Exploring Strategies of Six Black Women Teachers to Enhance the Learning Experiences of Black Students

• In Event: Interrogating Consequential Research in Black Education

Abstract

In an effort to learn how to best educate Black students from low socioeconomic schools who struggle academically and perform lower than their White counterparts, this study explored the educational and professional experiences of six Black women educators, who then critically reflected upon those experiences. An autoethnography by the participant-researcher, interviews with five additional teachers, and dialogue from four bookclub-type meetings with the six of them, generated data used to story their truth and demonstrate the praxis and context of their lived experiences with recognized themes of culturally relevant pedagogy: building relationships, creating high expectations, and implementing cultural connections in the classroom.

Authors

• Lawonda X Reeves, Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy
  Presenting Author

• Lorraine C. Schmertzing, Valdosta State University
  Presenting Author

• Richard W. Schmertzing, Valdosta State University
  Presenting Author

• Christine A James, Valdosta State University
  Non-Presenting Author