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The Urban Review

, Volume 48, Issue 2, pp 175–197 | Cite as

Elementary Preservice Teachers as Warm Demanders in an African American School

  • Elyse Hambacher
  • Melanie M. Acosta
  • Elizabeth Bondy
  • Dorene D. Ross
Article
First Online:

Abstract

The literature related to warm demanding describes teachers who balance care and authority to create a learning environment that supports a culture of achievement for African American students. Embedded in this stance is sociopolitical consciousness that explicitly links teachers’ care and authority with a larger social justice agenda. Drawing on interviews and online course assignments, we describe two preservice teachers’ conceptions and enactments of warm demanding in full-time elementary school internships in an African American elementary school. Findings reveal that although the preservice teachers communicated similar commitments to warm demanding, they enacted the stance differently, suggesting that while warm demanders share similar commitments, their practice may vary. The two cases highlight the promise of teacher education courses and field experiences to be structured in ways that promote the development of teacher aptitudes for strengthening equity and excellence in the education of an historically marginalized population of students.

Keywords

Urban education Preservice teachers Warm demanding Culturally relevant teaching 
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  • Elyse Hambacher
    • 1
  • Melanie M. Acosta
    • 2
  • Elizabeth Bondy
    • 3
  • Dorene D. Ross
    • 3
  1. 1.Department of EducationUniversity of New HampshireDurhamUSA
  2. 2.University of AlabamaTuscaloosaUSA
  3. 3.University of FloridaGainesvilleUSA

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