‘‘I had no idea’’: Developing dispositional awareness and sensitivity through a cross-professional pedagogy Benjamin H. Dotger * Syracuse University, Department of Teaching & Leadership,161 Huntington Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA article info Article history: Received 4 August 2008 Received in revised form 26 June 2009 Accepted 6 October 2009 Keywords: Parent conference Teacher dispositions Standardized patient Standardized parent Situated cognition abstract This research scrutinized the diffusion of a medical education pedagogy to the context of teacher education. Specifically, it focused on the use of standardized parents as an emerging pedagogy in teacher education. Preservice teachers taking part in a six case, fifteen-week intervention showed advances in multicultural awareness and ethical sensitivity as they engaged in multiple simulated parent–teacher conferences. Implications center on the use of this pedagogy within teacher education contexts to further advance the professional dispositions of teachers as they prepare to teach in diverse scholastic environments schools. Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The increasing ethnic, religious, and socioeconomic diversity within schools offers potential for more integrated and inclusive communities (NCES, 2007; Villegas, 2007). While school leaders are responsible for fostering scholarly cultures that welcome diverse populations, teachers enact such culture through professional, invitational, and inclusive dialogue with students and their fami- lies. Professional dialogue begins with teachers’ awareness of, and sensitivity to, the diverse racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, cultural, and disability demographics of students and their families. Based on this foundation of awareness and sensitivity, teachers are limited only by the degree to which they possess the skill sets to engage in productive dialogue with parents and caregivers, their primary allies in the support of student success. The research base on parent involvement clearly demonstrates positive scholastic improvements for students (Abrams & Gibbs, 2002; Epstein, 2001; Finn, 1998; Garcia, 2000; Hiatt-Michael, 2001; Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1997; Keyes, 2004; Pape, 1999; Pomer- antz, Moorman, & Litwack, 2007; Witmer, 2005). While scholars associated with this established research base are actively scruti- nizing and promoting the connections between schools and families, such connections are often only tacitly addressed by teacher prepa- ration institutions (Epstein, 1995; Lawrence-Lightfoot, 2003). Simply stated, teacher preparation institutions fall short of helping teachers acquire and develop the necessary interpersonal skill sets to engage and communicate with families (Chavkin & Williams, 1988; Epstein & Sanders, 2006; Ferrara & Ferrara, 2005; Lawrence-Lightfoot, 2003; MacLure & Walker, 2000; McBride, 1991; McMurray-Schwarz & Baum, 2000; Nathan & Radcliff, 1994; Shartrand, Weiss, Kreider, & Lopez, 1997; Tichenor, 1998). Failure to prepare future teachers to communicate with families through verbal and written mediums is compounded by the fact that familial demographics are increasingly different than those of novice teachers. While the population of students continues to diversify across socio-cultural contexts (race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, marital status, dis/ability, religion, etc.), those who are preparing to teach them have not experienced the same diversification. Despite increased efforts at recruitment, teachers preparing to enter the profession continue to reflect the majority culture (Van Hook, 2002; Villegas, 1991, 2007). The increasing cultural diversification, the continued importance of parent involvement, and the paucity of teacher preparation in school–family communications, constitute a complex intersection for teacher preparation institutions. As Epstein (2001) notes, these factors point to the question of how teacher preparation institutions can best support interactions between teachers and diverse groups of parents/caregivers. In consideration of these three factors and Epstein’s seminal question, the reporting researcher designed a teacher education pedagogy that provides preservice teachers – individuals who are still in teacher preparation programs and are not yet licensed – with multiple opportunities to practice, reflect upon, and further develop interpersonal skill sets to communicate with * Tel.: þ1 315 443 1937; fax: þ1 315 443 3289. E-mail address: bdotger@syr.edu Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Teaching and Teacher Education journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tate 0742-051X/$ – see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.tate.2009.10.017 Teaching and Teacher Education 26 (2010) 805–812