Teaching Black: Common Eyes All See the Same

• In Event: Teacher Agency and Voice in a Racially and Politically Contested Educational Landscape

Abstract

Supporting Black educators in affirming ways acknowledges the complexities of being Black in America and an agent of public schools. As such, the relationship between racial and professional identities often conflict as Black educators reconcile anti-Black education and their roles as actors in schools’ assimilationist practices. This self-study introduces five Black teachers from the same school who explore the actualization of bringing our whole selves to the workplace. We use the tenets of racial identity development in teaching to operationalize what we call teaching Black. Through this lens, we discover how we created third-spaces to confront issues of anti-Blackness, abuses of power, and structural inequities for ourselves and our students. This paper provides recommendations for supporting in-service Black teachers.

Author

• LaChan V Hannon, Rutgers University - Newark
  Presenting Author