Collaboratively Unlearning Whiteness in Teacher Education Programs

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Three
  In Roundtable Session: Interrogating and Interrupting the "Overwhelming Presence of Whiteness" in Teacher Education (Table 4)

Abstract

What role does a teacher educator's reflexivity play as a pedagogical tool in teacher education programs? How does the visible display and struggle of unlearning whiteness allow a visual marker to interrupt harmful practices in university and elementary classrooms?

In 2017 we launched a collaborative project with the explicit goal of systematically transforming curricula, practices, and spaces connected to teacher education. Our analytic focus in this paper is one white, tenured teacher educator's relearning and unlearning alongside their students during multiple semesters of an equity-focused, initial teacher education course. Through critical whiteness and humanizing pedagogy lenses, we demonstrate how reflexivity, dialog, and vulnerability in pedagogical processes expand critical learning communities in classrooms. We conclude with implications for teacher education programs.

Authors

• Allison Sterling Henward, Pennsylvania State University
  Presenting Author

• Azaria I. Cunningham, Pennsylvania State University
  Presenting Author

• Michelle N. Brown, Pennsylvania State University
  Presenting Author

• Quiana M. Jackson, Pennsylvania State University
  Presenting Author