Trading Stories: Middle-Class White Women Teachers and the Creation of Narratives about Students and Families in a Diverse Elementary School

• In Event: Rethinking the Community of the School: Who Belongs?

Abstract

This paper examines the meaning of collective storytelling among middle-class White teachers (mostly women) in a diverse elementary school. Drawing on literatures from critical Whiteness studies, Critical Race Theory and intersectionality, organizational narratives, and professional learning communities; this paper presents a critical discourse analysis of conversations that construct—at least momentarily—shared beliefs among middle-class White teachers about their students of color, many of whom live in poverty. Teachers’ narratives reveal feelings of intense ambiguity and racial and class-based social distance. I discuss the intersections of race, social class, and gender in the discourses and stances of middle-class White women teachers; dehumanizing consequences of the narratives for both students and teachers; and implications for leadership and teachers’ institutional contexts.

Author

• Irene H. Yoon, University of Utah