The Complexity of Color: Outcomes of Two White Women Teachers' Perceptions of Race on Student Classroom Experience

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Eight
  In Roundtable Session: The Impact of Teacher Identity on Individual and Student Development (Table 15)

Abstract

Color-evasiveness perpetuates White supremacy across education. A question asked by many White preservice and in-service teachers within education, however, is whether or not color-evasiveness or color-consciousness is best to support students. In this presentation, I will describe how two first-year White teachers who identified as women conceptualized and operationalized race and professional identity in their classrooms. The goal of my presentation will be to provide cross-sectional data to understand better the ways a teacher’s racial ideology can influence their interactions with students. Through a lens of systems thinking conceptualized in the field of ecology, I will show the differences that conceptualizing the role of a teacher through a color-evasive mindset can produce when compared to color-conscious teaching.

Author

• Jacob Bennett, Vanderbilt University
  Presenting Author