Taking Responsibility for Interrogating White Teacher Identities

• In Event: Interrogating, Emerging, and Developing: Teacher Identities in Flux

Abstract

This paper presents qualitative data from a larger participatory action research study in one predominantly White high school in a midwestern suburb. I draw on theories of identity and teacher identity to argue that teachers’ make both conscious and unconscious choices about which parts of their identities they activate when selecting texts, framing instruction, and discussing issues commonly labeled as “controversial” in public schools. For White teachers, engaging in individual identity analysis or an “archaeology of the self” (Sealey-Ruiz, 2018) can help teachers accept responsibility for the ways that their identities inform and constrain their teaching. Taking responsibility for one’s identity development can lead to transformative changes in teaching practice that make teaching and learning more just for all students.

Author

• Kate Dower Lechtenberg, The University of Iowa