"Nice White Ladies": Operationalizing the Empathy Effect on Student-Teacher Interactions With Black Male Students

• In Event: Roundtable Session 95
  In Roundtable Session: Teacher Identity and Disposition in Diverse Learning Contexts

Abstract

Multicultural education scholars advocate the teacher’s use of empathy to build strategic relationships, develop partnerships with parents, and to frame professionally informed perspectives of students, their communities, and their cultural background. This research explores how White female teachers conceive of empathy and how those conceptions inform various aspects of their teaching practice with Black male students. This mixed-methods case study includes 2 White female teachers teaching in a large, urban school district and a cohort of their Black male students. Findings from the study have implications for 1) the professional preparation and development of pre-service and in-service teachers; and 2) identifying strategies for acquiring the cultural perspectives, behavioral, and attitudinal disposition necessary for the successful implementation of culturally responsive pedagogy

Author

• Chezare Warren, University of Pennsylvania