emerged were as follows: racial diversity and inclusion and barriers in the program, system support, sensitivity of racial justice and prejudice, interaction and reactions to RMAs and other types of injustice, universal design for learning and differentiated instruction, cultural awareness, and cultural competency. Part One: Understanding the attitudes and perceptions of WSU faculty towards addressing RMAs in the curriculum. Racial Makeup Currently, in Utah, the pre-service teacher education program is one of the most outstanding programs at WSU (Utah Legislative Audit, 2021). Meanwhile, according to fingdingschool.net, racial diversity at WSU is predominantly white at 73.5%, Latino at 13.8%, Asian at 1.84%, and African American at 1.81%. The racial makeup of an institution tends to directly influence or determine the philosophy and culture of that institution. Smith et al. (2017) stated that, in predominantly white institutions, professors' attitudes and perceptions about racial issues are critically important because of the complexities of multicultural teaching. This significance lies in the professors' ability to "see '' the sensitivities and vulnerabilities of students of color, including their particular historical and cultural backgrounds, the injustices they have endured, and the invisible harm of stereotyping, etc. WSU, as a predominantly white institution with a growing Hispanic population, was part of the above landscape. This data and these RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 29 findings corroborated what the three interviewees shared. Three interviewees shared information about the racial diversity at WSU. The first interviewee shared as below: "I have to admit, we don't have a lot of diversity. Occasionally, we have an international student, and I mean rarely. I once had somebody from Australia this semester. I have two students from China. There was once a student who was originally from Vietnam. And mostly, the diversity is around having hopefully a few students of Latinx origin. And by that, I don't mean international. I mean somebody who just was either born here or moved here from any of the Latin American countries. But yeah, my classes are not very diverse." The second interviewee shared as below: “I see that the majority of my students are white. That is an ethnicity, right? Caucasian, white. I had a few students that were Latino, Latina, Hispanic, and then I had a couple of students who identified as Asian American, their family. So they were either mixed biracial, multiracial, either half or a quarter, Korean, Japanese, and let's see, I didn't have any Pacific Islanders. I think, I yeah, I didn't in my education classes. In my grad classes, I had one student that identified as Black Caribbean, but the majority of my students' ethnicity, diversity were white, and the next group was Hispanic Latino.” The interviewee added: “I would say we're primarily like more of a white institution. I think without checking statistics, I probably would think our second highest ethnicity group would probably be Hispanic, Latino, and then after that, I'm not actually really sure. We're not a super diverse program, but working to be more diverse.” RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 30 Although WSU has been trying to become more diverse in recent years, the STLP program is still not very racially diverse. Attitude Matters Those working in the education industry must fulfill different career competencies to educate better students, such as classroom management skills, teaching techniques, dress codes, etc. For this reason, schools and other educational institutions are constantly developing their assessment methods and evaluation criteria, even using third-party evaluators to achieve more objective and fair results. However, some profound educational philosophies or accurate concepts, whether explicit or implicit, are challenging to present quantitatively or obviously (e.g., attitude towards racism). As public servants who "serve" more future educators, teacher educators' philosophies and attitudes toward racial and cultural backgrounds convey influence to future teachers subtly and covertly. Therefore, the interviewer began by exploring the attitudes and perceptions of teacher educators toward addressing RMAs and how they included CRPs in their curriculum and instruction. In the following subsections, the interviewer asked to know the participants' knowledge of RMAs and to observe their understanding and attitude toward RMAs. Both interviewees #1 and #2 valued their diversity and its role in instruction. Interviewee #1 gave an excellent explanation of RMAs, and she believed that most of the RMAs were unintentional and subtle but impact people's well-being and self-identity in the long run. She also very much educated her students verbally and behaviorally. She was originally from Serbia and moved to the U.S. in 2009. She was teaching in a technology integration-related area. She considered herself white but a second-language speaker. Interviewee #2 was a second-generation immigrant, and her parents RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 31 were from Mexico. She views herself as Mexican American or Latina American. She also shared the term "Chicana," which is used to identify Latina, Chicana, Mexican American in California or other places. She was teaching diversity in education. Both considered that their rich ethnic and cultural backgrounds helped them build a better connection between their fields and all future teachers. It also drives them to include more diversity, inclusion, and empathy in their classes. This statement was supported by interviewee #2: "They are subtle and can be unintentional, but their impact is very powerful. So while the person may think that they're giving a compliment, they can be triggering or hurting the other person. So I talk to my students a lot actually, about RMAs just because it can happen so unintentionally." As interviewee #1 expressed, the conversation about RMAs or other types of microaggressions happened to her very regularly and also came with some other stereotypes. Similarly, interviewee #2 talked about a lot of RMAs in her class to make sure STLP students understood "the power of language" and the subtle form of racism that is hidden beneath the classroom. Interviewee #2 shared one of her everyday experiences: “It is not just racial microaggressions, just microaggressions in general, assumptions, prejudice, starting from conversation with us and where I come from, even though I'm white. So I don't know if that would be considered RMAs, but yes, I would say yes.” As the interviewer mentioned above, attitude influences one's language and behaviors. Teacher educators and teachers are public figures. While training future teachers, teacher educators must guide and pass on the proper pedagogy and education values to help STLP students prepare to deal with the relevant issues in the K-12 Settings. Many K-12 teachers are not prepared to deal RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 32 with the microaggressions and other forms of racial discrimination that occur in the classroom and the curriculum (Morin, 2021; Sue et al., 2007). This is due to two main causes: 1) the lack of "color" in the teaching force, with 82% white teachers and only 35.5% teachers of color across the United States (Department of Education, 2021). This is incongruous and unbalanced compared to the almost 45% of white and 55% of students of color in K-12 (Department of Education, 2021). 2) Historically, the U.S. public education system has been dominated by white authority and white culture, including quantitative standards based on Western middle-class norms and values (e.g., dress code; teaching behaviors; teaching languages). In an environment with a lack of diversity in the STLP, it is even more important for teacher educators to address issues of diversity and inclusion in the use of instructional language and the construction of classroom culture. Teacher educators should serve as role models and guide teachers on how to build inclusive classrooms better and address issues of race. Interviewee #2 shared how she directed and taught students to avoid RMAs, stereotypes, and language abuse in her class. All of the details that she shared reflected her attitude and perception of RMAs and how to include diversity and inclusion. Below is her statement: "In my undergraduate class, I talk a lot about RMAs. First, I do kind of activity around names, names being the most common as teachers. The other one is also racial microaggressions around stereotypes of that particular group. I talk a lot about the power of language. So instead of saying ‘that poor student,’ we say ‘that student living in poverty.’ Like, we won't say ‘that blind student’ or ‘that disabled student.’ So with racial microaggression, sometimes we'll tie in stereotypes of that group. Sometimes I'll talk about phrases like slurs, like racial slurs, and how not to get in trouble and how common sayings in English actually could be very inappropriate or racist in certain groups. So I RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 33 talk a lot about how to be careful and how to ensure that you are aware of your language." The first two interviewees' attitudes and perceptions differed from the third interviewee; interviewee #3 was raised in Buffalo, New York. Interviewee #3 considers himself white, and English is his first language. His primary teaching load revolved around teaching both in-service and pre-service general education teachers to help them prepare to work with children with disabilities in K-12 settings. He indicated that he needed to address RMAs in his curriculum and instruction and is unfamiliar with this topic. His statement also reflected his uncertainty and lack of experience in dealing with RMAs or other types of racism. He articulated this point: “I haven't actually led instruction or discussion on microaggressions (in my teaching areas). My courses have not included instruction or facilitating discussion around microaggressions.” As he explained further, he teaches a predominantly white student body and does not have much experience in dealing with the issue of RMAs. During the interview, he displayed uncertainty and mild anxiety when it came to topics related to racism. However, at the end of this interview, he stated that properly addressing the issue of RMAs is an important area. “I think I was striving to become a Hispanic Serving Institution and as we strive to just increase our diversity. It's going to be more important that we are aware, as faculty members, of addressing racial issues or microaggressions so we can help be advocates for our student population.” RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 34 There are many ways to address the RMAs. However, acknowledging racial and cultural differences is the foundation of cultural literacy in dealing with racial issues. At the same time, teacher educators are responsible for responding effectively, guiding students in their ongoing learning, and exploring racial and cultural diversity issues. Importantly, this case study did not mean to ignore the significance that white professors bring to addressing racial issues, nor did it intend to ignore the personal and professional challenges and issues that white professors may encounter. This case study was meant to advocate that white professors and professors of color should work together as allies in addressing problems of RMAs and other racial issues. Part Two: Exploring How Teacher Educators at WSU Address RMAs, Bias, and Injustices in Their Instructions. Rules and Norms Microaggressions are often invisible and automatic, happen unnoticed, and are hard to interrupt or address appropriately. How teacher educators respond to this is essential for the STLP. This will influence future teachers' attitudes and solutions toward racial issues in K-12 settings. This is not meant to ignore the racial worldviews shaped by the STLP students' upbringing but rather to consider the powerful function of the STLP and teacher educators as a cradle for preparing and shaping future teachers. As an advocate for the student body, teacher educators must set clear rules and norms to ensure everyone understands the harms and consequences of inappropriate words and behaviors. As a teacher educator, interviewee #1 was very professional in setting rules in her classroom. She encouraged professional behaviors and respected the values of others, respectful communication, empathy, etc. In addressing these issues, it was also a process of modeling and norming for STLP RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 35 teachers, and they continued to construct and reshape their racial values and attitudes in the classroom, where they were taught by word and example. Interviewee #1 shared this insight: " I always have a section that talks about professional behavior, right? This starts with communication skills, both oral and written. And then I always talk about accepting the dignity and self-worth of others and talk a little bit about how you should participate in class discussions in a way that is accepting of everyone and that is respectful to everyone, while at the same time being able to address, like express yourself. I will talk about that in the beginning. I try to remember every now and then, especially when something happens where there is a comment or something. But I try to model that kind of respectful discussion where I listen, and then I ask more questions to the person to clarify maybe what they were trying to say and then remind them of some of those rules that we set up at the very beginning. In secondary, we also talk about classroom rules and norms at the very beginning. And I ask them to write their own set of rules that we are going to respect in the classroom. So when there is a microaggression of any type, racial is a little bit harder just because I don't think we have a lot of racial diversity. But microaggressions can be of all types, right? So I kind of remind them of those classroom rules, and they remind each other as well after a while." Interviewee #1 related the power of articulating the rules and norms. At the same time, she demonstrated how diversity and inclusion are addressed at different levels and dimensions. Of course, each teacher educator has a different approach to dealing with the surprises and problems in curriculum and instruction. Establishing effective classroom order and rules can provide teacher educators and students with guidelines and standards for dealing with similar incidents. RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 36 Stop and Intervention When RMAs occur in public places like physical and virtual classrooms, teacher educators should deliver a direct and clear message to stop the conversation immediately so as to prevent further harm. It was also important for teacher educators to redirect interactions and conversations to rebuild respect and trust. This can allow damage to continue and worsen if educators do not intervene and stop misbehaviors effectively. Interviewee #2 shared her experiences dealing with these issues. She showed an excellent and professional ability to deal with these issues in two dimensions. The first aspect is to stop and intervene in the inappropriate behavior immediately and to have a serious conversation with the perpetrator. At the same time, it is a crucial opportunity to re-educate the abuser to understand the damage and long-term effects of their words and actions. The second way to stop the RMAs is to seek legal advice and report the incident properly. Addressing the issues using a more credible and persuasive approach would be wise. This avoids head-on confrontation and bargaining with the perpetrator. It also provides a more authoritative and deterrent way to address racial issues in class instruction. As Interviewee #2 shared: "They have shared moments where others in the class have said something. This past semester, I had a student that used the N word in a video, and a couple of my students were triggered and were uncomfortable and felt unsafe. I also played a song in another class in Spanish, and some people started making fun of it and started laughing. And I had a Latina student there, and she was very uncomfortable because she felt like they were laughing at her culture. And I've also had students, not just racial, but also of misgender, like using the wrong pronouns or making comments about LGBTQ people. RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 37 And so they were very much uncomfortable with those. The way that I addressed it with the other one was I really did seek out legal counsel and reported it because it was something very much, very high impact, or it's just something you can't just tell the person. I told the person to stop. They didn't. For other cases, I will talk to the students or I'll talk to the whole class about language, about being respectful, about avoiding certain terms. I always begin with talking and having a conversation, but also being very clear, like, I will not tolerate this or I will not allow this in my classroom. I think as a teacher, as a professor, it is our classroom, it is our responsibility to ensure that students feel safe. And if I hear something, it depends on the context. Sometimes I will rephrase it or readdress it. Right. You address it within the moment. If it's something more serious, I will talk to the person outside of this classroom. But when it's very serious is when I'll take the more legal route." With this in mind, everyone should be aware of the harm and impact that RMAs, discrimination, and racism have on others. Although interviewee #3 mentioned that he didn't have experience dealing with racial issues in his teaching areas, he did have experience dealing with some uncomfortable situations reported by his students. This incident involved minorities, cultural microaggressions, etc. He intervened in this event by seeking outside help and disarming the microaggressions. He shared the following experience: “I had a student who I was supervising in Practicum who was from South America and was a single mom and felt like her mentor teacher had made comments that were culturally insensitive. So I had talked to my district contact person and essentially just asked them not to have this teacher serve as a mentor teacher in future semesters.” RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 38 This method subtly or overtly confronts the abuser to resist, modify, or stop the microaggressions from continuing. This method is somewhat similar to that of the second interviewee. For many, teaching in racially diverse classrooms often leaves those educators uncertain about dealing with racial issues. So, taking the problem to more specialized people is not a bad idea. Resources Support Aside from some of the one-on-one or face-to-face intervention solutions shared by the interviewers above, teacher educators should also consider and incorporate more institutional resources and other support beyond addressing RMAs individually, such as leveraging the power of other faculty and collective voices to provide better resources and support for students of color. As interviewee #1 shared, her first resource was an expert who taught diversity in secondary education. She preferred to ask for advice and guidance before going any further. They usually worked as a team to support each other. This helps her to make better decisions to resolve the issues more appropriately. Outside of this circle, she didn’t know where to ask for support, although there is a diversity office at WSU. At the same time, she also expressed that in her three years of work at WSU, she had yet to ask for help from the Office of Diversity or other school-level organizations to address issues of diversity and inclusion in her class. She shared these thoughts: "Well, my main resource is Dr. XXX, who teaches diversity in secondary education. She would be the first person that I go to. And I will ask for advice. Yes. Just because it's her area of expertise. And that's how we function in secondary ed. If somebody has a technology problem, they would come to me. We kind of support each other. But I had RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 39 several conversations with her. We would often try to decide who is the best person to talk to the student. And we would try to resolve, like, talk to the student who was being aggressive. But we usually work as a team. Yes. I don't know that I know any resources on campus outside that circle. Remind me of the original question. For the school level, I am not sure that honestly, I didn't have any dean office. I know that we have a diversity office where we can go and address, and I know that if there's, like, sexual harassment, there is a different office. I've never had to use them in the three years that I've been here. But then again, I don't have a lot of racial diversity in my classes." Meanwhile, interviewee #3 also emphasized the importance of professional core teamwork and focusing on the needs of students. Although he only had a little real-world experience dealing with RMAs and discrimination other than the example he shared above from practicum, here is what he stated: "So I actually haven't, other than the one instance in practicum, that was really the only issue that had been raised regarding microaggression or students feeling discrimination. But we work really closely as a pro core team, and we engage in professional learning communities where we meet monthly and talk about student needs or student issues. So oftentimes, again, I rely on my secondary ed colleagues to make sure, again, that we are communicating regularly about students and any concerns that we have." Furthermore, interviewee #3 expressed that it is essential to ensure that channels of dialogue remain open, that the student's voices are heard, and that their worries are acknowledged and addressed. There are some resources available on campus that can assist students, such as psychological counseling. Although he had no experience dealing with similar RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 40 incidents, he demonstrated a supportive attitude and determination to provide resources to help students. He articulated this point: “And I know again, that we have services on our campus that we can refer students to to gain support, whether it's connecting students with advocates who can help work with students to navigate situations like this. Like I said, although we haven't had or I personally haven't had to help students access the service, we also have services like psychological counseling. And again, I guess if I heard something that was concerning, I would approach my department chair and or my dean, depending on if it was more of a departmental issue or a College of Education issue. So I think just making sure, again, that the lines of communication are open and that students are being heard and that their concerns are being not only validated, but resolved.” Teacher educators are guides and role models in addressing issues of RMAs and diversity and inclusion, as this case study mentioned many times. Therefore, teamwork and institutional support are very critical. This gives teacher educators the confidence and courage to address or intervene in racial issues more appropriately. Additionally, it fosters a campus culture of working together on racial issues from the top down and the bottom up. Such an environment will also motivate teacher educators to intentionally cultivate and develop STLP students’ racial literacy and capacity to address these issues to prepare for future careers. Whether someone is a white professor, a professor of color, or a professor specializing in cultural diversity, educators should all work together as allies to address racial issues. In addition to individual support and institutional resources, the right level of engagement is critical because RMAs are everywhere and happen every day. Although the awareness of RMAs has increased in recent years, taking the proper steps and channels to address it is still RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 41 tricky. When RMAs occur, victims are often sad and upset but do not know how to respond appropriately and quickly. Dr. Wood et al. (2020) calls this phenomenon "paralysis." Teacher educators must be vigilant when monitoring classrooms and be ready to take the necessary action to address any RMAs. Consequently, this necessitates teacher educators to understand racial dynamics and be adept at teaching with cultural sensitivity. Interviewee #2 shared that when addressing RMAs, first and foremost, she preferred to learn about the victims' (students') claims and voices and to what level they wanted their professors to be involved. After understanding the students' needs and sensitive points, she avoided specific language or activities in order to create a comfortable and safe environment to support learning and growth. She demonstrated great empathy and culturally responsive differentiated instructional strategies in this process. As she shared below: “ I think one of the biggest things is I ask the student what level of involvement do they want me to have? And so I will sometimes talk to them about what would help you feel better and what can I do to help? And so sometimes it could be using certain phrases like I don't use the words ‘Hey, guys’ or just being mindful of my language. I had one student that didn't like to be picked on or talked out loud. And I had another student who was older, and she's Latina, and she was really uncomfortable with technology. And so I tried not to put her in a moment in class where she had to show me a technology skill. Instead, I made those more of long term assignments, right, where they would have time to get some support for that. But in terms of this, I think the resource is your professor, right?” Further, when a student had severe mental issues caused by RMAs or other racial incidents, such as anxiety, depression, etc., Interviewee # 2 will help students escalate to the next RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 42 level for additional support resources such as the Student Government Association, Counseling Office, and AEO Office. As she articulates below: “And talking about it and then also sharing with students other supports on campus through the Student Involvement Student Union or the Counseling Center, having someone to talk to if they feel very distressed or they feel very emotional, like anxiety, depression. But if they feel like it needs to escalate, I talk to them about the Deans of students. I talked to them about the Title Nine office. I talked to them about the AEO office. So I do have a statement in my syllabus where we talk about those things. So I think for students, it's saying if it doesn't feel right, then it's not okay. And if talking to someone doesn't solve it, these are the procedures of getting some change, because maybe not in my class, but maybe it might be happening in other classes, so maybe they talked to me and I was able to do something about it. But what about other spaces or other places or even on campus? So I think I just tried to tell them that it's not okay no matter where you're at, and that you could do something about it.” She demonstrated a firm stance on RMAs and other types of racial issues and was always ready to take steps to intervene. As a teacher educator with a minority cultural background, she showed great empathy and sympathy towards her students. Part Three: Explore How Teacher Educators at WSU Include CRPs in Their Curriculum and Instruction. Many teachers believe that the underachievement of students of color results from poor learning ability and lack of potential (Cokley, 2006). Instead, it results from the absence of equity RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 43 across the profession and the marginalization of students of color, among other factors (Thacker et al., 2021. This is detrimental to their development of well-being and achievement. Often, students of color, who make up half of the student population (Byrant et al., 2017), come to school with their customs, values, and community groups, only to be required to learn the traditions and values of the white culture while ignoring their own (Marom, 2018). The reference to this reality is not to exacerbate the confrontation between white ethnics and ethnic minorities but rather to advocate for using a more just and inclusive lens within the field of education in dealing with students of color to avoid their marginalization and stereotyping. Teacher educators from different racial backgrounds often have different perspectives and understandings of RMAs and CRPs. Data studies have shown that teachers from minority backgrounds are more likely to bring their empathize and sympathize into their class. They are also more sensitive to racial issues that arise in the classroom, influenced by their life experiences and upbringing. Comparing the three interviewees in this case study, the first two interviewees had minority backgrounds, whereas interviewee #3 did not have this cultural background. The first two interviewees demonstrated more vital awareness, experience, and knowledge of RMAs and multiculturalism than interviewee #3. CRPs Framework As we continue to move towards a more diverse and inclusive education era, we should aim to develop a framework of support services for all students. Educational institutions and teacher educators must support a growing and diverse student population to ensure that all students can learn and have access to a flexible support framework in local schools and natural learning environments. Therefore, training pre-service teachers at the university level requires a RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 44 framework that recognizes students of color as diverse learners through culturally responsive teaching and an inclusive framework. Teacher educators need to adopt a posture of appreciating differences and inclusive cultures, incorporating the unique cultural and learning needs of the families, communities, and students they will teach. Culturally responsive teaching, as an inclusive teaching framework, recognizes the importance of students' cultural backgrounds and experiences in their learning. Meanwhile, creating an inclusive learning environment that values and builds upon students' cultural strengths is essential. As a "service" profession, educators are "serving" the average students and ensuring that students of color are always included. This means understanding the diverse student body's needs and learning skills and providing the curriculum and instructional models that are accessible to all students. Therefore, it is critically important to understand how students' cultural backgrounds and personal experiences can facilitate the construction of inclusive learning environments. In such learning environments, this is more conducive to connecting knowledge with students' unique cultural backgrounds while helping students develop more interest and meaning in their learning. Interviewee #1 shared her ideas about how she integrated different learners into her Computer Integration course. She mentioned that it was more about learning about differences and how technology can support the diversity of the student body. It was also a process of practicing how to include empathy and compassion in the course. She prioritized students' intellectual growth, problem-solving ability, and learning needs. As she shared below: “So I teach technology integration. So the conversations that happen in our classroom are a lot about technology, but I always talk about universal design and how, as teachers, we have to design not for the average student, but to make sure that we always design for RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 45 everyone. So with the widest scope of students in mind, that means providing access to technology. That can mean making sure that your course is accessible for anyone who might. I always give them examples from my own classroom and how hard it is to retrofit your classroom instruction curriculum after you designed it. And I try to broaden their minds so they start with empathy for every student and make sure that they normalize differences because we all have our differences, right? So for me, it's more about learning. Differences and how technology can support that. Like, if you have an English learner in a classroom, what does that mean? Provide some sort of translation transcript? Or can we make sure that if you create a video that there is closed captioning they can turn on so everybody's included in the classroom? So those are the conversations just because.” When teachers use different instructional and cultural strategies to meet the needs of their students, it also means that people from different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives can work together and breed innovation in a more safe, equitable environment. Meanwhile, interviewee #2 stated that she tended to learn about her students' interests and needs at the beginning of the school year and used all the information to adapt her instruction and design. As she taught, she considered some of her students' preferences and feedback to ensure that adaptability and inclusiveness were always there in her classes. She incorporated different cultural perspectives in her classroom and demonstrated solid cultural competence. This is a teaching philosophy that is student-centered and celebrates diversity and inclusion. This teaching philosophy showed a solid knowledge base of culturally responsive pedagogy. As she shared below: RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 46 “So, I'm always reworking my classroom based on students' interest. So students, at the beginning, I will ask them, ‘What's your major? What's your area? What do you want to do?’ And then I'll start designing. Like, I have the shell before my course, but then I'll start looking for additional readings or activities. I've noticed some of my students have talked a lot about being exhausted from technology. And so I'll start doing a lot of art with them, or things in writing. It could be writing things down using posters. And I've also found a lot for my students about mental health. Right? And so I think a way to be culturally responsive is understanding what's happening around my students. And so we'll do some brain breaks or I'll put music for them in the beginning. And I think this wasn't in my education class, but I taught a different subject. I made sure that everything connected to what they wanted to do in the future. And even with my education students, I will remember little things about if they're athletes or if their hobbies, if they like to move around, just to kind of get to know them a lot.” Incorporating culturally-responsive pedagogy into the classroom as a proactive instructional strategy can help teacher educators create a safe, inclusive learning environment for students from diverse backgrounds. It also contributes to a schoolwide culture of respect and diversity where all students feel valued and supported. Interviewee #3 expressed that teacher educators should view students of color from a perspective of understanding with empathy rather than from the perspective of bias and prejudice. Recognizing and respecting their cultural diversity, ethnic diversity, and linguistic diversity were included in his education philosophy. As the head of Secondary Ed and continuing to work with K-12 school districts, he expressed the intentionality of exposing STLP students to RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 47 a diverse environment and experiencing culturally responsive teaching practices during their internships. Future teachers are also expected to implement these practices and culturally responsive teaching philosophies in their schools. Below are his words: “I definitely made sure from the first and foremost standpoint when I was the level head for Secondary Ed, and I still continue to work with our districts, especially Ogden City School District, where we do have a high number of students that come from not only cultural and ethnic diversity, but also linguistic diversity. We make sure, again, that our students are being placed in classes in schools where they're being exposed to students that have different levels and different types of diversity. We do talk a little bit around, again, making sure that our students are coming from a point of understanding, as opposed to acknowledging again that they have biases, that everyone has biases depending on where they're raised. We discussed the idea, again, of diversity and making sure that students, again, are doing everything they can do to be supportive of students of diverse backgrounds. But other than having some discussions around practicum and being intentional about exposing our students to diversity, especially in pro core, we kind of let our faculty member who covers our diversity class really go through more of culturally-responsive instructional practices that we want to see them implementing in schools.” He shared two main ideas: 1) ensuring that students receive equal learning opportunities in comfortable and appropriate environments, and 2) exposing as many STLP students as possible to racially diverse environments and participating in core diversity coursework and discussions. Teacher educators should provide more opportunities and spaces for STLP students RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 48 to have authentic racial conversations in and out of the classroom. The goal is to disrupt their stereotypical thinking as much as possible to facilitate their growth as culturally sensitive teachers in authentic events. Gradually, it will help STLP students build up their sense of conviction and responsiveness to students. Aside from the ways he shared above, it is essential to ensure that teacher educators from different disciplines are engaged in CRPs and addressing issues of diversity and inclusion, whether they teach math or curriculum design. We cannot attempt to prepare a predominantly white population of future teachers to teach more racially diverse K-12 schools through one or two courses on multicultural education or culturally responsive pedagogy. Implementing the Framework The explicit difference of race is usually easy to see, and many people are accustomed to judging racial differences by visible characteristics such as appearances, skin color, and language. However, the implicit differences in culture, habits of thought, and community behind each individual are easily overlooked and misunderstood. This requires teacher educators to have a solid knowledge base about cultural diversity and to incorporate an open and inclusive approach to teaching and instruction. Meanwhile, teacher educators should ensure they are familiar with the foundations of CRPs theory. This means that teacher educators need to design curriculum and instruction that builds on this theoretical framework and acknowledge students' backgrounds, building on what students already know while continually expanding and challenging their levels. Therefore, it is essential to think beyond the surface of how to infuse culturally responsive pedagogy in the STLP. RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 49 Interviewee #3 stated that as an educator, he often had the opportunity to work with different types of learners and students from different cultural backgrounds. As a result, he always incorporated these factors into his curriculum design and created a learning atmosphere that encouraged and appreciated students' cultures. At the same time, he also focused on incorporating multiple perspectives into his teaching to help students adapt to the English learning environment. For example, he always provided visuals (PowerPoint) for non-native English speakers to deepen their understanding. He affirmed students' cultural identities in his teaching and encouraged communication and questioning. As he shared below: "Guess my work as an educator has been trying to create access mainly for students with disabilities. But I did work at a school that was seven miles from the Takati, Mexico border. So we did have students who were coming from Mexico daily. And obviously, I support the research that suggests that learning content and information in native language also helps build development and proficiency in English. So we definitely talk about that. I encourage our students, again, when possible and appropriate, to use students’ native language, not only orally if they can, but also when creating PowerPoints and any type of graphic organizers or visuals to just kind of enhance understanding. In my own teaching, I make sure again that if I do have students again who are multilingual learners or if English is not their primary language, I make sure again that I check in with them to make sure that they're understanding and encourage them to ask questions and to schedule times, office hours and times to meet if there is any confusion or if I can help clarify or make something more understandable. I strive to be very approachable in that manner." RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 50 The teaching and communication methods he incorporated above helped build more trusting relationships with students. As ESL speaker interviewee #1 shared her experience as an ESL teacher and multilingual speaker, she said that she felt it is essential to talk about her experiences. Discussing this inclusively and responsively, many students will resonate with her as they think they have something in common and build up a sense of belonging. She believed that everyone's experience should be legitimized and celebrated. Below is what she shared: “So, first of all, I am an ESL speaker. I am very open about being an ESL speaker or multi-language speaker, and I think it's very important to talk about my experience as a language learner, as a language user in a foreign country. Right. I'm very open about legitimizing mistakes and errors in the classroom because I think learning is about making as many errors as you can. That's how we learn. So what other culturally responsive things, like, for instance, in that classroom, the ESL class that I teach, I bring podcasts from my international friends from all countries that you can think of. I have friends from Korea, China, Brazil, Serbia who talk about their language development stories and how they learned a foreign language. I talk about my experience also throughout every unit; what were the things that were hard for me? And I think that I do that because I want to legitimize everybody's experience. Everybody's experience is valuable, and we need to celebrate it, right? We need to celebrate those differences. We need to make sure of that.” Interviewees #3 and #1 shared their ideas about working with multi-language learners. They all emphasized the importance of the sense of belonging and teaching differentiation with regard to students' backgrounds. It is a great way to use facilitative stories, equipment, and languages to help students scaffold learning confidence and develop a self-identity. Furthermore, RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 51 interviewee # 1 shared how she responded to different learning needs and ensured that each student felt included and had a sense of belonging. A sense of belonging requires a process of building trust between teachers and students. She believed that teacher educators should be culturally responsive to different races, just as teachers need to be responsive to various learning needs and backgrounds in the classroom. As she shared below: “Sense of belonging is a big thing for me, the sense of belonging. And I do that by making sure that all my students know that I know their name, that I reply to emails as quickly as I can. I treat them as colleagues, and I always tell them, ‘You're my colleagues,’ even though they are pre-service teachers. I don't treat them as students because I think secondary education is in the final year of their studies. So they are already entering that professional world and starting to do practices. And one place where I think you need to be particularly aware, culturally aware, is that not everybody comes from the same background, where they have the same experience.” Meanwhile, interviewee #1, who also taught technology, shared her experience with a course being developed called Introduction to K-12. She tried to incorporate the needs of underrepresented groups when designing the different modules, making sure they were inclusive and diverse in terms of language design, use of materials, etc. Interviewee #1 shared: “Well, yes, and I am going to tell you specifically about a course that I'm developing right now. It's called Introduction to K-12. Coding and Computer Science and programming has traditionally been a white male field. As I am designing different modules, I am trying to think of all the underrepresented groups because I want to make sure that those groups are represented in the material that I choose, in the books that I choose, in the images that are present in those books in the language. But it also goes to racial RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 52 representation, making sure that all the material that I use is inclusive right. In so many different ways, it's not just white males across the whole book and all the material.” This is in line with culturally responsive pedagogy as well, which means that teacher educators should incorporate all aspects of race, ethnicity, and gender into their instructional design and take into account students' ages, learning characteristics, socioeconomic status, and so on. Interviewee #3 also affirmed the importance of recognizing students' differences from a unique perspective. She tried to realize that everyone has a different sense of culture, beliefs, and traditions. As a teacher educator, she showed her students how to understand and affirm their identities and cultures and their unique cultural identities. Whether the person is a white student or a student of color, everyone has a unique identity and sense of who they are. She also gave examples of how many white students believe they have no culture or history, and she cited a traditional Utah holiday—Pioneer Day— and a culturally-relevant food (funeral potatoes) to show what culture is for white students from Utah. At the same time, she incorporated different cultures' perspectives on the same thing to show students that everyone has their own culture and identity. As she shared below: “That's a great question. So my courses are teaching about diversity, right? So I try to sometimes acknowledge that everybody has different cultures and different beliefs and different ideas. Since a lot of my students are white, they think that they don't have culture. They think that other people have culture and that they don't. So I always begin with showing them how Utah, like being born in Utah, has a culture. And I make the joke that I didn't know about funeral potatoes until I got to Utah. Right? I didn't know about the word mountain or linton. So certain pronunciations. And I show them that that's RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 53 language and a cultural language and beliefs and ideas and traditions. Like if I go outside of Utah, nobody will know what Pioneer Day is. And so I begin with showing them what their culture is. Being from Utah or from other parts, but also being white is a culture. It's an ethnicity. And so showing them how they've learned about who they are and their identity. So when they connect with others, they don't feel like, ‘Oh, they have culture and I don't.’ They have culture as well. And so I try to add so, like, if they've always known discipline a particular way, right? How other cultures will look at discipline, how others will look at family involvement, how others will look at, for example, learning how to write. And so I tried to talk a lot about how maybe where you grew up really creates a definition on how you see things, and that's what is important is to know. Okay, the way that I've learned things is not the same as other people.” She demonstrated a strong cultural awareness and competence in implementing the framework of CRPS. She helped STLP students find ways to understand and value diverse cultures and experiences. Accordingly, she showed students how to discover and recognize their cultural diversity by incorporating multiple perspectives. She also appreciated different communication methods and used multicultural teaching examples to connect students' existing knowledge and cultural experiences with new information. RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 54 Results The stated purpose of this study was to do a case study to investigate and explore the incorporation of CRPs by WSU faculty in the STLP and how they address RMAs in curriculum and instruction. This study sought to find the following: 1. Understand the attitudes and perceptions of WSU faculty towards addressing RMAs in the curriculum. 2. Explore how teacher educators at WSU address RMAs, bias, and injustices in their instructions. 3. Explore how teacher educators at WSU include CRPs in their curriculum and instruction. Three faculty members teaching in the Secondary Licensure program at WSU comprised this case study. They were all from different racial backgrounds and taught various courses. The interviews were designed to collect these three teacher educators' general information, knowledge of the STLP of WSU, teaching experiences, and attitudes on including CRPs and addressing RMAs in their curriculum and instruction. The Inter-relationship Between Teacher Educators' Attitudes Toward RMAs and CRPs and the Racial Diversity of STLP Students The introductory questions were designed to collect information on teacher educators' nationality, teaching subjects, and the racial background and age of the students they taught. The results for these interview questions can be seen in Appendix-Interview Results. RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 55 This case study found that the racial composition of the STLP also influences teacher educators' attitudes towards RMAs and the motivation to bring CRPs into the curriculum and instruction. At WSU, most of the secondary STLP students are white, followed by a few Latinos and Asians. All the teacher educators the researcher interviewed recognized and admitted that there were only a few diverse racial backgrounds in the students in the secondary STLP at WSU. This resulted in a homogeneous structure with fewer opportunities to be exposed to racially diverse environments. This homogeneity can lead to cognitive biases among teacher educators or a lack of diversity and inclusion in classroom design, material selection, and teaching language use. Accordingly, it can also affect teacher educators' awareness of RMAs and CRPs in curriculum and instruction. Therefore, a relationship exists between the STLP teachers’ racial background and teacher educators' attitudes toward RMAs and CRPs. The Relationship Between Teacher Educators' Racial Background and His/her Attitude Towards RMAs and CRPs The second part of the interview and the key questions were about knowing the teacher educators' understanding of RMAs and CRPs, experiences addressing RMAs, and attitudes toward including CRPs, etc. The results for these interview questions can be seen in Appendix-Interview Results. This part of the case study found that teacher educators' racial background and upbringing influence attitudes and perceptions of racial microaggressions. The one with a minority racial background was more sensitive towards RMAs because they have experienced RMAs or exposure to racial issues to a greater or lesser extent. This causes teacher educators of RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 56 color to become more likely to bring their own experiences and empathy into the classroom to address RMAs and include CRPs. This case study compared two interviewers from different teaching areas and disciplines who taught educational technology integration (Interviewer #1 and Interviewer #2) and special education (Interviewer #3) to discover the differences or intrinsic relationships in their implementation and incorporation of culturally responsive educational philosophies. The Relationship Between Teacher Educators’ Teaching Area and the Implementing of CRPs The final questions were about how teacher educators at the STLP at WSU addressed RMAs in real situations, what supportive resources teacher educators and schools can provide students, the influence of their teaching subjects, etc. The results for these interview questions can be seen in Appendix-Interview Results. The final part of this case study found that different teaching areas and subjects also affected teacher educators' cultural sensitivity and responsiveness. It influenced how they addressed RMAs and implemented CRPs in their curriculum and instruction. The three teacher educators taught different subjects, so the topics presented and materials used in the classroom varied. From this, the interviewer surmised that teacher educators who teach classes related to racial, social justice, and diversity in education are better equipped to address issues of RMAs and injustices, both at the knowledge and skills levels. Similarly, these teacher educators are more culturally responsive and culturally sensitive. They are able to respond quickly and make choices when RMAs occur. In contrast, teacher educators who teach content-related technology, management, and leadership programs need help with what to do when faced with subtle, RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 57 fleeting RMAs or bias in the classroom. In other words, they need more certainty and confidence in dealing with similar issues. Discussion All three teacher educators interviewed for this case study had positive and open attitudes about addressing RMAs and incorporating CRPs into their curriculum and instruction. However, due to the fact that their racial backgrounds, upbringing environments, working environments, teaching specialties, etc. were different, there were some explicit and implicit differences in how they address RMAs, develop culturally diverse beliefs, construct a CRPs environment, etc. Implications of the Results As the previous research indicated, the study found that the STLP in the US. is increasingly homogeneous, with the majority of students in STLP being female, white, and middle class (National Center for Education Statistics, 2020). At the same time, according to the survey by Zippia (2021), the most common race of college professors is white at 66.3%, followed by Asian at 11.3%. These study results also corroborate the three interviewees' views of WSU's STLP, which is that the STLP is predominantly white. In this more homogenous teaching and learning environment, the voices and needs of students of color are easily ignored and driven by the dominant culture (Allen, 2013). This can lead to teacher educators whose judgment may be caused by the dominant population. Although both Interviewees #1 and #2 shared their positive understanding of RMAs and attitudes toward resolving them, they also indicated that they needed to gain more experience in dealing with racial issues or cultural conflicts in their classrooms. This was because their RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 58 classrooms did not routinely experience RMAs and other conflicts. One of the reasons for this was the lack of racial diversity, even though there were more or less a few students of color in their classroom. This means that student teachers come from similar socioeconomic status levels and are disproportionately white. In such environments, the cultures, beliefs, and practices represented by students of color are often coerced into the cultural climate of predominantly white classrooms. The cultural identity of minorities might get ignored in this process, which is a severe concern for their well-being and right to learn equally. As interviewee #3 shared, he did not bring the topic of RMAs into his classroom due to the lack of diversity in the classroom environment. In other words, teacher educators lacked the drive and opportunity to practice addressing and incorporating RMAs due to the homogenous racial structure. A homogenous racial composition can lead to a lack of criticality and diversity among teacher educators in classroom design, selection of materials, and language of instruction. Conversely, when teacher educators and pre-service teachers teams have better diversity, such environments incentivize educators to promote their understanding of students and their culturally contextualized experiences. It also creates a positive and active cultural climate of diversity and is realized through cultural celebrations and cultural identity discussions (Gay, 2002; Durham-Barnes, 2015). Based on the findings from the present study, there is an inter-relationship between teacher educators' attitudes and the STLP students' racial composition in the STLP. This analysis is consistent with previous research, which found an interdependent relationship between the teacher educators' attitudes toward RMAs and the STLP students' racial background. Also, the results corroborate the claims of the three interviewers that WSU should provide more opportunities for student teachers to be exposed to racially diverse environments. RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 59 Cultural diversity, however, cannot be achieved solely by relying on the visible, actual numerical percentage of students of color in the STLP. At the same time, educational institutions should also prioritize hiring Black and Brown teacher educators to teach critical pedagogy and provide diverse experiences to enhance their theoretical and classroom learning (April, 2021). Teacher educators from diverse backgrounds are better able to encourage and guide students to construct multicultural environments and create more possibilities within that environment. Therefore, based on the findings from the present study, there is an interdependent relationship between the teacher educators' attitudes toward RMAs and CRPs and the racial diversity of STLP students. This suggests that the STLP should make a more conscious commitment to hiring faculty to teach in their program and increase the number of diverse students enrolled. The research on the two areas for this case study—teacher educators' racial background and their attitudes towards RMAs and CRPs—has been conducted. In a case study examining the correlation between teacher educators' racial experiences and their perspectives toward RMAs and CRPs, the researchers found a positive correlation between the two factors (Allen, 2013). Due to the complexity of teaching and introducing STLP students to multiculturalism, course content will inevitably touch on students' and professors' personal experiences of privilege and oppression (Smith et al., 2017). Research has shown that most teacher educators with or associated with minority cultural backgrounds would prefer to bring their own life experiences and empathy into classes (Allen, 2013; Johnston, 2011; Smith et al., 2017). This is despite teachers of color sometimes experiencing cold stares, indifference, and open hostility while lecturing (Turner & Patrick, 2004). On the other hand, when teaching and dealing with topics related to racial diversity and cultures of diversity, among others, Smith et al. (2017) state that white professors and professors RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 60 of color face different challenges and barriers based on their different ethnicities and social locations. Based on the qualitative research by Sue and his colleagues (2009), they found that the white professors' participants described anxiety, uncertainty, lack of confidence, guilt, and defensiveness about race-related conversations in the classroom. However, these white professors may have received systematic training and instruction to understand and analyze the dangers of RMAs or the need for CRPs, among other things. However, teaching it to others is an entirely different challenge than initiating a conversation about it (Johnston, 2011). Through the above comparisons, this case study is not at this moment denying the commitment of white professors to the inclusion of diversity and cultural responsiveness. Instead, it seeks to uncover the different attitudes, challenges, and opportunities faced by white and teacher educators of color in addressing RMAs and incorporating CRPs. At the same time, the researcher would like to use more data and research findings to support the idea that there is a positive correlation between diversity in the teacher educators’ workforce, addressing racial microaggressions, and incorporating culturally responsive teaching. It also highlights the need for teacher educators to recognize the importance of STLP students’ cultural backgrounds and experiences to their learning and to work to create inclusive learning environments that value and build on students' cultural strengths. In this case study research, interviewees #1 and #2 both had minority cultural backgrounds to some certain extent. The first was a first-generation immigrant, and the second interviewee was a second-generation immigrant. Interviewee #3 was white and did not have a minority cultural background in his upbringing. Therefore, this part of the case study compares the responses and attitudes expressed by the first two interviewees and the third interviewee regarding the same interview questions. RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 61 First, when discussing how to set up classroom norms and rules to stop RMAs, Interviewees #1 and #2 shared more details and procedures about how they prevented it. On the other hand, Interviewee #3 did not know much about RMAs, so he did not share more specific approaches and measures to address RMAs. He said, "I haven't actually led instruction or discussion on microaggressions (in my teaching areas). My courses have not included instruction or facilitating discussion around microaggressions." Second, it seems more straightforward and often for interviewees #1 and #2 to initiate discussions and include more different perspectives in their classes (although they didn't mention how the students reacted). Interviewee #1 shared, "I guess one thing that is maybe interesting about me is I have a diverse background, So I went through a lot of that adjustment on my own, and I like to start with my own experiences." Interviewee #3 expressed that he has a limited amount of experience addressing RMAs. He showed some uncertainty during the interview, and he seemed to be trying to avoid topics of sensitivity and controversy (e.g., racial-related topics) or keep himself in a safe place by remaining silent. Finally, all three interviewees shared their knowledge, perspectives, methods, and positive attitudes toward addressing RMAs and including CRPs in their teaching areas. However, there are still some notable differences in these areas because of the different emphases of the subjects they teach. The correlation research on the two areas for this case study—teacher educators' teaching areas and how they implement the RMAs and CRPs—haven't been conducted and researched a lot. The researcher found an interrelationship between the two factors in a case study examining the correlation between teacher educators' teaching areas and how they implement the RMAs and CRPs in their curriculum and instruction, as most of the research focused on the teacher RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 62 educators who teach education diversity or racism-related subjects. This case study also acknowledges the critical role and tremendous transformative power of teacher educators who teach and engage in educational diversity and teaching about racism. At the same time, teacher educators who engage in this relevant teaching have a definite advantage at both the knowledge and technical levels. For instance, when the RMAs occur, they are able to react quickly and redirect the conversation, re-educate the offender, etc. However, the opportunities and rights of STLP students to experience cultural diversity and equal learning rights in other teacher educators' classes cannot be ignored, especially for the students who are culturally and linguistically diverse student learners. Therefore, this case study compared two interviewees from different teaching areas and disciplines who taught educational technology integration (Interviewee #1) and special education (Interviewer #3) in an attempt to discover the differences or intrinsic relationships in their implementation and incorporation of culturally-responsive educational philosophies. Ultimately Interviewee #1 demonstrated a greater willingness and attitude to incorporate CRPs philosophies into her courses than Interviewee #3. Also, Interviewee #1 shared more experiences in dealing with incidents of discrimination and RMAs. However, this research objective only holds partially true due to the fact that Interviewees #1 and #3 differed significantly with regard to other factors—for instance, their race and gender. Finally, considering curriculum, Interviewee #1 and #2 both shared their experiences and understandings on how to include more diversity and inclusion in their curriculum. They both mentioned the importance of incorporating different cultural perspectives and materials for all the students. Interviewee #3 expressed that a good curriculum design needs to meet all the RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 63 individual needs of the student. All the interviewees focused more on instructional experiences than curriculum. Limitations I acknowledge that I cannot and should not claim to separate my perspectives from this work, as my positionality inherently influences every aspect of my teaching, research, and service (Noblit et al., 2004). I recognize that everyone enters dialogue around RMAs from different places. Some people reading this article might experience the weight of RMAs daily, while others enter the conversation and literature with distance, having not experienced RMAs, nor their compounded trauma. This is true for me as well. While I have followed the guidelines outlined in the methodology and supported my findings with current literature, being from a minority culture may have influenced the discussion. The case study was conducted with only three interviewees. A larger sample would allow better generalization. The last limitation was the interview location of Interviewee #3. He was interviewed at the auto store while he was doing some auto checks. The researcher believes that such an environment affected the interview outcome. Compared to interviewing the first two interviewees in their offices, going outside in a public place to discuss the topic of race can be distinctly unsettling and uncomfortable. This may be why interviewee #3's interview lasted about five minutes shorter than the first two. Conclusion The three candidates comprehended the value of tackling RMAs and including CRPs with the ongoing circumstances of the teacher instruction program and the various requirements RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 64 of K-12 settings. Meanwhile, they all expressed strong awareness and positive attitudes toward addressing RMAs and included CRPs in their curriculum and instruction. Regarding implementation, Interviewees #1 and #2 shared more constructive measures and instruments for stopping and intervening in misbehaviors and reeducating students than interviewee #3. They addressed RMAs directly in their curriculum. The second interviewee also included the policy of dealing with RMAs in her syllabus. The third interviewee had a positive attitude and awareness but needed to address RMAs in his curriculum. The interviewees fully shared their upbeat and positive attitudes and ideas throughout the case study. Even though they did not have a lot of exposure to racial diversity, they did demonstrate the different levels of steps they took in addressing RMAs, which mainly included stopping it immediately, educating positively, redirecting the conversation, seeking teamwork, reporting it to a higher level of leadership, and seeking legal help, among other solutions. Meanwhile, when talking about how to incorporate CRPs into the classroom and as a way to incorporate more diversity and inclusion, each of the three interviewees shared their attitudes about incorporating CRPs, as well as understandings and observations that included classroom design, instructional language, target audience, and instructional aids. The results of this study and previous research can help to determine how future research can better incorporate CRPs and reduce RMAs against students of color. At the same time, white teacher educators and teacher educators of color should act as familiar allies against racial issues, building on each other's strengths and advantages and helping to prepare these future teachers to address classroom RMAs and incorporate CRPs. Finally, teacher educators are responsible and obligated to attend to their multicultural competence and continue to learn and challenge their own experiences. While professors of color RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 65 may feel exhausted at times, or white professors may feel "unsettled and paralyzed," we must intellectually understand the responsibilities and future of teacher educators. Therefore, teacher educators must continually self-examine and remain open to better guided and exemplary teaching to prepare future teachers. Ultimately, the path to multicultural competency is a long and ongoing journey. 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Retrieved February 20, 2023. https://www.zippia.com/college-professor-jobs/demographics/ RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 72 Appendix Appendix A: Interview Questions Guide Guiding questions Knowledge questions Critical questions Open-ended questions What's your nationality? Where do you come from? What are you teaching?What's your student's age group? What's the size of your classroom class? What are the diversity groups that you see in your teacher education program classes? Have you ever heard of racial microaggressions or do you know it? If yes, do you address microaggressions in your curriculum and instruction? If yes, where do you address and how can you give me some examples? Have your students ever reported any uncomfortable situation? If yes, how did you respond? Do you address culturally responsive practices in your course intentionally? How do you address culturally responsive practices? When you design your curriculum or instructions, will you think about the different students racial background or their culture background? Will you bring that part in your classroom? What culturally responsive practices do you put in your curriculum and instruction to address different cultures? So if there is a student struggling with microaggression or some prejudices, something like that is against them. So what resources does Weber can support them or help them address it? What resources/help can teacher educators provide? Is there anything else you would like to share or discuss about these topics generally, like racial microaggressions and culturally responsive practices? Appendix B: Interview Extract & Codes #1 Interview Extract Codes Q: What's your nationality and where do you come from? What are you teaching?What's your student's age group? Diversity and inclusive Nontraditional students Age difference I am originally from Serbia. I moved to the US in 2009. I usually work with undergraduate students. Some of them are very young, 17. Okay. Because sometimes they do the gen ed courses in their high school and then they move not 17. I'm lying. Maybe like 19 and on. Yeah, but sometimes I have yeah, usually they're 19, 21, 22. Sometimes we have nontraditional students, RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 73 which would be maybe students who raised their families and then they decided to come back to school. But mostly they're in their early 20s. Q: What are the diversity groups that you see in your teacher education program classes? What's the size of your classroom class? Lack of racial diversity Educational diversity Ethnicity Diversity I have to admit we don't have a lot of diversity. Occasionally we have an international student, and I mean really rarely. I once had somebody from Australia this semester. I have two students from China. I think that there was once a student who was originally from Vietnam. And mostly the diversity is around having hopefully a few students of Latinx origin. And by that I don't mean international, I mean somebody who just was either born here or moved here from any of the Latin American countries. But yeah, my classes are not very diverse. Q: Have you ever heard of racial microaggressions? I would say yes, not just racial microaggressions, just microaggressions in general, assumptions, prejudice, starting from conversation with us and where I come from, even though I'm white. So I don't know if that would be considered racial microaggression, but yes, I would say yes. Q: Do you address microaggressions in your curriculum and instruction? If yes, where do you address and how can you give me some examples? So if you are referring to whether I have something in my syllabus, I don't think I have anything in my syllabus that is specifically addressing microaggressions. But I do always have and let me pull it up just so I can speak more clearly. So, for instance, I always have a section that talks about professional behavior, right? Which starts with communication skills, both oral and written. And then I always talk about accepting the dignity and self worth of others and talk a little bit about how you should participate in class discussions in a way that is accepting of everyone and that is respectful to everyone, while at the same time being able to address, like express yourself. I will talk about that in the beginning. I try to remember every now and then, especially when something happens where there is a comment or something. But I try to model that kind of respectful discussion where I listen and then say I ask more questions to the person to clarify maybe what they were trying to say and then remind them of some of those rules that we set up at the very beginning. In secondary, we also talk about classroom rules and norms at the very beginning. And I ask them to write their own set of rules that we are going to respect in the classroom. So when there is a microaggression of any type, racial is a little bit harder just because I don't think we have a lot of She knows Racial microaggression and racism. Cultural sensitivity Not included RMAs into syllabus, but always have related conversations with STLP students Behavior Professionalism Social-emotional learning Inclusive Create culturally/respectful responsive Respectful communication Creating rules and norms RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 74 racial diversity. But microaggressions can be of all types, right? So I kind of remind them of those classroom rules and they remind each other as well after a while. Q: Have your students ever reported any uncomfortable situation? If yes, how did you respond? Not frequently, but every now and then somebody would come to me and maybe once a semester, I tried to have that trustworthy, to build trust with my students so they feel comfortable to come to me first. I listen to make sure I hear the whole story again. I always ask a lot of questions and what do you think? What do you think? What would you like to happen? Is there anything I can do to facilitate? But I try to empower them to have those conversations on their own as well, while I serve as support. Q: Do you address culturally responsive practices in your course intentionally? so I teach technology integration. So the conversations that happen in our classroom are a lot about technology, but I always talk about universal design and how as teachers, we have to design not for the average student, but to make sure that we always design for everyone. So with the widest scope of students in mind, that means providing access to technology. That can mean making sure that your course is accessible for anyone who might. I always give them examples from my own classroom and how hard it is to retrofit your classroom instruction curriculum after you designed it. And I try to broaden their mind so they start with empathy for every student and make sure that they normalize differences because we all have our differences, right? Like, if you have an English learner in the classroom, what does that mean? Provide some sort of translation transcript? Or can we make sure that if you create a video that there is closed captioning, they can turn on so everybody's included in the classroom? So those are the conversations just because of what I see. Q: How do you address culturally responsive practices? When you design your curriculum or instructions, will you think about the different students racial background or their culture background? Will you bring that part in your classroom? Yes, and I am going to tell you specifically about a course that I'm right now developing. It's called Introduction to K-12. Coding and Computer Science and programming has traditionally been a white male field. As I am designing different modules, I am trying to think of all the underrepresented Social emotional learning:trust building Empowerment Diversity: support Inclusive and universal design Meeting different needs Teaching Differentiation and normalize differences Teaching empathy She has a strong cultural sensitivity. Include underrepresented groups Teaching materials choosing Inclusive materials RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 75 groups because I want to make sure that those groups are represented in the material that I choose, in the books that I choose, in the images that are present in those books in the language. Like, for instance, I have a lesson on board games that are about coding. And I noticed I bought a board game that was only using him, like, just male pronouns. So I was trying to do that. But it also goes to racial representation, making sure that all the material that I use is inclusive right. In so many different ways it's not just white males across the whole book and all the material. Q: What culturally responsive practices do you put in your curriculum and instruction to address different cultures? But I had a different idea. So, first of all, I am an ESL speaker, right? So one of the classes that I teach is for secondary students who are doing, like, ESL endorsement. I am very open about being an ESL speaker or multi language speaker, and I think it's very important to talk about my experience as a language learner, as a language user in a foreign country. And I found that it's inclusive and responsive in a sense that a lot of students would relate to me just because they feel that we have something in common. Right. So I'm very open about that. I'm very open about legitimizing mistakes and errors in the classroom because I think learning is about making as many errors as you can. That's how we learn. So what other culturally responsive things, for instance, in that classroom, the ESL class that I teach, I bring podcasts from my international friends from all countries that you can think of. I have a friend from Korea, a friend from China, a friend from Brazil, and a friend from Serbia who talk about their language development stories and how they learned a foreign language. I talk about my experience also throughout every unit, what were the things that were hard for me? And I think that I do that because I want to legitimize everybody's experience. Everybody's experience is valuable, and we need to celebrate it. Right? We need to celebrate those differences. We need to make sure of that. Give them a lot of ideas on how they can include their English language learners in the classroom, how they can include their families. But the whole course is about making sure that you tailor your classes to language learners. Right. Second, language learners in my secondary education, what kind of practices do I use? Again, I'm not sure that it's culturally responsive to different races as much as it's responsive to different learning needs and backgrounds and making sure that you feel included and that you feel like you belong. That's a big thing for me, the sense of belonging. And I do that by making sure that all my students know that I know their name, that I reply to emails as quickly as I can. I treat them as colleagues, and I always tell them, you're my colleague, even though they are pre service teachers. I don't treat them as students because I think secondary education is in the final year of their studies. So they are already entering that professional world and starting to do practices. And one place where I think you need to be particularly aware, culturally aware, is that not everybody comes from the same background, where they have the same experience. So they might be coming from a family of teachers, but maybe they are coming from a different country or had no experience teaching. So I always try to build them up. Like I go, I observe them and I don't just criticize them, I tell them, here is a list of things that I thought you did great. Diversity and inclusive: Cultural responsiveness Diversity: Support Diversity: Encouragement Help-seeking: Request for support Help-seeking: Willingness to help Teaching empathy and normalizing differences Bring culturally responsive into class and instruction legitimize everybody's experience. Everybody's experience is valuable, tailor your classes to language learners different learning needs the sense of belonging Treat STLP students as colleagues, practice for being professional-treat them equally. culturally aware Recognizing the legitimacy of different cultures Diversifying the Faculty Knowing what behind the student RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 76 And here are a couple of things that I want you to work on. Because I really believe that our main role should be to build our students to make sure that everybody can succeed. And we need teachers from different backgrounds so students in schools can identify with those teachers. Right. If all the teachers were white. And it would be hard right, for some students to find a role model. And sometimes that means that you have to know the situation in that student's house and you need to know what they're dealing with at home, and you need to make sure that you give them special attention. And in my country, we say. I'm trying to say somebody to confide in, somebody to talk to and to give them advice and to help them move on. Great. Q: So if there is a student struggling with microaggression or some prejudices, something like that against them. So what resources does Weber have to support them or help them address it? My main resource is Dr. Martinez, who teaches diversity in secondary education. So she would be the first person that I go to. And I will ask for advice. Yes. Just because it's her area of expertise. And even that's how we function in secondary ed. If somebody has a technology problem, they would come to me. We kind of support each other. But I had several conversations with her. and we would often try to decide who is the best person to talk to the student. And we would try to resolve, like, talk to the student who was being aggressive. But we usually work as a team. Yes. I don't know that I know any resources on campus outside that circle. So we had a situation with a student where something happened as they were walking from our building to the gym right? where somebody yelled at them, and they were from Korea. It wasn't my progression. It was more like, well, aggression and prejudice, I guess. I don't know how to call it, but he was very upset and I called the police for him. So we reported that incident because it seemed a little bit too aggressive and worrisome. Remind me of the original question. Social-Emotional Learning: Collaboration Diversity: Support Communication Social-Emotional Learning: Conflict resolution Social-Emotional Learning: Teamwork Help-seeking Social-Emotional Learning: Uncertainty Social-Emotional Learning: Empathy Diversity and inclusion: Prejudice and discrimination Diversity: Awareness Q: If there is a student struggling with that kind of situation, what resources does Weber can provide them? I am sure that honestly, I didn't have any dean's office. I know that we have diversity office where we can go and address, and I know that if there's, like, sexual harassment, there is a different office. I've never had to use them in the three years that I've been here. But then again, I don't have a lot of racial diversity in my classes. Q: Is there anything else you would like to share or discuss about these topics generally, like racial microaggressions and culturally responsive practices? I guess one thing that is maybe interesting about me, right, is I have a diverse background in the sense that I was not born here and English is not my first language. So I went through a lot of that adjustment on my own.And maybe that's where I can kind of empathize a lot and understand. I always leave it up to the student, though, to decide, like, do they just want to vent? Do they Diversity and inclusion: Cultural identity Diversity and inclusion: Immigration Social-Emotional Learning: Empathy Diversity and inclusion: Diversity Social-Emotional Learning: Positive experience Social-Emotional Learning: Empathy RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 77 just want to talk to someone or are they worried about it and want to go further, like, report it? But I feel that teacher education is full of future teachers that are really mostly really nice people, really caring, really empathetic. It really helps that when we get them, they simultaneously have a class with Dr. Martinez about diversity, and they start learning about those things and how to talk about them and how to maybe sometimes how to change how they think. So I would say mostly it's been good. I've never had a situation where somebody. Was super intentionally aggressive like that. I would say I experienced more sexism than racial aggressions, but I don't know. Appendix C: Interview Extract & Codes #2 Q: What's your nationality and where do you come from? What are you teaching? Self-identification Belonging: Cultural belonging Ethnic identity So my parents are from Mexico, my parents are Mexican, and I was born in California. So sometimes I use Mexican American, sometimes I use Latina. But growing up, I used the word chicana. It's spelled chicana, and it was just a phrase or it's a term used to identify people who are Latina, chicana, Mexican American in California or other places. Q: What's your student's age group? Age span and diversity So right now my students are college students, and so I have some that are 18, but some I had one student that is nontraditional and was in their fifties. And so I've had students also in grad school that have been fifty s. Sixty s. So anything from 18 to 60. Q: What are the diversity groups that you see in your teacher education program classes? What's the size of your classroom class? The diversity groups, what's their education classes, right? Yes. I see the majority of my students are white. That is an ethnicity, right? Caucasian, white. I had a few students that were Latino, Latina, Hispanic, and then I had a couple of students who identified as just a couple that identified as Asian American, their family. So they were either mixed biracial, multiracial, either half or a quarter, korean, Japanese, and let's see, I didn't have any Pacific Islanders. I think I yeah, I didn't in my education classes, in my grad classes, I had one student that identified as Black Caribbean, but the majority of my students' ethnicity, diversity were white, and the next group was Hispanic Latino. Lack of racial diversity Ethnicity Culture identity and racial background RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM Q: Have you ever heard of racial microaggressions? They are subtle and they can be unintentional, but their impact is very powerful. So while the person may think that they're giving a compliment, they actually can be triggering or could be hurting the other person. So I talk to my students a lot actually, about racial microaggressions just because it can happen so unintentionally. Q: Do you address microaggressions in your curriculum and instruction? If yes, where do you address and how can you give me some examples? In my undergraduate class, I talk a lot about racial microaggressions. First, I do kind of an activity around names, and names being the most common as teachers. The other one is also racial microaggressions around stereotypes of that particular group. I also talk a lot about the power of language. So instead of saying that poor student, we say that student living in poverty. Like, we won't say that blind student or that disabled student. So with racial microaggression, sometimes we'll tie in stereotypes of that group. Sometimes I'll talk about phrases like slurs, like racial slurs, and how not to get in trouble and how common sayings in English actually could be very inappropriate or racist in certain groups. So I talk a lot about how to be careful and how to ensure that you are aware of your language. Q: And have your students ever reported any uncomfortable situation to you? If yes, how did you respond? They have shared with me moments where others in the class have said something. This past semester, I had a student that used the N word in a video, and a couple of my students were triggered and were uncomfortable and felt unsafe. I also played a song in another class in Spanish, and some people started making fun of it and started laughing. And I had a Latina student there, and she was very uncomfortable because she felt like they were laughing at her culture. And I've also had students, not just racial, but also of misgender, like using the wrong pronouns or making comments about LGBTQ people. And so they were very much uncomfortable with those. The way that I addressed it with the other one was I really did seek out legal counsel and reported it because it was something very much, very high impact, or it's just something you can't just tell the person. I told the person to stop. They didn't. For other cases, I will talk to the students or I'll talk to the whole class about language, about being respectful, about avoiding certain terms. I always begin with talking and having a conversation, but also being very clear, like, I will not tolerate this or I will not allow this in my classroom. I think as a teacher, as a professor, it is our classroom, it is our responsibility to ensure that students feel safe. And if I hear something, it depends on the context. Sometimes I will rephrase it or readdress it. Right. You address it within the 78 Characteristics and hazards of micro-attacks Intentionality and unintentionality Racism Race relations RMAs and Stereotyping Diversity and Inclusion Prejudice Sensitivity Racism and discrimination Inclusive and safe environment Legal consequences Respectful communication Responsibility Conflict Management Take a personal stand RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 79 moment. If it's something more serious, I will talk to the person outside of this classroom. But when it's very serious is when I'll do the more legal route. Q: What do you think of culturally responsive practices? Do you address culturally responsive practices in your course? Intentionally. So basically, you have multi-diverse background students. And when you teach some specific topics, will you consider or think about other different students' backgrounds? Yes. I'm always reworking my classroom based on students' interest. So students, at the beginning, I will ask them, what's your major? What's your area? What do you want to do? And then I'll start designing. Like, I have the shell before my course, but then I'll start looking for additional readings or activities. I've noticed some of my students have talked a lot about being exhausted from technology. And so I'll start doing a lot of art with them, or things in writing. It could be writing things down using posters. And I've also found a lot for my students about mental health. Right? And so I think a way to be culturally responsive is understanding what's happening around my students. And so we'll do some brain breaks or I'll put music for them in the beginning. And I think this wasn't in my education class, but I taught a different subject. I made sure that everything connected to what they wanted to do in the future. And even with my education students, I will remember little things about if they're athletes or if their hobbies, if they like to move around, just to kind of get to know them a lot. Q: What culturally responsive practices do you put in your curriculum and instruction to address different cultures? That's a great question. So my courses are teaching about diversity, right? So I try to sometimes acknowledge that everybody has different cultures and different beliefs and different ideas. Since a lot of my students are white, they think that they don't have culture. They think that other people have culture and that they don't. So I always begin with showing them how Utah, like being born in Utah, has a culture. And I make the joke that I didn't know about funeral potatoes until I got to Utah. I didn't know about the word mountain or linton. So certain pronunciations. And I show them that that's language and a cultural language and beliefs and ideas and traditions. Like if I go outside of Utah, nobody will know what pioneer day is. And so I begin with showing them what their culture is. Being from Utah or from other parts, but also being white is a culture. It's an ethnicity. And so showing them how they've learned about who they are and their identity. So when they connect with others, they don't feel like, oh, they have culture and I don't. They have culture as well. And so I try to add so, like, if they've always known discipline a particular way, right? How other cultures will look at discipline, how others will look at family involvement, how others will look at, for example, learning how to write. And so I tried to talk a lot about how maybe where you grew up really creates a definition on how you see things, and that's what is important is to know. Okay, the way that I've learned things is not the same as other people. Inclusivity Adaptability Cultural responsiveness Student-centered: Attention to students' interests and needs Student-centered: Person-centered Differentiated pedagogy Cultural awareness Cultural Diversity Acknowledge that everybody has different cultures and different beliefs and different ideas. Recognize the different individual growth background culturally responsive practices RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM Q: If there is a student struggle, racial microaggression or prejudices against them, what resources can you support them? And the school level, do you know any school resources? I think one of the biggest things is I ask the student what level of involvement do they want me to have? And so I will sometimes talk to them about what would help you feel better and what can I do to help? And so sometimes it could be using certain phrases like I don't use the word hey, guys, or just being mindful of my language. I had one student that didn't like to be picked on or talked out loud. And so even like, I had another student who was older, and she's Latina, and she was really uncomfortable with technology. And so I tried not to put her in a moment in class where she had to show me a technology skill. Instead, I made those more of long term assignments, right, where they would have time to get some support for that. But in terms of this, I think my resource is your professor, right. And talking about it and then also sharing with students other supports on campus through the Student Involvement Student Union or the Counseling Center, having someone to talk to if they feel very distressed or they feel very emotional, like anxiety, depression. If they feel like it needs to escalate, I talk to them about the Deans of students. I talked to them about the Title Nine office. I talked to them about the AEO office. So I do have a statement in my syllabus where we talk about those things. So I think for students, it's saying if it doesn't feel right, then it's not okay. And if talking to someone doesn't solve it, these are the procedures of getting some change, because maybe not in my class, but maybe it might be happening in other classes, so maybe they talked to me and I was able to do something about it. But what about other spaces or other places or even on campus? I've worked before with students who told me when they were in high school, they would get told the N word or they would be called other racial slurs. And this was in the past, right? Or they would be made fun of or made comments. So I think I just tried to tell them that it's not okay no matter where you're at, and that you could do something about it. Q: Is there anything else you would like to share or discuss about this topic? Generally. I think my thing is that sometimes people feel bringing in culture is a form to reduce racial microaggressions, but sometimes it depends on how you do it, because sometimes you could stereotype cultures. Like, I was at a school back in the day, and the principal thought he was doing a good thing by having a Cinco de Mayo party, but everything had hats and mustaches, and actually that's a stereotype because not all Latinos and Hispanics celebrate Cinco de Mayo. And then people in Mexico don't even celebrate Cinco de Mayo. It's not a thing. It's not our independence. It's not anything. And so I think that everybody needs to learn about racial microaggressions and how subtle they are and how being culturally responsive is not like doing a checklist of, like, I represented Asians and I represented black people, and I represented Latinos. Actually, there's a lot of diversity in Latinos, in people who are Black. People who are black could be Latino. People who are Asians. You have South Asian and East Asians. And so even Pacific Islanders are considered Asian in some categories. And so I try to teach them, and I show them videos about terms and how pushing them to think beyond, oh, people who are Latino, like Tacos. 80 Inclusivity Student support Empathy Resource Referral: Referral to campus resources Understanding the needs of different students and being aware of it Add class discipline into syllabus Class culture and discipline Safety and support Advocacy Empowerment Student-centered: Procedural justice Stereotyping Cultural sensitivity Cultural awareness: Diversity awareness Cultural awareness: Cultural competency Diversity Cultural responsiveness Inclusion Cultural awareness: Acknowledgment of differences RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM That's not a way to be culturally responsive. To be culturally responsive is that you know your students and you know what makes them feel safe and what makes them feel included and what makes them feel like they want to be there. They're going to learn if they want to be there, and if they feel like you're just targeting them or even not acknowledging them. I had one teacher that said, well, if I do that, then I'm going to make them feel uncomfortable by talking about their culture. And it's like, well, it just depends on how you introduce it, right? I had one teacher say, well, I'm going to tell them to bring recipes of their culture. And I say, well, what if they don't know their culture? What about phenotypically? They look Latino, but they've never been raised Latino because of life, right? What if you just say, bring me your favorite recipe that's culturally responsive because you're acknowledging that we're all different. You may never know. Maybe their favorite food is pizza, and that's okay, but it doesn't mean that because they're a particular ethnicity, they have to like that food. Some people just can't eat it, or some people just never learn how to make it because their family are second generation, or when they came to the United States, they were told they couldn't speak the language, or they preferred not to make the food or keep on their heritage because they were afraid of being targeted. Appendix D: Interview Extract & Codes #3 Q: What's your nationality and where do you come from? What are you teaching? Education and disability Teaching inclusion I was born and raised in Buffalo, New York, and I reside in North Ogden, Utah. My main teaching load revolves around teaching general education teachers, both in service and pre service general education teachers, how to work and teach kids with disabilities. So I was trained and worked as a special education teacher for, like, twelve years and worked at a full inclusive school which had kids with disabilities in all general education classrooms. So now I'm kind of sharing my expertise and experience and how general education teachers can create access and include kids with disabilities into their instruction. Q:What's your student's age group? What are the diversity groups that you see in your teacher education program classes? I would say anywhere from probably 18 to some kind of outlier. We've probably had people in their late 50s in our program. Yeah. I think we have a good mix of people who represent ethnic diversity, linguistic diversity. As I mentioned, we do even have some people from an age diversity standpoint who are kind of coming back from other careers. We have students with disabilities. Yeah, I think that probably covers it. I would say we're primarily like more of a white institution. I think without checking statistics, I probably would think our second highest ethnicity group would probably be Hispanic, Latino, and then Racial Ethnicity Age Diversity 81 RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 82 after that, I'm not actually really sure. we're not a super diverse program, but working to be more diverse. Q: Have you ever heard of racial microaggressions? Have you ever mentioned this topic or ever in your class? Uncertainty Lack of experience on microaggressions Since I teach primarily in the area of special education, and because of our student population on microaggressions, I haven't actually led instruction or discussion on microaggressions. Q: Do you address microaggressions in your curriculum and instruction? If yes, where do you address and how can you give me some examples? Yeah, go ahead. Diversity and inclusion Diversity: Awareness of Bias Social Justice No, my courses have not included instruction or facilitating discussion around microaggressions. Q: have your students ever reported any uncomfortable situation to you? If yes, how did you respond? Yes I had a student who I was supervising in Practicum who was from South America and was a single mom and felt like her mentor teacher had made comments that were culturally insensitive. So I had talked to my district contact person and essentially just asked them not to have this teacher serve as a mentor teacher in future semesters. Q: Do you address or do you bring culturally responsive practices in your course intentionally? I definitely made sure from the first and foremost standpoint when I was the level head for Secondary Ed, and I still continue to work with our districts, especially Ogden City School District, where we do have a high number of students that come from not only cultural and ethnic diversity, but also linguistic diversity. We make sure, again, that our students are being placed in classes in schools where they're being exposed to students that have different levels and different types of diversity. We do talk a little bit around, again, making sure that our students are coming from a point of understanding, as opposed to acknowledging again that they have biases, that everyone has biases depending on where they're raised. We discussed the idea, again, of diversity and making sure that students, again, are doing everything they can do to be supportive of students of diverse backgrounds. But other than having some discussions around practicum and being intentional about exposing our students to diversity, especially in pro core, we kind of let our faculty member who covers our diversity class really go through more of culturally responsive Diversity: Uncomfortable situations Responsibility Support Advocacy Diversity and inclusion Diversity and Education Empathic Mind supportive of students of diverse backgrounds. culturally responsive instructional practices RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM 83 instructional practices that we want to see them implementing in schools. Q：How do you address culturally responsive practices? Can you give me some examples? Like, if you have a diverse racial background, students, when you choose some specific materials or teaching contents, will you be aware of that? I guess my work as an educator has been trying to create access mainly more for students with disabilities. But I did work at a school that was 7 miles from the Takati border Takati, Mexico border. So we did have students who were coming from Mexico daily. And obviously, I support the research that suggests that learning content and information in native language also helps build development and proficiency in English. So we definitely talk about that. I encourage our students, again, when possible and appropriate, to use students native language, not only orally if they can, but also when creating PowerPoints and any type of graphic organizers or visuals to just kind of enhance understanding. In my own teaching, I make sure again that if I do have students again who are multilingual learners or English is not their primary language, I make sure again that I check in with them to make sure that they're understanding and encourage them to ask questions and to schedule times, office hours and times to meet if there is any confusion or if I can help clarify or make something more understandable. I strive to be very approachable in that manner. Diversity: Multilingual learners Inclusion Cultural competence Language development Create access mainly more for students with disabilities. Q: what culturally responsive practices do you put in your curriculum and instructions to address different cultures? I guess it's similar to the previous question. Inclusivity Student support Safe environment I think one of the biggest things as a faculty member or any teacher is to create a safe space where students feel comfortable, to ask questions, to clarify expectations, to have access to students who may also speak similar languages as their primary language, so they can have access to some translation or even just some language support there. Yeah, I don't know, other than my response to the question before, I don't want to repeat myself, but making sure, again, that students feel safe and comfortable in my classroom, to feel like they can engage and have access to the content and activities in my classroom. Q:If there is a student struggling with microaggression or prejudice or discrimination against them, what resources can you support them or provide them? And also, how about the school level? Yeah so I actually haven't, other than the one instance in Practicum, that was really the only issue that had been raised regarding microaggression or students feeling discrimination. But we work really closely as a pro core team, and we engage in professional learning communities where we meet monthly and talk about student needs or student issues. So oftentimes, again, I rely on my secondary ed colleagues to make sure, again, that we are communicating regularly about students and any concerns that we have. And I know again, that we have services on our campus that we can refer students to to gain support, whether it's connecting students with advocates who can help work with Diversity: Discrimination awareness Social support Institutional support Communication regularly Student microaggression and discrimination. professional learning communities RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM students to navigate situations like this. Like I said, although we haven't had or I personally haven't had to help students access the service, we also have services like psychological counseling. And again, I guess if I heard something that was concerning, I would approach my department chair and or my dean, depending on if it was more of a departmental issue or a College of Education issue. So I think just making sure, again, that the lines of communication are open and that students are being heard and that their concerns are being not only validated, but resolved. Q: Is there anything else would you like to share or discuss about this topic generally? I definitely think it's an important topic, and I think as we strive to become a Hispanic Serving Institution and as we strive to just increase our diversity, all kinds of diversity, I think, again, it's going to be more important that we're aware as faculty members so we can help be advocates for our student population. 84 student needs or student issues Campus services: psychological counseling Lines of communication are open, students are listened to and helped to validate and resolve their concerns Diversity awareness Advocacy diversity RACIAL MICROAGGRESSION, CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE PRACTICES, PRE-SERVICE TEACHER PROGRAM Appendix E: IRB Approval 85