Using a Pedagogy of Seeing and Noticing With Black and Latino High School Males: Implications for Teacher Education

• In Event: 61.049 - From Preschool to High School: Preparing Culturally Responsive Teachers to Meet Students' Needs

Abstract

Males of color often talk about how they are made to feel invisible in school settings and society (Fergus, Hurtado, & Noguera, 2012). In his poem “Invisible Hands,” Erik Nolan reflects on his experience of feeling ignored as a student. He imagines that he and other Black and Latino males are overlooked in schools because adults are not willing to accept that they are part of a system that does not support Black and Latino boys. Ralph Ellison evoked a similar image in 1947, with the publication of his epic novel, Invisible Man, in which he cemented into the public’s imagination the trope of being Black, male, and invisible. Ironically, Ellison’s character spends years trying to make himself visible to others, and once he is seen he must go into hiding to save his life.
This tension between the binary of invisibility and hypervisibility (Collins, 2005) is one many Black and Latino males negotiate daily in their school contexts (Sealey-Ruiz & Greene, 2011; Sealey-Ruiz, Noguera & Handville, 2008). Today’s educational climate presents a host of challenges for young Black and Latino males. Black and Latino boys face a litany of stereotypes held by peers, administrators, and classrooms teachers (Haddix, 2008; Haddix & Sealey-Ruiz, 2012; Noguera, 2008; Steele & Aronson, 1995), which makes it difficult for them to be viewed as individuals who are smart, talented, complex, and have the potential to be academically successful.
The purpose of this presentation is to share findings from a three-year study with Black and Latino males who discuss their experiences with an all-male mentoring program at an alternative high school on the East Coast. This program—UMOJA -- focused on the social, emotional, and academic success of its male participants to help disrupt the “invisibility” felt by some of the Black and Latino males who had a significant presence in the school (93% of the school’s students are Black and Latino, 47% of them are male). During the years the presenter worked with the young men of UMOJA (2009-2012) it was observed how they shared similar experiences with many Black and Latino males in schools across the country who lament about being viewed through stereotypical lenses of what it means to be a young man of color in America (e.g. Caton, 2012). These stereotypes prevent them from being viewed in positive and authentic ways, or noticed for their unique style and abilities.

Findings suggest that a pedagogy of seeing and noticing serves as a deterrent to relying on partial, and often stereotypical representations of Black and Latino males in school, but instead to embrace a fuller view of who they are as individuals and what they bring and positively contribute to school and classroom settings.

Author

• Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, Teachers College, Columbia University