JOURNAL ARTICLE CRITIQUE OVER THE EFFECTIVE TEACHER 1

Journal Article Critique Over the Effective Teacher

Justin Kilpatrick

Liberty University

Dr. Conley

EDUC 625

1-16-22

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Abstract

The article underscores the need to prepare teachers to practice culturally responsive pedagogy

(CRP). Specifically, the article demonstrates the significance of empathy through perspective-

taking as the basis for achieving CRP. Empathy provides opportunities for the teachers to

challenge their own attitudes, values, and beliefs about racial and cultural differences, and

expand the knowledge to create humanizing teacher-student interactions and an effective

learning environment for all learners. As the public school population becomes more diverse but

with many white teachers, the article offers recommendations to ensure teachers offer quality

instruction for all learners. Although the article’s main focus on teacher preparation rather than

professional development makes it weak in execution, the article is very helpful in helping the

teacher develop the right attitudes and create more equal learning opportunities for diverse

learners.

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Journal Article Critique Over the Effective Teacher

The article “Empathy, teacher dispositions, and preparation for culturally responsive pedagogy”

published in the Journal of Teacher Education by Chezare A Warren underscores the significance

of using culturally responsive pedagogy to become an effective teacher in today’s public schools

that comprise of youth from diverse backgrounds. It emphasizes the use of empathy through

perspective-taking as the basis in which teachers can sharpen their sensemaking about CPR,

support the development of skills necessary for effective teaching in diverse classrooms, and

obtain a model that teacher candidates that adopt to support the continuous acquisition of new

forms of cultural knowledge. Empathy helps teachers to recognize patterns of their own beliefs,

attitudes, and values about cultural and racial differences, as well as an effective tool to guide

professional decision-making.

The underlying principle in the article is that teacher candidates require empathy to demonstrate

evidence of culturally-responsive pedagogy in future teaching. It helps the teachers to understand

the students, their families, and communities, particularly when preparing to each in a racially

diverse school setting such as the one in contemporary public schools. Effective application of

empathy requires perspective-taking, which includes activities such as projection or anchoring

and adjusting, deliberation of student feedback, listening, emotional regularity, reflection,

understanding the community context, information extraction, and prior knowledge. Hence, the

application of empathy is an iterative process that includes the ongoing acquisition of knowledge

and its use to inform decision-making. However, the authors believe that empathy should be

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cultivated during teacher preparation, especially for white teacher candidates. Perspective-taking

is one of the approaches that can be used to cultivate new knowledge. It broadens what a teacher

candidate knows about the best approach to address student needs and decisions to make to

sufficiently meet those needs. They recommend that teachers should be able to develop

appropriate dispositions that allow empathy to serve as the greatest support for facilitating

teaching efficacy with African Americans, Latino, and native learners.

The article has significant application in the modern classroom. First, it helps the teachers

appreciate the growing student diversity and the need for teachers to remain culturally responsive

to the student needs. It challenges the challenge to challenge their own values, beliefs, and

attitudes and expand their knowledge on cultural and racial differences. Second, the article

provides useful insights on opportunities that teachers to develop empathy through perspective-

taking. Several options are available including “field experiences, critical classroom discourse,”

and engaging in the literature that addresses issues of race and equality. Thirdly, the article

provides the basis

However, the biggest drawback to the article is the huge focus on teacher candidates rather than

the practicing teachers. While the teacher believes that cultivating effective dispositions should

start at teacher preparation, he does not offer a path in which everyday teacher-student

interactions can be modeled to improve CRP. Meanwhile, the article presumes that empathy is

the only skill that needs to be cultivated to achieve culturally-responsive pedagogy. In this

regard, it fails to recognize the significance of other factors that might hinder the attainment of

CPR. For instance, the curriculum and relationships between various stakeholders such as black

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children and white teachers. Without finding ways to remove these tensions, it will almost be

impossible to cultivate empathy through perspective-taking.

The article also has significant implications in teaching. First, it challenges teachers to reflect on

their attitudes, values, and beliefs about cultural and racial differences and build relationships

with students, parents, and communities that improve learning for all. This is because the article

encourages certain activities such as field experiences that allow the teacher to interact with

students from multiple backgrounds and create an accommodating environment for everyone

during teaching and learning. It also provides opportunities for critical inquiry, dialogue, and

self-reflection, which are very important in cultivating effective student-teacher relationships. In

this regard, teachers must engage in some introspection in which they explore their belief

patterns and engage in conversations that challenge those patterns for better life experiences.

Lastly, the knowledge gained from the article will be very useful in creating humanizing student-

teacher interactions and creating a learning environment that minimizes opportunity gaps. Every

teacher wants to have a lasting impact in the life of every student. However, often unknown

biases emanating poor knowledge of cultural and racial differences get in the way of helping the

student. The article provides various dispositions that I have found particularly helpful in getting

the teacher to recognize and appreciate these differences. Competences associated with

perspective-taking such as reflection, listening, and emotional regularity can be very effective in

helping the teacher develop empathy and create effective interactions with learners. Effective

student-teacher interactions form the foundation of successful teaching and learning. Teachers

strive to cultivate relationships that allow students to share any problems and also interact

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meaningfully during instruction. Modern classes are becoming more diverse, and it is imperative

that the teacher be able to develop good relationships with each learner, regardless of the

background. When opportunities for the whites are balanced with those of the minority groups

then more people can have a better shot at achieving the American Dream.

References

Warren, C. A. (2018). Empathy, teacher dispositions, and preparation for culturally responsive

pedagogy. Journal of Teacher Education, 69(2), 169-183.

Lesson: Effective Teacher