Professional Development. How Black Teachers Use Professional Development to Resist Oppression and Move Toward Liberation

• In Event: AERA Teachers of Color Handbook Session 1

Abstract

Black teachers are often caught in the middle of trying to deliver on the promise of schooling being meaningful for their students while attempting to thrive as Black people living in the age of continued public, physical, and emotional assault. This chapter discusses how Black Teacher Project, a racial affinity based professional development, created space for Black teachers to develop a clear vision, how to enact it and implement; illuminates how Black teachers navigate the misalignment between their visions of learning and their school environments; explores what becomes of Black teachers when they are expected to engage in professional development that denies their authenticity and dignity within a system that historically has stripped both them and their ancestors of the ability to learn; and discusses how Black teachers respond to these barriers, through structured and unstructured resistance.

Authors

• Belinda Bellinger

• Micia Mosely