Title:

Pre-Service Teachers' Perceptions of Classroom Behaviors

This qualitative study focuses on pre-service teachers’ perceptions of challenging behaviors, childhood trauma, and teaching diverse students. Pre-service teachers are those who are in teacher education programs but not in classrooms yet. School settings in the United States of America are full of diverse students with individual needs. Given that all students have individual needs, it’s potentially important for pre-service teachers to be versed in how to identify non-verbal communication related to trauma, or the misunderstood communication pragmatics of learners from cultures, communities, and languages that differ from white, hegemonic status quo. In this current time, where discussions about “trauma-informed education” and “culturally responsive teaching” are abundant, it’s important to include curriculum in teacher preparation coursework that addresses these needs. Several questions are explored in this project: (1) What preconceived ideas do pre-service teachers have about challenging classroom behaviors, childhood trauma, and teaching diverse students? (2) How and where do preservice teachers acquire these ideas? (3) Where are the potential gaps between preservice teachers’ knowledge and the information that may be needed in a classroom setting? Eleven pre-service teachers offered to participate in the 30-60 minute semi-structured interviews, which involved answering basic demographic and background information, then reading six written vignettes and watching three videos of classroom behavior. After each vignette or video, I asked them what they perceived to be happening with the student based on their behavior. The data is currently in the process of being transcribed, coded, and analyzed. Emerging themes at this early stage of the process indicate that students’ personal experiences with adversity, professional training, and specific coursework are guiding their perceptions and proposed actions if they were the teacher in each vignette.

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