ABSTRACT
This chapter offers implications for the importance of sustaining conversations with teachers and teacher education candidates of color as teacher educators and literacy scholars work to improve literacy and English education for an increasingly diverse student population. It argues that cultivating diverse teachers for English and literacy classrooms holds great potential for bringing richer experiences and perspectives to teaching P–12 children and student populations by validating and privileging the cultural and linguistic resources of all preservice teachers across curricular, pedagogical, and practical teacher education experiences. Natasha, Latoya, and Angela are exemplars of preservice teachers of color who move beyond marginalization and linguistic inferiority toward agency and linguistic hybridity. Latoya also relied on her affiliation to African American Language to enact an effective teacher identity. The intricacies and complexities within their individual experiences were mediated by context and their unique histories.
